Markle’s Lilibet Post Ignites Hypocrisy Row

Meghan Markle is facing a fierce backlash after posting a mirror selfie featuring her four-year-old daughter, Princess Lilibet, on Instagram, just hours before delivering a keynote speech on the dangers of social media for children.

On 17 May, the Duchess of Sussex attended the inauguration of the Lost Screen Memorial at Place des Nations in Geneva, standing alongside WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus ahead of the 79th World Health Assembly. The memorial, created by Archewell Philanthropies and The Parents’ Network, features 50 illuminated lightboxes displaying the lock screens of children who died as a result of online harm.

In her speech, Markle declared: “We did not tell parents to create their own seatbelts. We did not ask children to test unsafe medicine. We did not shrug at poisoned water or defective toys and call it the price of progress. We acted. And now the world must act again.” 

Yet royal commentator Tom Sykes, who was present in Geneva, accused Markle of glaring hypocrisy. Writing on Substack, he said: “The hypocrisy is breathtaking. It is a boastful image. It is a vain image. It is a staggeringly tone-deaf image,” adding that Markle had “squandered every last drop of goodwill through precisely this kind of stunt.” 

Markle concluded her Geneva speech by urging: “Let our children look back at this moment, and let them feel proud of us, that we chose something better, for them, and for us all.” Critics, however, argue the Instagram post undermined that very message.

Image Credit: Source