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Police sent Meghan a letter containing allegations about Thomas Markle, reports say

Reports say police sent Meghan Markle a 2019 letter containing allegations about her father, Thomas Markle Sr. Their relationship had been strained before her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 5 outlets' reporting · Article text read from 3 of 5 outlets · 1 article captured only in partHow it's made

View timeline · 5 entries
5 outlets3 regionsLatest reporting 4 min read
Coverage: Mostly CenterL 1 · C 3 · R 0 · 1 unrated
File photo
Photo: Rajasekharan Parameswaran / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

What happened

Key facts

  • Reports say police sent Meghan Markle a letter in 2019.
  • The letter reportedly contained allegations about Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle Sr.
  • Thomas Markle Sr. is Meghan Markle’s father.
  • Meghan Markle and Thomas Markle Sr. had a strained relationship before her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.
  • The reported letter was sent after Meghan Markle’s 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.

The brief

Roslyn Loveless, Thomas Markle Sr.'s first wife, sent British police a letter in 2019 containing allegations about him, and the letter later reached London's Metropolitan Police, Page Six reported. The Sun's headline also says Loveless sent a letter to the Metropolitan Police warning of alleged child sexual abuse. The claims remain allegations: Markle has denied them. Meghan Markle said authorities had informed her about a letter sent to police and other authorities. She described the allegations as “troubling and disturbing” and said she was “deeply distressed” by them. In a statement reported by The Independent and Us Weekly, she said her thoughts were with any children who may have been harmed. Meghan also said she decided not to allow her father contact with her children in order to protect them. The Economic Times headline likewise reports that she explained why she kept her children away from him. Page Six says Loveless had previously warned Meghan against allowing Markle to have a relationship with Archie and had described him as an “awful father.”

Markle has rejected the allegations. Page Six reported that he called them “sick lies” in an interview with the Daily Mail, and Us Weekly also reported his denial. Page Six quoted him saying he expected evidence he had taken to police to reveal the truth after police experts examined it. A separate account of the current investigation comes from The Sun, as relayed by Us Weekly: Thomas Markle Jr. allegedly found material in boxes at his father's home in the Philippines and turned it over, after which an investigation was launched. That account describes an alleged discovery by Markle Jr.; it does not establish that the material depicts abuse or that Markle Sr. committed an offence. The reporting places Meghan's public remarks alongside renewed attention to the letter and the investigation. The sources describe Loveless as the letter's sender, Meghan as someone authorities approached about it, and Markle Sr. as denying the accusations. They do not report a finding by police or a court resolving the allegations.

Why it matters

  • Meghan said she withheld contact between her father and her children to protect them; the immediate family stakes concern the children's contact with their grandfather.
  • The allegations prompted Meghan to describe herself as deeply distressed and to express concern for children who may have been harmed.
  • The reported investigation and Markle Sr.'s stated willingness for police experts to examine evidence place police scrutiny alongside his denial; the sources report no resolution of the allegations.

What to watch next

  • Whether London's Metropolitan Police or other authorities examine the letter Loveless sent in 2019.
  • Whether police experts examine the evidence Markle Sr. says he took to police.
  • Whether investigators establish what material Thomas Markle Jr. allegedly turned over and whether it supports any allegation.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details
6 source articles · 5 unique outlets
Outlet political mix: Mostly Center· 1 Left · 3 Center · 1 unrated
Where the outlets are based: US/Canada 40% · Europe 40% · Other 20%
Outlet political mix
Mostly Center
Left
Center
Right
1 outlet
3 outlets
0 outlets
The marker shows coverage balance: each unique outlet counts once. 1 unrated outlet is not included.
Geography
Where the outlets covering this story are based.
5 unique outletsDominant coverage: US/Canada
Coverage imbalance
  • Coverage is currently concentrated among Center-rated outlets (3 of 4 rated sources); comparatively few Right-rated outlets have published on the event.
How we measure coverage

How outlets' accounts compare

1 framing difference · 4 uncorroborated claims · 3 information gaps
The reports repeat the same account with different emphasis; its central claims are not independently confirmed in the reporting Updat3 read.Compared across 3 reports whose article text Updat3 read; 2 other outlets were checked by headline only.
Framing / emphasis differences
Sources emphasise different angles, actors or consequences of the same reporting.
  • Page Six centers Loveless as the source of the earlier warning and reports that the letter reached London's Metropolitan Police; The Independent and Us Weekly foreground Meghan's account that authorities approached her about a letter.
Updat3: These are differences of emphasis, not disputes about what is reported. They do not show that the reported claims are true.
One-sided or uncorroborated claims
Claims that come from one party or one source family and are not independently corroborated.
  • Page Six attributes the account of Loveless's 2019 letter and its arrival at London's Metropolitan Police to multiple sources; Meghan's remarks about being informed of a letter appear in The Independent and Us Weekly as her own statement.
  • Us Weekly relays The Sun's report that Thomas Markle Jr. allegedly found and turned over material, but the supplied reporting does not establish what the material depicts.
  • Meghan said she was “deeply distressed” by the claims and that her thoughts were with children who may have been harmed.
  • Markle Sr. called the allegations “sick lies,” according to Page Six.
Updat3: Not independently corroborated yet — treat as a claim, not an established fact.
Not established by the reporting
Information the available reporting does not contain or confirm. This is a gap, not a disagreement.
  • The sources do not report a police or court determination on the allegations.
  • The sources do not provide details of the material allegedly turned over, beyond the claim that it was found in boxes at Markle Sr.'s home in the Philippines.
  • Markle Sr. denies the allegations, while reports describe them as allegations; no source reports a police or court finding resolving them.
Updat3: Updat3 cannot conclude anything about this from the current sources.

Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.
  1. Meghan Markle’s relationship with her father, Thomas Markle Sr., became a public subject in the weeks before her May 2018 marriage to Prince Harry.
    Background · from our historical context
  2. In August 2018, Meghan wrote her father a private letter.
    Background · from our historical context
  3. Reports said the correspondence reached London’s Metropolitan Police in 2019.
    Background · from our historical context
  4. The *Daily Mail* published excerpts in February 2019, and Thomas subsequently discussed the letter publicly.
    Background · from our historical context
  5. In February 2021, the High Court ruled for Meghan on her claim concerning the publication of parts of the letter; the case was later subject to further proceedings on copyright and remedies.
    Background · from our historical context

How we got here

Meghan Markle’s relationship with her father, Thomas Markle Sr., became a public subject in the weeks before her May 2018 marriage to Prince Harry. Thomas did not attend the wedding at Windsor Castle on May 19.

He said health problems prevented him from travelling, after reports that he had arranged staged photographs with a paparazzi photographer prompted criticism and questions about his role in the run-up to the ceremony. The episode drew intense coverage of a family dispute that had previously been largely private.

Related developments1 story

Original sources

3 of 6 articles · US/Canada · Show all

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