ReutersThe allegations of sexual abuse against Thomas Markle have put his daughter Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, under an uncomfortable spotlight.
She has been dealing with this potential news time-bomb out of sight for seven years, while appearing to share so much about her life in TV series and interviews.
Thomas Markle has strongly rejected the claims as “lies” which are being used to destroy his reputation.
But could this complicated story prove to be a turning point for Meghan, who has had a complicated and often hostile relationship with the UK public?
ITV/ ShutterstockMeghan, who recently moved back to the UK with Prince Harry and their children, has frequently been accused of cutting off those once close to her.
Her treatment of her father was seen as a prime example.
“She ditched her family, ditched her dad, ditched most of her old friends, split Harry from William,” wrote one commentator in 2020.
“Get on a plane and go see the poor man before it’s too late,” she was told on social media about her father.
All of that might need to be viewed in a different and more sympathetic light.
By 2019, Meghan had received disturbing allegations about Thomas Markle, in a letter from her father’s first wife, Roslyn Loveless.
She says it is why she kept her distance and also why she didn’t bring her children to him, including when she moved to the United States with her family.
That letter was shared with Meghan by the police, at a time when she was classified as a working royal. It’s not clear who else knew about the letter, including Palace officials, but it must have been a sensitive matter for her.
And according to the Sussexes’ spokesman, Meghan believed an investigation into the allegations was going ahead, presumably at a time when she was on official trips and having to put on a brave face.
There was also criticism levelled at Meghan in December 2025 when her father was in hospital in the Philippines, undergoing the amputation of his leg.
“I don’t want to die estranged from Meghan. I want to meet my grandkids. It might be nice to meet her husband too,” Markle told the Mail on Sunday at the time.
There was a media storm about whether Meghan was going to reach out to her father, culminating in a letter being delivered from her to her father, which at the time was assumed to be well-wishes.
But that whole episode now looks different with the benefit of hindsight. That letter was a much more fraught affair. It revealed that Meghan knew about the allegations against her father.
We now understand that Meghan was telling him he would never see his grandchildren.
Thomas Markle has strongly denied all the allegations against him, saying they are “sick lies” which are trying to destroy his reputation.
His daughter Samantha Markle has also rejected the claims, saying the stories are “fake news” and “clickbait”.
“There will be no legal action against my dad with no evidence in so many flimsy stories and my dad never had access to any such content and was in the hospital most of the time that he was there,” she wrote on X on Sunday.
Samantha also challenges the credibility of the letter written by her mother, Roslyn Loveless, which was shared with Meghan in 2019 and contained details of allegations of sexual abuse against Thomas Markle.
When you look through photos of Meghan at events over the last seven years, you wonder what was going on behind the familiar smile.
Those years have seen Netflix films, a tell-all memoir by Prince Harry, cookery series, podcasts and TV interviews. But a hidden narrative has been running in the background.
Meghan’s supporters have pointed to other factors in how she has been treated, with racism and sexism part of that toxic mix.
But maybe there was also a sense of not knowing the authentic person behind the polished Brand Meghan.
On Instagram, she has curated her life to look idyllic, but perhaps she’ll get a more generous hearing now that her back story is as messy and imperfect as everyone else’s.
It could still be an uphill struggle to become more popular, beyond her own vocal, core group of supporters.
A survey from YouGov earlier this month found 22% of people had a positive view of Meghan, compared with 49% who dislike her.
That suggests there is still some way to go before Meghan fully wins the trust of the public. Fascination, yes. But affection, not always.
For the British public, Californian Meghan hasn’t always translated well.
But perhaps this complex, still developing story – and the light it sheds on previous years – might mean there’s a more rounded view of her in the future.
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