London Police Confirm Receipt of 2019 Letter on Thomas Markle

London's Metropolitan Police confirmed on Saturday that it received a letter in 2019 making multiple claims about Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.

The police stated that the document was forwarded to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness. No details of the specific allegations were shared with other law enforcement agencies at the time.

This confirmation follows a week of intense media coverage regarding Markle's legal troubles. The Sun reported on Thursday that Markle's son, Thomas Markle Jr., had reported his father to authorities in the Philippines. The younger Markle allegedly discovered child abuse materials in storage boxes at the family home in that country.

By Friday, reports indicated that Philippine authorities were addressing Markle regarding alleged possession of child sexual abuse materials. The Daily Mail noted that Markle denied the allegations in a statement sent to CBS News on Friday, Meghan said she was deeply distressed by the news. She claimed she had known of the allegations since 2018 and that they had been shared with U.K. authorities then.

Meghan stated in her letter that a document was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection in 2018. She said the letter was shared with her and contained troubling and disturbing allegations against her father. She added that she was given assurances the matter was being investigated. Meghan also explained that she kept her distance from her father to protect her children, citing media distortion over the years as a factor in her decision to limit their contact.

The two accounts differ on the date the letter was sent, with Meghan citing 2018 and the police citing 2019. A spokesman for the duchess told BBC News that any discrepancy of a few months was an understandable consequence of the passage of time. The Metropolitan Police said it will review how the matter was handled in 2019. The force will decide during that review whether to refer itself to the police watchdog.