Harry and Meghan Take Children Abroad as Allegations Against Her Father Continue

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have taken their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, overseas for a short break, HELLO! magazine reported on 26 October. The magazine said the couple are spending time with close friends outside the UK.

The break comes while serious allegations involving Meghan's father, Thomas Markle Snr, are being investigated. He is a retired Hollywood lighting director. Philippine authorities are investigating him after his son, Thomas Markle Jr, said he found child sex images at their father's home in the Philippines, according to Reuters and HELLO!. Thomas Markle Snr has strongly denied any wrongdoing in relation to the investigation. The allegations have not been tested in court.

Thomas Jr is one of two children from his father's first marriage, to Roslyn Loveless, whose other child is Samantha Markle. Meghan first learned of serious allegations against her father in 2018, when the Metropolitan Police, London's police force, passed her a letter from Roslyn Loveless, HELLO! reported. The Met later told Reuters that its officers passed on a letter in early 2019 and sent it to Meghan and to no other force. Scotland Yard has opened an inquiry, the BBC reported.

HELLO! reported that Meghan had met Roslyn Loveless only once or twice. It also said that in 2018 she was advised not to go public with the allegations, and that she decided to cut all ties with her father after learning of them. She wrote to him a final time in December 2025 to explain why, according to the same magazine. Reuters reported that in December 2025 she had also sent a letter to her father, then in hospital, and criticised the presence of the Daily Mail at his bedside.

Meghan said any distance from her father, and her choice not to allow him contact with her children, was to protect them, HELLO! reported. The BBC reported, citing sources close to Meghan, that she had warned her father last year that he would never meet his grandchildren. In a statement earlier this year, Meghan said she was "deeply distressed" by what she called "troubling" allegations against her father, HELLO! reported in July.

A friend told HELLO! that Meghan is "really, really upset" and "in tears" when she thinks about the alleged victims. HELLO! said her circle has been calling her daily to check on her.

Prince Harry is the Duke of Sussex and Meghan is the Duchess of Sussex. The couple have not, in the reports cited here, commented on the break itself. Thomas Markle Snr's denial stands alongside the allegations he is answering, and the Philippine investigation has not reached a conclusion.