Meghan Markle withdraws from Brussels child-safety talk after father's arrest
Meghan Markle withdrew from a planned keynote on children's online safety at the European Parliament in Brussels on 2 November, after her father Thomas Markle Sr. was arrested in Florida and charged with possession of child sexual abuse material, reports said on 9 November. The arrest followed FBI seizures of alleged illegal images from storage units in California and Mexico and his subsequent house detention in Florida. Philippine authorities later said they were cooperating with U. S. agencies and apologized for mistakenly naming Thomas Markle Jr.
as a person of interest. Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, helped confirm her father's presence in the seized material, prompting the federal charge. Earlier, Philippine police had announced a joint investigation into material found at Thomas Markle Sr. 's home in Cebu, and the interior secretary identified his son as a person of interest, though he was not a suspect. The FBI’s raids and the cross-border cooperation led to the federal indictment that triggered the cancellation of the Brussels engagement.
