Meghan Abandons Child-Safety Speech With Harry After Father’s Arrest for Possession of Pornography

Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, have cancelled a planned joint keynote speech on online child safety following the arrest of Ms. Markle’s father for possession of child pornography, signaling a deepening crisis for the Sussexes.The address was scheduled to be delivered to the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday, before news of the cancellation emerged Monday. Thomas Markle Sr. was arrested in Florida on Friday and charged with one count of possession of child pornography. The Department of Justice alleges that Mr. Markle kept “sexually explicit photographs of himself with prepubescent girls in two Los Angeles-area storage units he rented.”The duke and duchess are still planning to appear at Brussels for the opening of the “Lost Screen Memorial.” The display, jointly sponsored by the World Health Organization and the Sussexes’ charity, Archewell Philanthropies, features 50 illuminated light boxes, each displaying the lockscreen image of a child who died as a result of online violence. The Telegraph reports that a source described Ms. Markle as “just not strong enough, emotionally, to be doing any public speaking right now.”Prince Harry is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion that intends to “consider how legislation, regulation, and effective enforcement can translate existing commitments into meaningful protections for children online.”If Mr. Markle is convicted, he faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison. The Justice Department reports that investigators recovered 78 items from his storage units, including slides, film negatives, and books containing suspected child sexual abuse material. The arrest comes two weeks after Mr. Markle Jr. reported his father to law enforcement agencies in both America and the Philippines. Mr. Markle Jr. told the British Sun that “when I found this material I was horrified and I had no option but to report my dad.”Mr. Markle Sr. denies the allegations, telling the Daily Mail that they amount to “sick lies” and constitute the “worst thing anyone could accuse me of.” The duchess declared in a statement that the allegations against her father were “more sickening than one could ever imagine.” Ms. Markle disclosed that she was first made aware of the accusations by London’s Metropolitan Police in the year she married Prince Harry.“I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications’ distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children was for one reason: to protect them,” the duchess said. Before the Sussexes’ wedding, Mr. Markle Sr. sold photographs of his preparations for the event to the Mail on Sunday. He was subsequently uninvited to his daughter’s nuptials, and King Charles III, then the Prince of Wales, walked her down the aisle.Authorities were reportedly assisted in identifying Mr. Markle Sr. in photographs by Ms. Markle’s mother, Doria Ragland. The former social worker married Mr. Markle Sr. in 1979, and the couple divorced in 1987. The Justice Department says that “these allegations are extremely serious, and we will prosecute Mr. Markle to the fullest extent of federal law.”Mr. Markle had also been investigated in the Philippines, where he was living before returning to America in May following an emergency amputation of his left leg. The interior minister of that country, Jonvic Remulla, explained in a statement that “we have to consider all the angles. Right now, all signs point to a possible sex offender of the grossest kind.”Buckingham Palace has so far been mum on the arrest of Mr. Markle Sr. The Sussexes moved back to Britain in August after six years abroad in Montecito, California. The King has been adamant that the couple be considered “akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests.”

Meghan Abandons Child-Safety Speech With Harry After Father’s Arrest for Possession of Pornography

Meghan Abandons Child-Safety Speech With Harry After Father’s Arrest for Possession of Pornography

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