FBI agents are reportedly set to open a probe into Meghan Markle’s estranged father after his son says he uncovered child sex abuse images at a home in the Philippines.

The New York Post reported that Thomas Markle Jr. found what he described as a large collection of child sex abuse images at Thomas Markle Sr.’s residence in Cebu and took the claim to police and federal authorities.

Markle Jr., 60, said the material turned up in storage boxes at the home. He later brought in an IT expert to examine three computer hard drives. Philippine police are preparing to seize evidence from four large boxes, and the Philippine government’s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking has reportedly stood up a task force on the case.

No charges or arrests are described as filed. The FBI has not commented. The claims remain allegations under review, not proven findings in court.

Son says he found the material and called authorities

Markle Jr. said that in July he reported the discovery to the FBI hotline, the U.S. National Center for Exploited and Missing Children, and state police in Pennsylvania, where his father had been living. He also contacted local police in Cebu.

He described the scale in stark terms: “hundreds, if not thousands,” of images. After he called authorities, he enlisted technical help to open the hard drives.

Markle Jr. gave this account of what he saw on the desktop:

“His desktop was full of row upon row of thumbnail pictures linking to the most sickening child abuse imaginable. The worst of the worst,”

That description is his claim. Independent public confirmation of the image count beyond his account and unnamed sourcing is not laid out in the available reporting.

FBI interest and a Philippine task force

U.S. investigators are described as poised to open their own case. A source close to the matter in Cebu said federal agents have already reached across the ocean for local contacts.

The source said:

“An FBI agent has already requested the contact details of investigators leading the case in the Philippines,”

The same source added that cross-border cases of this kind often draw FBI attention:

“There is a strong precedent for cases in circumstances like this to be investigated by the FBI,”

Federal work on child exploitation is not new ground for the bureau, including an FBI child exploitation sting that ended in a lengthy prison term in Virginia.

The Post asked the FBI about the reported probe. The bureau did not respond. The Sun first carried the discovery account before the Post’s follow-up.

Other recent bureau actions have kept the FBI in the headlines, from powder-letter probes tied to Senate offices to separate tracking of suspicious mailings aimed at election offices.

Markle Sr.’s health, location, and long family split

Thomas Markle Sr., 82, is a retired lighting director and a former “General Hospital” crew member. He is described as a Florida resident now staying in a nursing and rehabilitation center there after returning to the United States.

In 2025 he suffered a blood clot that led to amputation of his left leg. In March he confirmed he was dating Rio Canedo, a 46-year-old Filipino nurse, after that health fight.

He has been estranged from daughter Meghan Markle since 2018. He has never met Prince Harry. Before the Windsor Castle wedding that year, he claimed a heart attack; Meghan was born during his marriage to Doria Ragland.

Public focus on Harry and Meghan has stayed intense for years, including coverage of their break with royal life and U.S. political reaction and later moments such as Prince Harry’s rocky AI remarks at a Clinton Global Initiative event.

A source close to Meghan tied the new allegations to the family’s long silence:

“Now maybe people will finally understand why she has had nothing to do with her father since 2018,”

That is one associate’s reading of the estrangement. It is not a finding by investigators, and it does not replace the need for evidence tested in a proper case.

What is confirmed so far, and what is not

Here is the concrete sequence on the record in the reporting: Markle Jr. says he found images in boxes at the Cebu home, reported the find in July to U.S. and local channels, and later used an IT expert on three hard drives. Philippine authorities are preparing a seizure from four large boxes. A trafficking task force has been formed. An FBI agent has asked for Philippine investigators’ contact details. Markle Sr. is in Florida medical care, not described as in custody on these claims.

Here is what is not established in that same reporting: a formal public announcement that the FBI has opened a full case file, completed seizures, filed charges, or issued warrants. Motive for the alleged collection is not stated. Exact calendar years for the July report and the March dating confirmation are not pinned down in the body text beyond those month labels.

Child sex abuse material cases demand methodical police work, chain of custody, and proof that holds up. Family fame does not lower that bar, and it does not raise it either. Taxpayers fund the FBI and partner agencies to chase this crime because children are the victims on those files, not celebrities and not cable arguments.

If the images are what the son alleges, every responsible office in Cebu and Washington should finish the evidence trail and say so in charging language. If the claim collapses under forensics, that outcome should be stated just as clearly. Half-finished rumor helps no one, least of all the kids whose abuse gets traded as digital product.

Law and order means the same rules for a retired TV lighting man as for anyone else: gather the drives, test the facts, and let the record, not the last name, decide what comes next.