The Duchess of Sussex appeared in Brussels alongside Prince Harry for an event dedicated to child safety online. After the very serious accusations made against her father Thomas Markle, Meghan decided not to intervene publicly because she was too emotionally stressed
Meghan Markle returned in front of the cameras, but chose not to speak. The Duchess of Sussex accompanied Prince Harry to the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday 10 November, on the occasion of the inauguration of a memorial dedicated to children who have died as a result of harm suffered through social media. An appointment that should have seen both Sussexes protagonists of a public speech and which instead turned into Meghan’s first appearance after the arrest of her father, Thomas Markle, accused in the United States of possession of child pornography.
The duchess, who arrived dressed in black and hand in hand with her husband, did not answer journalists’ questions. He was supposed to speak on the safety of minors online, but he declined to speak. According to what a source told the British newspaper TheTelegraphMeghan would not feel emotionally strong enough to address a public speech at this time.
Meghan Markle and the arrest of her father Thomas
What makes the duchess’s presence in Brussels particularly delicate is the legal matter involving Thomas Markle, 82, arrested on November 6 in Florida as part of a federal investigation conducted by the FBI.
According to the US Department of Justice, investigators seized approximately 78 items, including slides, photographic negatives and books containing alleged child sexual abuse material. The material was located in two warehouses in the Los Angeles area that Markle had been renting since 2008.
Among the images described in the investigation documents are photographs depicting a man, identified by a witness as Thomas Markle, together with underage girls.
The man, who had previously denied the charges, appeared in federal court in Tampa and was released pending judicial developments, under house arrest and electronic monitoring. A judge also ordered a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he is able to understand the proceedings and participate in his defense. For the federal crime he faces, if convicted, he faces up to twenty years in prison. The presumption of innocence remains valid.
Meghan, who has not had a relationship with her father for years, had already declared that she was deeply troubled by the accusations that emerged in the weeks preceding the arrest.
Harry at the European Parliament: «I am here as a father»
In Brussels, Prince Harry kept his promise, giving the speech alone during the inauguration of the Lost Screen Memorialan installation that remembers, through large reproductions of smartphones, the children and adolescents who died after harmful experiences lived online.
«I am not here as an expert or as a politician. I am here as a father. My wife as a mother,” said the Duke of Sussex, underlining the couple’s support for families who have lost their children.
His speech focused on the responsibilities of digital platforms and the need to guarantee greater transparency to parents, especially when they try to reconstruct what happened to their children through their devices and accounts.
Harry said some families had to wait years to access their missing children’s phones, hampered by tech companies’ privacy policies.
The prince made no direct reference to his father-in-law’s arrest.
The event in the European Parliament brought together institutions, associations and parents committed to the protection of minors in the digital environment. Among the testimonies also that of Sandra Spitaels, mother of Glenn, a Belgian teenager who committed suicide in 2017 after an intimate image of him was spread online.
During the visit Meghan hugged the woman, a gesture documented by photographs of the event. The memorial was inaugurated at a time when European institutions are discussing new measures to strengthen the safety of children on digital platforms and hold big tech companies accountable.
The battle for the protection of minors online is one of the public commitments that Harry and Meghan have long carried out through their philanthropic activities and support for the families of the victims.
This time, however, the initiative inevitably also took on a personal dimension. On the one hand the prince’s words on the need to protect children, on the other the silence of the duchess, while the father finds himself at the center of particularly serious accusations.
Meghan nevertheless decided to participate in the appointment, without giving up being present alongside her husband and the families involved. No statement on the judicial matter, no response to questions from the press. For the Duchess of Sussex, at least for now, only the images of the day in Brussels speak.
