The Royalist

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The Thomas Markle Bombshell Meghan Can’t Escape Oct 28, 2026

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The latest allegations surrounding Thomas Markle, Meghan Markle’s estranged father, are raising new questions about one of the royal family’s most publicized family feuds. On this episode of The Royalist, Tom Sykes examines the disputed claims, a letter from 2019, and the complicated circumstances surrounding Meghan’s estrangement from her father. Could this overlooked chapter change how we understand Meghan’s account of the family feud—and the events that shaped her relationship with the royal family? Plus, Tom sits down with Paula Froelich ( @PaulaFroelich , https://thescoopwithpaulafroelich.substack.com/) to discuss Prince William’s appearance on The Graham Norton Show and why the Prince of Wales made such a strong impression.

Follow Tom Sykes on Substack: https://theroyalist.substack.com/

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LIVE: Bungling British Police LOST Letter Warning Them About Meghan’s Dad Oct 27, 2026

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The Metropolitan Police, the force charged with protecting the royal family, has had to go cap in hand to Meghan Markle and ask whether she still had a copy of a letter it was sent in 2019, because it had lost its own. That letter, according to The Times and The Telegraph, was written by Roslyn Loveless, the late ex-wife of Thomas Markle Sr. and the mother of Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr. In January 2019 it was sent to the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, the specialist Scotland Yard unit that assesses risks to the royals, and it contained serious allegations of child sexual offences against Meghan’s father, along with a warning that he could pose a security risk to Meghan, Prince Harry and Doria Ragland. What did the Met do with it? By its own admission, following a review of its systems and records, it decided simply to hand it on to the Sussexes’ office. No referral to other agencies at home or abroad. And then, it appears, the original went missing. Meghan says she was assured at the time that the allegations were being investigated and was told not to discuss them. She has not spoken to her father since. For seven years she has been portrayed as the daughter who coldly cut off a sick old man; it now appears she was sitting on a police warning she had been instructed to keep to herself. The story has resurfaced because Thomas Markle Jr. says he found child abuse images at his father’s home in the Philippines earlier this year and reported him to Philippine police and the FBI. Philippine authorities have confirmed an investigation, and the FBI’s Tampa office is said to have joined it. Thomas Markle Sr. has not been charged with any offence. In this video I go through what the Met knew, what it did (and did not do), why Meghan is reportedly upset and frustrated, and what this does to the narrative of the Markle family feud that has dominated royal coverage since 2018. The Royalist keeps you up to date on all the latest royal news.

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LIVE: The Markle Story Just Got Far Darker: What Meghan’s Statement Really Means Oct 23, 2026

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The Thomas Markle story has taken its darkest turn yet. The Sun reports that Meghan’s estranged father is under investigation over claims he kept child sexual abuse images at his former home in the Philippines, allegations he flatly denies (he told the Daily Mail they are “sick lies”). The claim is said to have come from his own son, Thomas Markle Jnr, who alleges he found the material at the house his father left after moving there in 2025 following a series of strokes. Now the Duchess of Sussex has broken her silence, and her statement is extraordinary. Meghan says she is “deeply distressed” by what has emerged, but the real bombshell concerns 2018. According to Meghan, a letter was sent that year to the Metropolitan Police and to Royalty and Specialist Protection (the unit that guards the royal family) containing “troubling and disturbing allegations” against her father. That letter was later shared with her, and she says she was assured the claims were being investigated. It is understood she received it in the summer of 2018, in the months after her wedding to Prince Harry that May. That timeline matters. For eight years Meghan’s refusal to speak to her father, and her decision to keep him away from Archie and Lilibet, has been painted as cold, calculating, even cruel. Today she says there was only ever one reason: to protect her children. In this video I go through exactly what Meghan has said, what Thomas Markle has said in his own defence, and the questions this raises for the police, for royal protection officers, and for the palace. What was known in 2018, who knew it, and what, if anything, was done about it? Thomas Markle is now reportedly in a rehabilitation centre in Florida after having his left leg amputated last year. Meghan wrote to him in December after he said he did not want to die estranged from his daughter. Any hope of reconciliation now looks a very long way off. These remain allegations under investigation, not findings, and Thomas Markle denies them in the strongest terms.

