The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, has pulled out of a planned joint keynote speech with Prince Harry on online child safety because she is ‘not strong enough’ emotionally following the recent arrest of her father, Thomas Markle Sr.
The couple was setto both speak at the European Parliament to open their Lost Screen Memorial, which has been created by their Archewell Foundation to commemorate the lives of children who have lost their lives as a result of the harm they suffered on social media.
The joint outing, and their first official trip overseas since their move back to the UK in August, comes just days after Meghan’s dad, Thomas Markle Sr was released on bail after appearing in a US court accused of possessing child sex abuse material.
Sources indicate Meghan is too emotionally overwhelmed to deliver the speech, though she will still attend alongside Prince Harry for her first public appearance since the family news broke.
A source told The Telegraph: ‘She’s just not strong enough, emotionally, to be doing any public speaking right now.’
Harry will still give his speech as planned, and it is claimed he hopes his words will be understood with his father-in-law’s arrest.
Markle Sr was arrested by FBI agents on Friday after they seized a haul of material from two Los Angeles storage units he rented for nearly two decades. He is charged with one count of possession of child pornography.
