Meghan makes first public appearance since father’s arrest but pulls out of speech

Duchess ‘not strong enough’ to speak about child safety after Thomas Markle Sr charged with child sexual offences

The Duchess of Sussex has attended an event remembering children who have died after being subjected to online harm, in her first public appearance since her father was charged with child sexual offences.

Thomas Markle, 82, was arrested by FBI agents at a care home for dementia patients, where he had been living, in connection with possessing alleged child sexual abuse material. He was placed under house arrest on Saturday by a court in Tampa, Florida.

Federal agents had seized material from two Los Angeles storage units he had rented for nearly two decades after his son, Thomas Markle Jr, found alleged child abuse images in his father’s belongings and reported him to police in the Philippines and the US.

Meghan has said she is “deeply distressed” at the allegations surrounding her father, from whom she has been estranged since the run-up to her 2018 wedding. She has made it clear that she is keen to assist the FBI, saying she would not only “absolutely cooperate” with all global authorities investigating her father but would “very much like to”.

Meghan and Prince Harry were due to make a rare dual address on Tuesday at the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial at the European parliament in Brussels to speak about the importance of children’s digital safety.

But although she attended the event, Meghan made a last-minute decision to pull out of speaking, with sources telling the Telegraph on Monday that she was “just not strong enough, emotionally, to be doing any public speaking right now”.

Meghan held Harry’s hand tightly when she arrived at the Paul-Henri Spaak building and did not answer reporters’ questions.

The Duke of Sussex later gave the 20-minute keynote speech alone. He stressed the importance of prevention, saying children should feel safe “at any time, no matter where they are”, and did not directly reference Markle Sr. He also criticised tech companies’ privacy policies, which block grieving parents from accessing deceased children’s phones to understand their deaths.

“Why, when we ask whether it can keep a child safe, does everything suddenly become complicated?” he asked. “I am not asking for a world without technology. That isn’t possible, it isn’t what young people want, and it certainly isn’t what I want for my own children.

“My approach to life, and to the value of it, has perhaps unsurprisingly always been about prevention. Preventing harm before it happens, rather than waiting for tragedy before deciding something must change,” he added.

Meghan hugged Sandra Spitaels, who gave a speech about her 15-year-old son, Glenn, who killed himself in 2017 after a nude image of him was posted online.

Harry appeared to ask Spitaels: “Are you OK?”

The Lost Screen Memorial, which was launched in New York last month, is a collection of images of young people whose deaths are believed to have been influenced by their experiences online. It is now being shown in Europe and is supported by Harry and Meghan’s Archewell charity.