Meghan Markle’s father arrested in Florida over child porn
Thomas Markle, the father of Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle, was arrested in Florida on Friday over alleged possession of child porn, British and US media reported.
Markle, 82, was taken into custody by FBI agents at the retirement home where he lives in the southern US state, the Daily Mail and New York Post said.
The arrest comes after a stash of child porn was allegedly found at Markle’s former home in the Philippines and at a storage unit he rented in Mexico.
His son Thomas Markle Jr. eariler turned over digital devices believed to contain materials that are against the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials Act.
Authorities secured a warrant to examine the data of nine mobile phones, three SD cards, five hard drives and one camera, along with other non-digital devices.
“We were able to find that there are files consisting of several CSEAM materials. This will be subjected further for analysis,” Police Maj. Gen. Wilson Asueta, acting director of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, said in a press conference in Cebu.
“These are video of a male and female minors, others are not minors doing sexual activities and of course, explicit materials,” Asueta added.
US FBI agents, who are also also in Cebu, are coordinating with local police.
Markle Sr. used to live in a high-rise apartment in Cebu City from January 2025 to May 2026.
In late 2025, he suffered a severe blood clot that led to the below-the-knee amputation of his left leg.
He left Cebu in May 2026 and returned to the United States for medical treatment and a prosthetic limb, and is currently in a facility in Florida.
Mexican authorities also raided a storage unit rented by Markle Sr. as part of the ongoing investigation.
The prosecutor’s office of Mexico’s Baja California state said Monday it had received an anonymous tip about the existence of child sex abuse material in a storage unit rented by Markle.
Investigators said the owner of the storage unit reported Markle had stopped paying rent for it in 2024 but his possessions remained secured inside.
Authorities reported finding “magazines from Asia” dating back 20 years, without giving further details, as well as computer equipment that has been taken in for further investigation.
British tabloid The Sun first reported last month that Markle’s son, Thomas Markle Jr, had discovered the child abuse images while going through boxes found in his father’s former home.
Meghan Markle has previously said she was “deeply distressed” by accusations that her father had possessed images of child abuse, adding she had blocked contact between him and her children over previous “troubling and disturbing” allegations.