As the allegations mount against Thomas Markle Sr, his daughter, the Duchess of Sussex, has released a statement describing her deep distress, and saying her priority is the protection of children. Is this the point at which Thomas Markle will cease to be an acceptable source for the Sussex character attacks that have become a tabloid staple? The Daily Mail and its sister paper, the Mail on Sunday, have been utterly brazen in their cultivation of the embittered Thomas Snr, using him as a weapon against his daughter since she first married into the royal family. Now, they’ll cut loose from him and describe the charges laid against him with the same outrage as everyone else. It would be institutionally impossible for them to discuss or reflect on their prior relationship with Markle without admitting a long-range and vindictive grudge against his daughter.

Markle denies all allegations against him. His son, Meghan’s half-brother Thomas Markle Jr, described in a video for the Sun the material he claims to have found on his father’s spare mobile phone, after Markle Sr had gone back to the US to have his leg amputated. Markle Jr was in the Philippines, where both men had moved in 2025. He said the material included “the most horrific video of a very young Asian girl … couldn’t have been more than 10 years old”. He almost........

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