Meghan Markle has been accused of 'staggering hypocrisy' after sharing anInstagram photo of her four-year-old daughter Lilibetin a walk-in wardrobe on Saturday, just hours before flying to Geneva to deliver a speech warning about the harms of children's exposure to social media.
The Duchess of Sussex, who has 4.5 million followers on the platform, posted the image with the caption 'Mama's little helper 💜' ahead of her high-profile appearance at the United Nations' European headquarters.
The news came after months in which Meghan Markle had positioned herself as a prominent voice on digital safety and the impact of social media on young people.
Her Geneva engagement, where she addressed the World Health Organisation (WHO) on online harms, was presented as a serious policy moment and another step in her post-royal public role. Against that backdrop, critics argue that choosing to feature Lilibet in a glossy, lifestyle-style post on the eve of that speech undercuts the very message she is trying to champion.
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The image, shared from Meghan's account on Saturday, shows the formerSuitsactress smirking at the camera as she takes a selfie. Lilibet sits on the floor amid what appear to be rails and piles of designer clothes in a large dressing room. It is precisely the kind of artfully casual, highly curated photograph that has become a staple of celebrity Instagram.
For some royal-watchers, though, this one crossed a line. Speaking onThe Royalistpodcast from theDaily Beast, royal expert Tom Sykes said he and his co-host were left 'aghast' when they saw it. 'It was just so unbelievably tone deaf,' he said, adding that the timing made the choice particularly hard to defend.
Daily Mailshowbusiness correspondent Alison Boshoff, appearing on the same episode, said she initially assumed she must have misread the situation. 'I actually thought I was seeing things,' she told listeners. She recalled being in Cannes when she opened Instagram and saw the post. 'I thought, no, I must have had too much rosé here — she can't actually have posted this, but yeah, there it was.'
Meghan Markle's Instagram activity came immediately before what allies have portrayed as one of the most important speeches of her public life. Her next post was a professionally shot clip of her addressing the WHO in Geneva, where Sykes had travelled to watch the event in person.
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Source: International Business Times UK
