Harry and Meghan to visit Brussels in wake of allegations facing duchess’ father
The Sussexes will spend the day at the European Parliament, and deliver a joint speech to mark the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to carry out a visit to Brussels next week, as they resume public appearances in the wake of child sexual abuse image allegations facing Meghan’s father.
Harry and Meghan will deliver a joint keynote address at the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial in the European Parliament on Tuesday.
It is expected to be the first time the pair will have been seen since Thomas Markle Snr was reported to police in the Philippines and the FBI over a haul of suspected child abuse images.
The brief trip abroad will see Harry and Meghan listen to addresses by European Parliament president Roberta Metsola and MEP Antonio Lopez-Isturiz, the first vice-chair of the Child Rights Intergroup, before delivering their own speech.
The Sussexes will have between 15 and 20 minutes between them for their rare dual-address, which they will use to speak about the importance of children’s digital safety.
Harry and Meghan will also be shown the memorial exhibition, which remembers children who have lost their lives as a result of the harm they suffered on social media.
The duke will later join a panel discussion called Beyond Promises: Building A Digital Future That Works For Children to discuss how to protect children online.
Questions will be permitted from the audience, but not the media.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has said videos of alleged child sexual abuse and exploitation were among files found in four storage boxes that allegedly belonged to Mr Markle Snr, after he was reported by his son Thomas Markle Jr.
Major General Wilson Asueta of the PNP said it had yet to be confirmed who owned the devices which included nine mobile phones, three SD cards, five hard drives and a camera.
Mr Markle Sr, who is now in a dementia care home in the US, has admitted to paying for sex in the Philippines but denied ever possessing child abuse imagery.
Meghan, who moved back to the UK with Harry in August, said she was “deeply distressed” at the allegations about her father, from whom she has been estranged since the run-up to her 2018 wedding.
She revealed she was sent a letter via the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection in 2019 which made “troubling and disturbing allegations” about her father, but that she was given assurances these were being investigated.
The Met has admitted it never shared the details with other law enforcement agencies, with the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), now investigating the force’s conduct.
The duchess had wanted to “speak out” immediately after reading the letter but police advised her against this, sources said.
When former TV lighting director Mr Markle had his leg amputated in the Philippines last year, he made pleas for the duchess to contact him.
Meghan is said to have written him a final letter in which she said she knew he was an abuser and that he would never see his grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.