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LIVE: BREAKING- Thomas Markle Under Child Abuse Investigation After His SON Turns Him In Oct 22, 2026

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Emergency live. The Sun reports tonight that Thomas Markle Sr., the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father, is under investigation by police in the Philippines over an alleged hoard of child sex abuse images, and that the person who reported him is his own son. Thomas Markle Jr., Meghan’s half-brother and until this week his father’s carer and most loyal defender, has lodged a sworn statement with specialist child abuse officers in Cebu. The Sun’s Nick Parker was with him as he did it. Thomas Jr. says he found “hundreds, if not thousands” of abuse images and videos in four boxes of his father’s belongings, left behind when Thomas Sr. was flown back to the United States in May after losing his leg. Old phones. Three hard drives. Photography books. Film negatives. He says he reported it to the FBI in July, heard nothing, and went back to the boxes himself. The Sun says a task force has been appointed, the boxes are going for forensic examination, and an FBI agent has asked for the Philippine investigators’ details. The police declined to comment. No charges have been brought. Thomas Sr., now in a Florida nursing home being looked after by Samantha, has not responded. And a source close to Meghan has already told The Sun: “Now maybe people will finally understand why she has had nothing to do with her father since 2018.” That quote needs explaining, because nothing in this story suggests Meghan knew anything about what her brother says he found. Which brings me to the part I think matters most. This whole story rests on the word of one Markle about another. Thomas Jr. has a gun arrest, a drunk-driving arrest, a father who once said he “has a serious problem,” a sister who said “he always drank,” and a YouTube rant from last December in which he encouraged people to throw excrement at Meghan. Thomas Sr. has admitted lying on television. Samantha sued her sister and lost. All three have spent eight years monetizing Meghan. None of that makes the allegation untrue. A sworn statement cannot be deleted in the morning, and if those boxes contain what he says they contain, the forensics will prove it. But tonight, nobody outside the Markle family has looked in them. Full write-up in tomorrow morning’s newsletter. Tell me what you make of it in the comments.

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LIVE: Now Harry’s Phone Hacking Solicitors Go Bust! Oct 22, 2026

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The law firm at the heart of Prince Harry’s war on the British tabloids has gone bust. Thomson Heath Jenkins & Associates (the boutique London practice that acted for Harry, Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Sir Simon Hughes in their failed privacy claim against Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail) has reportedly shut its doors and called in insolvency practitioners. According to the Telegraph, the collapse came as a shock to staff. Just a week ago, the firm was still boasting on its website about its rankings in the Chambers & Partners 2027 guide. This was no bit-part player. Founded in 2009 by Cambridge graduate Mark Thomson, the firm built its reputation on phone hacking litigation and helped prove the generic case against Mirror Group Newspapers. Seven of its solicitors worked on the case against the Mail. But in July, after an eleven-week trial, Mr Justice Nicklin threw out every single one of the claimants’ allegations, ruling that suspicion is not proof. Harry and his co-claimants were then ordered to pay £9.5 million as a first instalment towards Associated’s legal costs, with the total bill for both sides estimated at £40 to £50 million. So where does this leave Harry? The claimants are pursuing an appeal, and they must now do so without the firm that ran their case, while staring down a potential multimillion-pound costs liability should they lose again. It is hard to imagine a more humiliating coda to what Harry called his “mission” to reform the British press. In this video, I explain what we know about the firm’s collapse, what it means for Harry’s appeal and his finances, and why the Duke’s long crusade against the tabloids is proving so ruinously expensive.

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LIVE: Aberfan: The Day I Shook Hands With the King, the Queen and Prince William (In the Cheap Seats) Oct 21, 2026

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I have just spent the entire day in Aberfan. I stood in the crowd, as a member of the public, in the freezing cold, for hours. I shook hands with the King, the Queen and Prince William, one after the other. And I talked to the people who were there, listened to them and watched them. This video is what I saw. Sixty years ago today a colliery spoil tip slid down the mountain and buried Pantglas Junior School. 144 people died, 116 of them children, killed at their desks in the first minutes of the school day. Today the King, the Queen and the Prince of Wales laid their tributes in the memorial garden on the site of the school, stood in silence beside Mair Morgan, the last surviving teacher, met the survivors and the bereaved families, and then walked a line of easily a thousand people and shook hands with every single one of them. Bottom line: they absolutely aced it. A textbook royal performance. I’ll introduce you to Bonita Smith, whose father Robert was one of the first firemen digging in the slurry that morning, and who stopped the King and told him her dad’s story. That is what the monarchy is, at its best. I’ll explain why being in the cheap seats with the public beats the royal rota every time. And I’ll tell you honestly how the King looks in person, because you’d want me to. Then the bigger picture. Minutes after the Sultan of Oman’s state visit got underway on Tuesday, Harry’s GQ interview dropped, with the Duke complaining that “some people don’t want it to work out.” Everybody heard “some people” and thought William. That same evening, at the Windsor banquet, Charles stood up in front of 160 guests and talked about his son and “our successors.” Today, father and son stood at the memorial together. The line runs from Charles to William, full stop. It was deliberate, and we need to see a lot more of it (and some much tougher language about Harry). Finally, the anger. Not at the royals, but at the institutions: the Coal Board that was warned and did nothing, nobody sacked or prosecuted, the money taken from the disaster fund, and 2,589 disused coal tips still sitting above Welsh villages sixty years on. The royal family is the last institution these people still have faith in. That is exactly why what Harry is doing is so dangerous. Full write-up, with all my pictures and video, in tomorrow morning’s free Substack newsletter.

