The accusations of pedophilia against Meghan Markle's father, a bombshell in the midst of the Sussexes' royal reconciliation

BarcelonaPrince Harry was in the midst of an operation to get closer to the British royal family, whom he has been denouncing –for a price– for years on screens around the world, when a media bombshell exploded in his hands. In his hands and also in those of his wife, Meghan Markle, who has had, because of her father, a media collapse like the one when shortly before her wedding it was discovered that the man had sold staged photos of himself trying on suits to attend the royal wedding to the tabloid press. That was the trigger for the traitorous father, who before arriving at Buckingham was already doing business, to end up not being invited to the wedding and for the bride to have to arrive at the altar of St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on the arm of her father-in-law, the then Prince of Wales, Charles, now King Charles III.

That, which was a scandal that splashed a wedding that the royal family wanted to be only light and fantasy, pales in comparison to the new scandal that King Charles's father-in-law has starred in and which, surely, will make the Sussexes' approaches –who after the summer had returned to live in the United Kingdom– to the family they said they hated so much stay on standby for some time longer. The fact is that Thomas Markle, 82, has been reported by his son, Thomas Markle Jr., for possession of child pornography that he found in the form of files on his computer.

The son against the father

According to The Sun, Markle's son went to empty Markle's father's house on the island of Cebu (in the Philippines) after his father had to leave it hastily due to health problems that forced him to leave the country, where he had been living for a year or so and where he had settled coming from Mexico, the country in which he had lived since he retired. "I will not speak to my father again, unless I am summoned to testify against him," said the son, who had moved with him to the Philippines to take care of him, as his father suffers from heart disease.

Markle's father, who is currently in a medical center recovering from a partial amputation of his left leg, has already replied to these accusations. He claims that he has not had access to his computer in almost two years and maintains that any illicit content that may be there was placed by another person. More specifically, he argues that since this computing device traveled from Mexico to the Philippines without him guarding it, someone could have inserted this pedophilic content. "If there is anything wrong, someone else put it there," he asserts regarding the material, now in the possession of the unit specializing in the fight against human trafficking and child abuse in the Philippines, which is currently collaborating with the FBI and which reportedly removed four boxes of material from Markle's home, according to various media outlets.

The Duchess's position

Amidst this international commotion, the position of Meghan Markle, who has not maintained any relationship with her father since 2018, when she married Henry, has generated a great deal of expectation. As expected, silence has not prevailed, and Markle the daughter, who lives off her public image, has not hesitated to publicly express her rejection. "I am deeply dismayed by the news that has come to light, and I think of the children who may have suffered some harm," she said. The duchess described the accusations as "more repugnant than anyone could ever imagine" and said that her "sincerest hope is that justice is served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children." "I hope it can now be understood that, despite the misrepresentations by some media over the years, the distance from my father and my decision not to allow him to have contact with our children had a single motive: to protect them," she concluded.

But the doubt that really hangs over Meghan is to what extent she was aware of everything and to what extent her silence has been self-serving all this time. As it has transpired, in 2019 the British police had already informed the Duchess of Sussex about the existence of "disturbing and unsettling accusations" against her father and she had never said anything publicly. Recent reports argue that she did not publicly condemn the situation because she was asked to, since if she had spoken out it could have harmed the judicial investigations that affected her father. Despite her silence, the investigations did not go anywhere, as her father had been free of charges until his son reported him.

Regarding how informed Meghan was about all this, the information provided by Page Six also stands out, which goes beyond the police's version as a source. According to the media outlet, the first wife of Markle senior, Roslyn Loveless –who is also the mother of Markle junior, who allegedly found the criminal files–, wrote a letter to Meghan to warn her about the pornographic material. Furthermore, she informed the London Metropolitan Police, who in the end were the ones who informed Meghan, according to the existing official information.

New actions by Meghan Markle

Informed by the police and by her ex-stepmother, it has now become known that Markle the daughter wrote a letter to her father. In the text, the daughter-in-law of Charles III told him that she would never allow him to meet her two children and that he would never see her again either. In this missive, she also told him that she had no doubt that the abuse had occurred because of the evidence that had been shown to her.

And as if all this were not enough, as a result of the case, there has also been an internal battle among the rest of the Markles. Markle the son, after the discovery, has said publicly that he does not want to know anything more about his father and has regretted having been taking care of someone who did not deserve it. He has also shown his regret for having positioned himself on his father's side when Meghan and he had the public dispute before the wedding.

In contrast, Samantha Markle, Meghan's half-sister and sister of Markle Jr., has come to the defense of her parent, stating that "it is all a setup" and that during the move from Mexico to the Philippines, the boxes containing Markle Sr.'s belongings could have been tampered with by anyone. Samantha also stated that her father's current state of health is "fragile" and that it "seems incredibly cruel" to her that her brother "would do this to him [Markle Sr.] when he is 82 years old and likely at the end of his life".

Frozen thaw

With all this commotion, at the doors of Buckingham another argument is added to the thesis of William and Kate Middleton, the members of the royal family least inclined towards reconciliation with the Sussexes. And they are right: as if the Windsors did not have enough internal problems related to pedophilia to get closer to a supposed one from the political family now that the Prince Andrew case is starting to lose media momentum after a very serious last year...

Despite everything, the thaw's halt with the Sussexes will not stop the case's progress in the media. Markle senior seems prepared to fight for his honor, or for what remains of it. He has already said that he would accept a forensic analysis of his devices and that he would collaborate with the Philippine police or the FBI if they asked him to. Even so, The Mail On Sunday has already published that the man suffers from "cognitive impairment," which suggests that the media and legal tug-of-wars will be even longer than could have been foreseen. There will be no Netflix documentary, no reconciliation, and no charitable activity that can overshadow this case in the media.