Thomas Markle, father of Meghan, arrested on child sexual abuse material charges

Alanna Durkin Richer

November 7, 2026 — 2:32am

Thomas Markle, the father of Prince Harry’s wife Meghan, was arrested on Friday morning (US time) by federal agents in Florida on charges related to child sexual abuse material, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

The people who confirmed his arrest were not authorised to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Thomas Markle was taken into custody near Tampa.

Meghan Markle recently said she was “deeply distressed” by allegations that a collection of child sexual abuse images had been found at her father’s former home. She also revealed that a letter containing “troubling allegations” about him had been sent to London police in 2018.

Meghan, an American citizen who starred in the US television drama Suits, married Harry at Windsor Castle in 2018. They have two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Her father, a retired television lighting and photography director, did not attend the wedding, prompting extensive coverage in the British media of Meghan’s estrangement from her father. Meghan said she decided to distance herself from him to protect her children.

More to come

AP

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.

From our partners