Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is speaking out amid reports that her estranged father, Thomas Markle Sr., had a massive stash of child sex abuse materials at his home in the Philippines.

“I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours, and my thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed,” she said in a statement to multiple media outlets on Friday.

The Duchess of Sussex added that she had been made aware of a letter sent to the British police and other authorities in 2018, which “made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated.”

The claims against Markle’s father were first reported by British tabloid The Sun. It alleged her half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr., discovered child abuse materials in storage boxes at his father’s residence in Cebu, and and he subsequently reported the discovery in July to an FBI hotline, the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children and state police in Pennsylvania. He said he found numerous child pornographic images and videos of girls no older than 10 or 11 years old.

The report also included an image of Markle Jr. signing a sworn statement it said he had submitted to police.

“I won’t speak to my father ever again unless I’m called to give evidence against him,” he told The Sun.

Thomas has since denied the allegations, calling them “sick lies” in a statement to the Daily Mail.

Philippines state media confirmed that an investigation into the matter is underway with a Facebook post on Friday.

“The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday said it is investigating reports involving an octogenarian American national who left child abuse videos and photos in his home in Cebu province,” the state-run Philippine News Agency said.

Thomas married Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, in 1979 and they later divorced in 1987.

Markle and her father have been completely estranged since May 2018. Their relationship broke down right before her royal wedding to Prince Harry after Thomas admitted to colluding with paparazzi to stage photographs. He did not attend the nuptials, and their rift has only grown in the years since.

“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 on Friday. “I trusted that the authorities were doing the same for other families.”

Meghan, 45, and Harry, 42, moved back to the United Kingdom earlier this summer with their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, after several years in the United States. The couple made their first joint public appearance last week visiting charities across central England.

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