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Harry is Meghan's Brainwashed Puppet: Tom Bower Oct 21, 2026

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On this episode of The Royalist, Tom Sykes is joined by Paula Froelich ( @PaulaFroelich , https://thescoopwithpaulafroelich.substack.com/) and investigative biographer Tom Bower for a revealing discussion of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and the latest royal drama. Did Queen Camilla see trouble brewing from the beginning? Tom Bower revisits the explosive claim that Harry was “brainwashed” and examines the Sussexes’ ambitions, their relationship with the Royal Family and the challenges facing King Charles. Plus, Paula Froelich weighs in on Meghan’s Netflix projects, With Love, Meghan, and the latest twists in her Hollywood ambitions. From the Sussexes’ royal status to the future of the monarchy, this episode unpacks the stories making headlines in the world of royal news.

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LIVE: "OUTRAGEOUS!" Harry BLAMES WILLIAM For Estrangement in Self-Serving New Interview Oct 20, 2026

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Tom was joined by writer and podcaster Molly Mulshine to discuss Harry's astonishing interview with GQ. Prince Harry has said he wants to reconcile with his brother, but suggested WILLIAM is to blame for their ongoing estrangement! That's the big line from a new interview with GQ, published today as part of the magazine's One More Question series. It dropped just as King Charles was hosting a state visit for the Sultan of Oman. Asked whether he grieves his "complicated relationship" with Prince William and his father, Harry says: "Yes, of course." He calls family estrangement "another massively relatable issue for so many people," and then says: "Some people don't want it to work out. I want it to work out." Asked whether he really does, he insists: "Of course I do. Again, with everything else that's going on in the world, the most important thing is to reconcile. That's the key point."

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LIVE: Nottingham Crowds Were Coached to Cheer Meghan Oct 18, 2026

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The cheering crowds in Nottingham were not what they seemed. I was on the ground for Harry and Meghan's charity visit on Thursday, and I can tell you the crowds were coached to cheer for Meghan. The walkabout at the first engagement, at the Community Recording Studio, was more or less fake. Everyone taking part had been invited. Children were brought in from the neighboring school, young adults were brought in from the local Mencap, and the cameras were positioned to make the scene look busy. My own footage shows the rest of the street was entirely empty. I counted perhaps half a dozen genuine passers-by. At the Himmah Hub, people stopped because they saw cameras, not because they had come for the couple. By Epic Partners it was complete chaos, ending with a teacher from the school next door begging the crowd to part so the children could get out of the building. And the day ended, as I exclusively revealed, with the couple leaving their final event 15 minutes early to collect their own children from school. Why stage-manage a crowd? Because the Sussexes are desperate to be seen as royals. Days later, a conveniently placed "friend" (whom anyone on this beat will recognize as their press office) told the Sunday Times that Harry and Meghan hate being called anything other than members of the royal family. That is a direct rejection of the King's ruling, sent by the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Benyon, that their position is "akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests." In this video I explain why a manufactured royal welcome is so dangerous for the monarchy, why the Palace is in a state of dismay and has no idea what to do, and why the couple's camp says they might do "one or two more things together" before the end of the year. My bet is Remembrance. I also explain why Nottingham proves they can never be given police security: outriders at events like these would make them look exactly like members of the royal family again.

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LIVE: Exclusive: Meghan Raced Through Charity Events To Make Pick Up Oct 17, 2026

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Duncan joins me to discuss Meghan's latest headache, which has her fans and her critics reading the same story two very different ways. Supporters see a working mom juggling job and family. Critics see fresh proof that the half-in, half-out model the Sussexes are trying to make work simply doesn't. So which is it? Tom Sykes breaks down what really happened, what it tells us about how the Sussex operation is run, and why this one will be hard to shrug off. Subscribe to The Royalist for daily analysis of the British royal family, from the only royal journalist who has been on the beat since Diana's funeral. Read more and join the conversation at The Royalist on Substack.

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