Why did the Sussexes keep blaming the press for Meghan's rift with her father DESPITE knowing of the disturbing allegations against him? RICHARD EDEN questions the motivation behind the 'extraordinary discrepancies' in the Duchess's story

On the latest episode of the Daily Mail's Palace Confidential, Diary Editor Richard Eden raises questions about the strange 'discrepancies' in the Sussexes' narrative over Meghan's cutting off of her father, Thomas Markle.Last week, it emerged that police in the Philippines were investigating the 82-year-old over allegations he possessed child sexual abuse material. Thomas Markle strenuously denies the allegations, and has not been charged.In a statement following reports in The Sun, Meghan revealed she had known of separate allegations against her father since 2018, after the Met shared a letter with her office. The Met says it received the letter in January 2019.This letter, which the Daily Mail understands was written by Thomas Markle's first wife, Roslyn Loveless, is believed to have contained claims that he had told her he travelled to the Philippines and Thailand 'because 12-year-olds are legal there'. Loveless died in 2024.Eden claims that Meghan's camp suggested the letter was why she cut ties with her father, when in fact she had already been estranged from him since her wedding in 2018.'The discrepancies in Harry and Meghan's account to me are extraordinary,' Eden explained. On the latest Palace Confidential, Richard Eden raises questions about the strange 'discrepancies' in the Sussexes' narrative over Meghan's cutting off of her father Last week, it emerged that police in the Philippines were investigating Thomas Markle over allegations he possessed child sexual abuse material. He denies the allegations'Even after receiving the letter about the alleged child abuse, they continued with this narrative of the press being to blame for her rift with her father.'We saw that in the Oprah Winfrey interview. We saw that in their Netflix programme, where Meghan talked about being a daddy's girl and Harry said he blamed himself for their rift.'Why would you do that when you know that he's been accused of these awful crimes?'The Sussexes say they did not speak publicly about the letter because they believed an investigation into the allegations was under way, and that speaking out could jeopardise it.While Eden acknowledged this reasoning was plausible, and that Meghan deserved some sympathy, he suggested they had simply stuck to 'the narrative that's already out there'.Host Richard Kay suggested many viewers would see it as Meghan 'yet again weaponising some terrible domestic episode'.'I really think that's the case,' Eden answered.'The first day this came out in The Sun, which by the way is a paper favoured by Harry and Meghan since their return to Britain, they have been briefing the press, giving a running commentary every day.'There was an almost gleeful statement which said, now you see why she cut off her father. That jarred a bit.'They really seem to have been using this, weaponising this, as a PR offensive to win sympathy for her.'Columnist Sarah Vine said that whatever else Meghan may have done, you can't help but feel sorry for her because of how 'horrific' the allegations are.She added that Meghan's 'very dysfunctional and traumatised' family background would 'inevitably' have affected her ability to settle into a role within the royal family.'While I don't think it takes away from the mistakes that Meghan has made, you have to feel sorry for her on a human level that this kind of toxicity is now in her life,' she said. Columnist Sarah Vine said that whatever else Meghan may have done, you can't help but feel sorry for her because of how 'horrific' the allegations are'The thing about Meghan is that she has had to escape a really quite grim family background, hasn't she?'William has married someone who comes from an incredibly healthy, functional family, and I think a lot of that has fed into his own responses and his own decisions.'Whereas Prince Harry has married someone from a very dysfunctional and traumatised family, and now we see potentially that the trauma runs even deeper.'I think that will inevitably have informed her ability to slip into a functioning royal role.'Watch the full episode of Palace Confidential on YouTube. From next week, Mail+ subscribers can watch new episodes a day early and ad-free.