London — Allegations Against Thomas Markle Reshape View of Meghan

Public opinion of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is being tested by a timeline that now stretches back at least seven years, according to BBC News. The outlet reports that Meghan learned of sexual abuse allegations against her father, Thomas Markle, in 2018 — a full two years before commentators began publicly criticizing her for distancing herself from him.

What new information has emerged about Thomas Markle?

BBC News reports that allegations of sexual abuse against Thomas Markle surfaced in a letter sent to Meghan by his first wife, Roslyn Loveless. The letter was shared with Meghan through police channels, the outlet reports, at a point when she held the status of a working royal. Thomas Markle has called the claims "lies" intended to damage his reputation, according to BBC News. His daughter Samantha Markle has separately rejected the allegations, the outlet reports.

The gap between the 2018 letter and this week's public disclosure spans roughly seven years, a span during which Meghan's limited contact with her father was widely scrutinized without the public knowing the underlying reason, per BBC News.

When did Meghan learn of the allegations, and what did she do?

According to the Sussexes' spokesperson, cited by BBC News, Meghan believed an investigation into the allegations was underway. That belief, the outlet reports, coincided with a period when she was carrying out official royal duties and public appearances — a juxtaposition BBC News frames as evidence she was managing a private crisis while facing scrutiny for a different, more visible one: her estrangement from her father.

BBC News does not specify the exact duration or outcome of any investigation, but the timeline places the 2018 letter years before the sharpest round of public criticism of Meghan's family relationships, which peaked in 2020.

How does the December 2025 hospital letter fit the timeline?

A second data point sits ten months before this week's disclosures: in December 2025, Thomas Markle was hospitalized in the Philippines for a leg amputation, BBC News reports. At the time, he told the Mail on Sunday, as quoted by BBC News, "I don't want to die estranged from Meghan. I want to meet my grandkids. It might be nice to meet her husband too."

That remark triggered what BBC News describes as a media storm over whether Meghan would respond. She did send a letter, which was assumed at the time to contain well wishes, according to BBC News. The outlet now reports that the letter instead told her father he would never see his grandchildren — a detail that reframes the December 2025 episode from a story about potential reconciliation into one about a seven-year-old rupture rooted in the abuse allegations.

What have Thomas Markle and Samantha Markle said in response?

Thomas Markle's denial, as reported by BBC News, centers on the claim that the allegations are fabricated to damage him. Samantha Markle's rejection of the claims, also cited by BBC News, uses similar language disputing the stories' accuracy. BBC News does not report any on-record response from Meghan herself addressing the specific content of the allegations beyond the account relayed through her spokesperson.

Could this reshape public opinion of Meghan going forward?

BBC News frames the development as a potential turning point, noting that criticism from 2020 — including a commentator's line that Meghan "ditched her family, ditched her dad, ditched most of her old friends" — "might need to be viewed in a different and more sympathetic light" given the 2018 letter's timing. The outlet also cites social media criticism urging Meghan to visit her father "before it's too late," language that predates public knowledge of the abuse allegations by years.

Whether public sentiment actually shifts is not something BBC News measures with polling data in its report; the outlet's case rests on the sequencing of events rather than survey numbers. What is measurable, per the timeline BBC News lays out, is the seven-year span between the 2018 letter and this week's reporting, and the roughly two-year gap between that letter and the height of public criticism in 2020. Those intervals are the clearest figures available as the story develops, and BBC News indicates further details about who else knew of the allegations — including palace officials — remain unclear.

Meghan and Prince Harry recently relocated to the UK with their children, according to BBC News, a move that places the family back inside the media environment where this reassessment is now playing out.