Thomas Markle’s first wife alleged that he justified having sex with girls in the Far East by claiming their families depended on the money, according to comments made before her death in 2024.
Roslyn Loveless said Mr Markle told her he was travelling to Thailand to meet “young girls” after their marriage ended. When she asked how young he meant, she alleged that he replied: “11, 12.”
Ms Loveless said she challenged him, telling him the girls were children and other people’s daughters. She alleged that he responded: “Well it’s legal over there and that’s how they support their families, by prostituting out their young girls.”
The couple were married from 1964 until 1975. Ms Loveless, who was the mother of Mr Markle’s other children, Thomas Markle Jr and Samantha Markle, died last year aged 79.
In 2019, she was behind a letter sent to the Metropolitan Police’s royal protection team setting out what it described as disturbing allegations of child sexual abuse. The letter was passed to the Duchess of Sussex by royal bodyguards.
Meghan has said she did not allow her father to meet her two children because she wanted to protect them. Mr Markle denies all the allegations made against him.
Ms Loveless also alleged that Mr Markle had abused a girl in the United States. She said the girl had told her that he was taking naked photographs of her.
The allegations have emerged after Mr Markle, 82, was arrested in Florida on Friday and charged with one count of possessing child pornography. The FBI is understood to have sought help from Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, in identifying her former husband in explicit images found in a Los Angeles storage unit.
Meghan has reportedly indicated that she would very much like to assist the FBI with its investigation. Philippine police have also recovered more than 7,000 alleged child sexual abuse images from devices including laptops, mobile phones, hard drives and video tapes, and the country is preparing to bring charges against Mr Markle.
Mexican police are investigating him as well and raided a storage unit in Rosarito after the FBI was alerted to the material.
