Meghan’s father arrested in Florida in child abuse material case

Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has been arrested in Florida in connection with allegations involving child sexual abuse material. The Guardian reported that federal agents took the 82-year-old into custody near Tampa early Friday on charges related to the material, citing U.S. prosecutors. Three sources familiar with the matter confirmed the arrest to CBS News; one said the case remains under seal.

The arrest follows reports last month that authorities in the Philippines were investigating Markle over alleged possession of child sexual abuse material. Markle has denied the allegations, calling them “sick lies.” “I have never downloaded anything like that in my life,” he was quoted as telling the Daily Mail.

A spokesperson for the Philippine National Police told CBS News that investigators opened the inquiry after Markle’s son, Thomas Markle Jr., turned over his father’s personal items to law enforcement. The Guardian reported that the son had alleged finding a collection of child sexual abuse images at his father’s former home in the Philippines. According to the Guardian, the elder Markle was named a person of interest in that case earlier this week.

Meghan said last month that she was “deeply distressed” by the allegations. She said she had been aware of allegations against her father since 2018 and that a letter containing “troubling allegations” had been sent to police in London that year. She said the information led her and her husband, Prince Harry, to keep Markle from having contact with their children, Archie and Lilibet.

“I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications’ distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason: to protect them,” she said in a statement sent to CBS News.

According to the BBC, Meghan also confronted her father about the allegations in a letter last year. The Daily Mail said it obtained video showing Markle accepting a letter from his daughter in a U.S. hospital room in December 2025. The BBC reported that Meghan wrote that she and authorities “knew he had abused young girls” and that he would never meet Archie and Lilibet.

The Guardian reported that the U.S. Justice Department, the FBI and federal prosecutors in Tampa had not immediately responded to its requests for comment. CBS News said it had contacted Meghan’s spokesperson about the arrest. Roya Nikkah, a CBS News contributor and Sunday Times royal editor, said on X that sources indicated the duchess was unlikely to comment “at this time.”