Afua Hagan is a contributor to CTVNews.ca, focusing on the Royal Family. Based in London and Accra, Hagan is a regular commentator on the royals across a variety of international outlets, and is a leading voice on diversity in Britain. LONDON - The Sussexes were just settling into life back in Britain. Now a police investigation involving Thomas Markle Sr. has reopened old questions about a family estrangement, and about who was supposed to be protecting Meghan all along. On October 15, Meghan stepped out in Nottingham, smiling and greeting well-wishers, and told them it was “great to be back.” It was her first joint public engagement with Prince Harry since the couple returned to Britain with their children. It was deemed a huge success. Eight days later, the headlines had changed completely. Authorities in the Philippines confirmed they are investigating her estranged father, Thomas Markle Sr., over allegations involving child sexual abuse images. Investigators are examining material reportedly found at his former home in Cebu. Markle, 82, strongly denies it, telling the Daily Mail the claims are “sick lies.” But for a woman who has spent years being criticized for keeping her father at arm’s length, one question is hard to ignore: could the way we understand that estrangement now shift? The answer is it absolutely should. A family rift in a different light Meghan’s relationship with her father became public property long before her 2018 wedding. Markle admitted staging paparazzi photos, and he didn’t make it to the ceremony. From there, the rift became a regular fixture of royal coverage, sitting right alongside the Sussexes’ strained ties with the Royal Family. Then, on October 23, Meghan offered a very different explanation for the distance. In a statement, she said that years ago she was shown a letter containing “troubling and disturbing allegations” about her father. She had been assured, she said, that those allegations were being investigated, and her decision to keep him away from Archie and Lilibet was about protecting her children. Let’s be careful about what that does and doesn’t tell us. Her statement doesn’t establish that the allegations are true, and it doesn’t tell us whether the older claims relate to the conduct now being investigated. What it does is add context that was largely missing from years of public debate. What looked like a family falling-out, from Meghan’s side, is now about serious safety concerns. She was protecting herself and her children. It explains why she went “no contact” and why her children have never been introduced to their grandfather. Whether that changes anyone’s mind is another matter. So many column inches were written describing Meghan as cold and unforgiving, saying she would sacrifice her family to save face within the House of Windsor, when in fact it seems she was dealing with something that is almost incomprehensible. With the emergence of the reason behind the breakdown in their relationship, she has been more than vindicated. Questions for the police, not just the palace The story has also pulled in London’s Metropolitan Police. The Met confirmed it received a letter in January 2019 alleging offending outside the U.K. It passed the letter to the Sussexes’ office, but not to any other law enforcement agency. The force is now reviewing how it handled the correspondence and weighing whether to refer the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the police watchdog. There’s a wrinkle in the timing, too. Meghan recalled receiving the letter in 2018, but her spokesperson has since acknowledged that date may have been mistaken and accepted the Met’s records. So, what responsibility do police have when they receive allegations about possible offences abroad? Why wasn’t the information shared more widely? The review may answer those questions. But a review isn’t a verdict, and it would be premature to draw conclusions about police failings, or about what the palace knew, until more evidence is on the table. Still, it’s easy to see how this could revive a bigger argument about whether the institutions around royal life truly supported Meghan when she needed it. Two families, two very different paths The timing is striking, because Harry has been talking openly about mending his own family relationships. In a GQ interview recorded in September and released on October 20, before any of this became public, he spoke about his strained relationships with King Charles and Prince William. “The most important thing is to reconcile,” he said. The couple’s children are in a British school, and Harry wants them to know his home country. So here we have Harry describing reconciliation as a hope, while Meghan explains why she’s kept her distance from her father. That isn’t necessarily a contradiction. Wanting to repair one relationship doesn’t mean every relationship can be repaired, or should be. What it could mean for the Sussexes’ return For now, this story is more likely to impact the narrative around Meghan, rather than the Sussexes’ plans whilst in the U.K., their charity work or their projects. In fact, it has just been announced that Meghan will be one of the co-hosts of Junior MasterChef. Harry and Meghan are back in Britain as private citizens with charitable and commercial interests, not as working royals. Nothing suggests these allegations have changed those arrangements, their decision to live here or Harry’s stated wish to reconcile with his relatives. But the controversy could make it harder to turn the page. The whole idea of this chapter was to move on from the conflicts that defined their 2020 departure. Instead of the focus staying on their public engagements, they’re once again facing intense scrutiny of deeply personal family matters. Whether the allegations surrounding Thomas Markle Sr. will complicate Prince Harry’s efforts to reconcile with King Charles and Prince William remains uncertain. There is no public evidence that the King was informed of the earlier allegations, despite the Metropolitan Police confirming that a letter was passed to the Sussexes’ office in 2019. Buckingham Palace has declined to comment. Nor is there evidence of any impact on the couple’s charitable work. For now, any suggestion that the controversy will derail their charitable commitments or hopes of royal reconciliation remains speculative. Some people who once questioned Meghan’s refusal to reconcile with her father may now see her explanation differently. Others will reserve judgment until the investigation shows what, if anything, happened. And that’s the point worth holding on to: Meghan is not accused of wrongdoing. A family’s pain shouldn’t become a referendum on someone’s popularity. For now, the investigation in the Philippines and the Met’s review are both unresolved, and so is the question of whether public perception of Meghan will move. The Sussexes’ return was always going to be a test of whether Britain could see Harry and Meghan in a new light amid the ongoing rift with the Royal family. This makes that test harder. But it also invites a closer look at just how much of Meghan’s story we really knew.
