Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have more than 10 million followers on their Instagram account @sussexroyal, although they haven’t been updated since March 2020, the month they formally ended their run as senior royalty. Now the news is coming that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are not returning to social media under any conditions.
A source close to the couple said The Sunday Times that the duo, who have moved to California since the royal holiday, “have no plans” to use social media, even when they launch their new venture, the Archewell Foundation. The source also said it was “very unlikely” that the couple would use social media in any kind of personal capacity.
For anyone interested in the couple, this should come as no surprise. Markle previously commented on her decision not to have a social media account, saying in a virtual chat with Fortune in September that, “For my own self-preservation, I haven’t been on social media for a long time”. She added: “I made a personal choice of not having an account, so I don’t know what’s out there and the many ways that this is useful to me.” Before her engagement to Prince Harry, Markle had her own Instagram account, as well as a now closed blog called The Tig.
Markle was also very outspoken about the hatred she received online and how damaging it was. Most recently, she shared her experience as a guest – alongside her husband – on the podcast Therapy for teenagers. “I was told that in 2019 I was the most trolled person in the world, male or female,” she said, mentioning the couple’s youngest son, Archie. “Now, [for] eight months later I wasn’t even visible – I was on maternity leave or with a baby. But what was able to be manufactured and produced is almost impossible to survive. “
Markle was also notoriously persecuted by her own family, mainly by her father, who sold pictures of himself preparing for his wedding to the paparazzi, and criticized his departure from royal duties. Now her half sister, Samantha Markle, is launching a book that tells everything, Princess Pushy’s sister’s diary, part 1, at the end of this month. Thomas Markle, father of Meghan and Samantha, recently expressed support for the book, saying Us Weekly, “I am delighted that she has completed this book.”
Their silence on social media does not mean that Meghan and Harry are delaying their work. Markle wrote an article for the New York Times in November, clarifying her recent abortion and offering support to millions of other women in the process. She and Prince Harry also recently signed multi-year deals with Spotify and Netflix, and are working with the Archewell Foundation – which does not have an official social media presence, but, according to its website, is working to “release the power of compassion to drive systemic cultural change ”through nonprofit work and production.
In their signature post last March from their Sussex Royal account, the couple wrote, “Although you can’t see us here, the work continues.” They remained true to their word.
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