Thomas Markle has vehemently denied possessing child-sex images, describing the accusations as 'sick lies'.
Mr Markle, 82, said allegations made by his son Tom Jr that he downloaded child pornography on to computers and cellphones 'is the worst thing anyone could accuse me of'.
The Duchess of Sussex's father spoke exclusively to the Daily Mail from a rehabilitation centre in Florida where he is learning to walk with a prosthetic limb after his left leg was amputated below the knee last December when doctors found a massive blood clot.
He said: 'I'm shocked, I'm hurt and I'm very upset that my son is making these accusations against me.
'I could never do what I'm being accused of. It's the worst thing anyone could accuse me of.
'This is bulls****. It's just a bunch of lies. It's sick. I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies.'
Meghan's half-brother Tom Jr, 60, made the bombshell claims to The Sun, saying he found 'hundreds' of child-sex images stored on computers and a mobile phone in four large storage boxes 'left behind' by Mr Markle when he moved back to the States from the Philippines earlier this year.
Thomas Markle has vehemently denied possessing child-sex images, describing the accusations as 'sick lies' (Pictured with daughter Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, in 2011)
Mr Markle said allegations made by his son Tom Jr that he downloaded child pornography on to computers and cellphones 'is the worst thing anyone could accuse me of'
Samantha Markle, left, pictured with her father Thomas Sr and brother Thomas Jr. Tom Jr has accused his father of downloading child pornography on to computers and cellphones
Mr Markle challenged his son's account on Friday, claiming that the computers had not been in his possession since he left Rosarito, Mexico, with his son in January 2025 and moved to the Philippines 'for a fresh start'. He said: 'Those computers were boxed up in Mexico and put on a cargo ship which took months to get to the Philippines.
'I kept asking Tom for my computers but he wouldn't give them to me.'
Mr Markle, who has been estranged from his youngest daughter since she married Prince Harry in 2018 and has never met his grandchildren, Archie, seven, and five-year-old Lilibet, said: 'Tom told me they were in the basement of an apartment block we were living in. I could never understand why he wouldn't give them to me.
'I don't know who had access to the computers.'
He said that after they moved to two adjoining houses in December 2025, he was taken ill with the blood clot and was in hospital and then a rehabilitation centre.
He added: 'Whenever I asked Tom to bring my computers to me he refused.'
Asked about a quote from a 'source close to Meghan' who reportedly told The Sun, 'Now maybe people will finally understand why she has had nothing to do with her father since 2018', Mr Markle replied: 'I don't believe that.'
He said he and Meghan had a 'great' relationship until she met Prince Harry and he 'stupidly' posed for paparazzi pictures on the eve of the couple's wedding.
Within days he had two heart attacks and was unable to walk her down the aisle.
Meghan's brother Thomas Markle Jr (above) claimed to have found the child sex abuse images at the former home of Thomas Sr in the Philippines
The development comes after the Duchess of Sussex revealed on Friday she had been made aware of the 'troubling and disturbing' claims made in 2018
Mr Markle has been in declining health for years. When he spoke to the Daily Mail, nurses at the rehab centre had just performed an electrocardiogram because his heart rate became worryingly high thanks to the stress of learning about his son's accusations against him.
Mr Markle returned to the States for medical treatment in May.
Tom Jr claimed he looked into four storage boxes containing his father's possessions in July this year to find a mobile phone for his fiancee, Rose.
When he opened one phone he said he was horrified to see a graphic child-sex image. But Mr Markle insisted: 'I have never downloaded anything like that in my life.'
Tom Jr later opened a computer and said he saw a screensaver with 'hundreds' of disturbing thumbnail images. He claimed he also saw video of a young girl engaged in a sex act.
When asked directly by the Daily Mail, 'Did you download porn on to your computers?' Mr Markle replied: 'Never. Never. Never. I have never done that.'
He said he would welcome a computer expert who could 'autopsy' the computers – clarifying later that he meant they could examine the machines forensically – to determine whether he was in possession of the computers when the alleged content was downloaded. 'These terrible lies are being made against me with no proof,' he said.
'How can you accuse a man of something like this with no proof?
'I have not spoken to Tom in months. I don't know where this has come from. I can only think he's doing this to make money. I go between feeling very sad to feeling very angry.'
Mr Markle has had a turbulent relationship with Tom Jr, who left his home in Oregon in 2022 to move to Rosarito, where Mr Markle retired after an award-winning career as a lighting director in Hollywood.
Mr Markle said: 'Tom came to live with me after I had a stroke. I supported him financially. I've supported him financially for most of his life.'
He added: 'That money stopped in July this year when a family member found he had been taking money from my account.'
Tom Jr made the first claims of finding the alleged child-abuse images a few days later, both to the FBI in America and to the US Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
This week he took the material to local police in the central city of Cebu in the Philippines in the company of a Sun journalist.
Detectives in Cebu have launched an official investigation.
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