RICHARD KAY: What insiders told me about whether Royals will reach out to Meghan and Harry. It’s an opportunity to reconcile but there are risks – and the Palace is scrambling

Even in the bulging annals of royal scandals, which have accommodated almost every conceivable plot over the centuries, it is as unique as it is unsavoury.

Yesterday, the father-in-law of the King’s son was said by investigators to be a ‘possible sex offender of the grossest kind’.

This astonishing claim from the interior minister of the Philippines came after authorities there began analysing digital images of child sexual abuse seized from the former home of the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father Thomas Markle.

The repercussions of this repulsive discovery – said to include an image of Markle engaging in sex with a girl who appears to be underage – were being felt 7,000 miles away as Buckingham Palace raced to find a coherent position on what is shaping up to be yet another highly damaging crisis for the monarchy.

On the face of it, this sordid episode should have no impact on the working life of the Royal Family, which will this week see King Charles and Queen Camilla embark on a sensitive tour of the Caribbean, which will take in the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Antigua and Barbuda.

As if that gathering was not already delicate enough, with the King facing demands for both an apology and reparations for the slave trade, the revelations from South-East Asia have added another level of complexity.

There has, understandably, been a surge of public sympathy for the King’s daughter-in-law, who has disclosed that she finally broke off all contact with her father a year ago after reportedly telling him that she was aware of allegations he had abused young girls.

In a letter sent to Markle while he was in hospital in the Philippines having had a leg amputated, Meghan apparently made clear he would never see his grandchildren – Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five – and she would never contact him again.

The revelations concerning her father have prompted an outpouring of affection for her, particularly from mothers. By speaking out about her distress over the Met police’s failure to act on the abuse claims when they were first raised, that swell of popular sympathy has only increased.

But for the monarchy this newfound goodwill represents both a danger and an opportunity.

Ever since their return to Britain in August, public interest in Prince Harry and Meghan has remained high, despite them making only a handful of public appearances. It is their mere presence on UK soil that is intriguing. Why did they come back? How long will they stay? Will they be reconciled with William and Kate?

The questions are as endless as they are fascinating. And the few quasi-royal engagements they have carried out have proved emphatically how much they can distract attention from the activities of the working Windsors.

In many ways it has meant that the Royal Family, whether they like it or not, are being judged by the activities of the two former working royals. With some notable exceptions, many of their headline-grabbing stunts during their ‘Megxit’ years in California could be ignored because of their physical distance from the UK and the time difference. But now they are based in the Cotswolds, it is a different story.

And for the royals it can feel too close for comfort.

So how then should the King and the rest of the family react to what is, after all, a clearly troubling but deeply personal issue?

If the public’s perception of Meghan has shifted then, many will argue, why can’t the royals’ attitude change, too?

One reason, of course, relates to the issue of trust. From the Oprah Winfrey interview and the wildly over-hyped Netflix docuseries to Harry’s tawdry memoir, Spare, the couple have demonstrated scant regard for family ties and royal obligations. Scores were settled, vitriol dished out and grievances aired on an unprecedented scale.

After speaking to friends of the Royal Family this weekend, one argument I heard over and over again went like this: if family members reach out to the couple, will it remain confidential or will it – like Meghan’s extraordinary revelation that she had been shown a letter containing claims about her father’s alleged offending by Scotland Yard in 2019 – become public knowledge?

On the other hand, the friends continued, if the royals do nothing at all, will that become a source of resentment and eventual public complaint? The cold Windsors’ failure to communicate with Meghan at a time of such deep personal anxiety could be weaponised by being leaked through Harry and Meghan’s favourite channels.

As a grandfather and a Christian, Charles, I am sure, will offer compassion and support to Meghan. Remember how, as Prince of Wales, he walked her up the aisle on her wedding day when her father pulled out of the ceremony, citing ill health. Knowing what we do now, perhaps Mr Markle’s absence from his daughter’s side at Windsor that day can be seen in a different light.

Harry is not thought to have seen his father since his return. A meeting now looks much more likely.

For Prince William, however, the stakes are higher. He, more than anyone, has little reason to offer a consoling hand. In his book, Harry presented his relationship with the brother he called his ‘arch nemesis’ as strained and difficult.

He even described a physical altercation the pair had, which ended up with William ripping Harry’s necklace and knocking him to the floor.

There’s no doubt that Harry and Meghan’s return to the UK has had a greater impact on William than anyone else in the Royal Family. During the ten weeks or so that his brother has been back in the UK, it has cast an, at times, uneasy spotlight on the Prince of Wales and how he engages with people.

Some figures close to the royals have openly wondered if William’s decision to appear on Graham Norton’s prime-time chat show on Friday night was somehow related to the fact his brother is now back in Britain.

Although he came across well, and his appearance was judged a great success by Press and public alike, it is also tempting to wonder if he would have considered opening up on Norton’s sofa had it not been for Harry’s enduring obsession with unburdening himself to the cameras. Was William, in short, upping his game because of his brother’s presence?

The two have not spoken for more than four years, since Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. If they are ever to reconcile, might not this be an unlikely but nevertheless worthwhile opportunity?

Some in William’s circle insist that nothing has changed. As disturbing as the claims swirling around Thomas Markle are, they do not turn the clock back. ‘The Prince of Wales remains deeply hurt by the betrayal of him and Catherine in the book,’ says one.

There are, however, many questions left still unanswered about this wretched affair. In her first intervention last week, Meghan said she had been shown the letter about her father’s alleged sex abuse of children – which was yesterday claimed to have been written by Markle’s first wife, Roslyn Loveless, who died in 2024 – by royal protection officers.

At the time in 2019, the Sussexes’ police bodyguards were part of the team that also protected Charles – then Prince of Wales – and Camilla, as well as William and Harry.

It would not be unusual for other members of the squad to have knowledge of such a letter and, if so, might it also have been passed to Charles?

Why nothing appears to have been done to investigate Ms Loveless’s allegations, despite Meghan claiming she had been assured at the time that they would be investigated, remains one of the mysteries of the saga and – rightly – the subject of a new and crucial Scotland Yard inquiry.

The coming days will tell if sympathy alone is enough to force the royals into rethinking their relationship with Harry and Meghan. In some quarters, the duchess’s decision to address the claims about her father directly have seen her favourably dubbed a ‘tiger mom’, fearlessly defending her children in the face of unspeakable allegations of depravity.

Might such comparisons shift the dial when it comes to public attitudes towards her?

Not so long ago, Harry and Meghan were seen not as agents of change but of destruction, whose behaviour could wreck Britain’s affection for the monarchy.

It would be too far-fetched to suggest that they could now be its saviours, but wouldn’t it be something if, out of this dark episode, something tangibly good emerged: a family reconciliation?