Meghan's 2018 Warning: Met Police Audit Traces Early Alert on Father

The Metropolitan Police will conduct an internal review of how it handled a letter received in 2019 that contained claims regarding Thomas Markle. A spokesperson for the force confirmed the existence of the document on Saturday, stating that it included a number of specific assertions about the father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.

Police records indicate that the letter was forwarded to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness. The allegations detailed within the document were not passed along to other law enforcement agencies at the time of receipt.

The confirmation of the letter follows a week of reports concerning Markle's legal situation. On Thursday, The Sun reported that Markle had been reported to authorities in the Philippines by his son, Thomas Markle Jr. The younger man claimed to have found child abuse materials in storage boxes at the family home in that country. By Friday, reports indicated that Philippine authorities were addressing Markle over alleged possession of child sexual abuse materials, a charge Markle denied in comments to The Daily Mail.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, issued a statement on Friday describing herself as deeply distressed by the recent coverage. She stated that she had been aware of the allegations since 2018 and that they had been shared with U.K. authorities at that time. Her statement noted that a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection in 2018, and that she was subsequently given assurances that the matter was being investigated.

The Duchess also explained that she had kept her distance from her father to protect her children. She stated that her decision to limit his contact with them had one primary reason: to protect them, despite what she described as media distortion over the years.

The two accounts differ on the timing of the complaint, with Meghan citing 2018 and the police confirming receipt in 2019. A spokesman for the Duchess told BBC News that any discrepancy of a few months was an understandable consequence of the passage of time.

The Metropolitan Police said it will now review the 2019 handling of the matter. As part of that process, the force will decide whether to refer itself to the independent police watchdog.