Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit Abel Tasman National Park on October 29, 2018 in New Zealand. Getty
She famously streamlined her online presence after becoming engaged to Prince Harry, and the Duchess of Sussex hasn’t looked back since. The newlywed royal, who deleted her Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts in January, opened up about the pitfalls of social media this week, as part of her ongoing 16-day royal tour in the southern hemisphere. Speaking to a group from Live for Tomorrow, an online youth program, in Wellington, New Zealand, the mother-to-be warned that life online is not always as it seems.
“You see photos on social media and you don’t know whether she’s born with it or maybe it’s a filter,” said the duchess. “Your judgement of your sense of self-worth becomes really skewed when it’s all based on likes.” Her husband, Prince Harry, also added his views, telling those gathered that “issues stemming from social media and gaming are a major problem for young people in the UK”. “Fingers are often pointed at the parents but that’s not always fair as they, too, need to be educated about these things,” the royal said.
Meghan’s comments come just days after she revealed was happy to be rid of her own social accounts, which she frequently updated before her engagement. Speaking to Jessina Oakes at Australia’s Bondi Beach last week, the expecting royal admitted “it was very freeing that she no longer has social media”, the Daily Mail reports.
The palace said she was “grateful to everyone who has followed her social media accounts over the years” but had closed them “as she has not used these accounts for some time”. When the duchess closed her profiles earlier this year, she thanked everyone who had followed her over the years in a statement from Kensington Palace. Senior members of the British royal family do have official Twitter and Instagram accounts, however these are typically run by the social media teams of their households.
The duchess has also used her royal tour as an occasion to speak out on another issue close to her heart this week: female empowerment. Delivering an address at Government House in Wellington, during an event to mark New Zealand’s 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage, the royal spoke of the importance of women’s rights. “Yes—women’s suffrage is about feminism, but feminism is about fairness,” said Meghan. “Suffrage is not simply about the right to vote but also about what that represents. The basic and fundamental human right of being able to participate in the choices for your future and that of your community.”
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