It started off mysteriously. On January 1 this year, Meghan Markle returned to Instagram with a video of her running along the beach on an overcast day to write 2025 in the sand. There was no caption, but the message got through—Meghan is back on social media and watch this space.
Fast forward six months, and the Duchess of Sussex has just dropped her most revealing post to date, one that has caused quite a stir. The video of her and Harry dancing in the delivery room four years ago while she was pregnant with Princess Lilibet has not only been seen by the 3.3 million people now following her on Instagram. It has also been picked up by news outlets across the world and appeared on the front page of two UK newspapers.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (@meghan)
As is so often the case with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the reaction has included a lot of criticism. “Did they think twerking like trailer-trash teens would endear them to the masses?” was the headline on a piece in the Daily Mail.
Another Daily Mail writer claimed it “makes a mockery of their claims to be a deeply private couple who just want to get on with their lives away from prying eyes.” An opinion piece in the Evening Standard newspaper began with the lines “All one can say is, thank God the Queen isn’t alive to see it.” And several commentators have declared themselves so surprised by the content that they thought Meghan’s account had been hacked or that it was a spoof.
It’s not surprising the video has attracted comment because it stands out as being by far the most intimate moment Meghan has posted on Instagram. As such, it seems like an unleashing of sorts; a bold decision to fully embrace social media after six months of what has at times appeared to be testing the waters. Previously, she has posted unfiltered monologues followed by slick promotional videos. Pictures of food and products are interspersed with throwback images to childhood memories. There have often been critical reactions to her posts, but this does not seem to have put her off embracing the platform. Indeed, this latest video suggests that, by contrast, Meghan feels increasingly liberated to use it.
Given how much the Sussexes have spoken about the downsides of social media it is impossible not to look at her current embrace of Instagram through that lens. In October 2020, the same year she and Harry stepped back as working royals, Meghan told a Fortune summit she had not used social media for a long time for her own “self-preservation.” In the same conversation, she said, “I have a lot of concerns for people that have become obsessed with it and it is so much a part of our daily culture for so many people that it is an addiction.”
Yet a closer look at what she has said provides more food for thought. “When the car was first invented, there wasn’t a seatbelt… And what happened?” Meghan told a mental health panel in October 2023. “People started to get hurt, people started to die. So you started to change the car…You would put in safeguards so that this new piece of something that is part of our evolution is adapting to keep people safe…And so as we watch the evolution of social media and the internet, what are those same modifications we need to make to ensure that just like that car we are adapting to the times because people are getting hurt?”
It is notable that Meghan does not have the comments enabled on her Instagram account. Could this be the safeguard that makes Instagram a place she can embrace? She can’t control what people say about her online, but she can control what her little piece of it looks like.
An ongoing criticism of Meghan’s Instagram is her choice to share details of her personal life after complaining about media intrusion. Many may—and clearly do—find it surprising that the Sussexes have at times wanted to put certain information in the public domain. While some people like the content, others do not. However, a stance of wanting to have control and choice about what is public and what is private is not in any way unusual for public figures, including the other royals. An invasion of privacy is not the same thing as choosing to make public something about yourself.
It is easy to see why Meghan would want a social media account. She has a business and a brand and the Archewell or As Ever websites do not give her the same ability to showcase herself or curate her personal voice and image. It also gives her a way to be present and in the public domain when the brand and business does not have any immediate news to share. It is clear that she likes being in the pubic eye, and that she wants to continue to do it on her own terms.
Criticism and controversy may rage elsewhere online, but Meghan’s Instagram is a place for her joy.
You Might Also Like
-
12 Weekend Getaway Spas For Every Type of Occasion
-
13 Beauty Tools to Up Your At-Home Facial Game
