Meghan Markle has been accused of “staggering hypocrisy” by posting her four-year-old daughter on the eve of speaking against using children for social media likes.
Daily Beast royal expert Tom Sykes and Daily Mail showbiz correspondent Alison Boshoff revealed on the latest edition of the Daily Beast’s The Royalist Podcast that they were both left aghast by a weekend Instagram post made by the Duchess of Sussex.
“It was just so unbelievably tone deaf,” Sykes said.
Boshoff agreed.
“I actually thought I was seeing things,” she said. “I was out last night in Cannes and I, you know, check Instagram and I thought, no, I must have had too much rosé here—she can’t actually have posted this, but yeah, there it was.”
The post in question was shared by the 44-year-old Markle to her 4.5 million Instagram followers on Saturday. It includes a selfie of the American actress smirking as her daughter, Lilibet, sits on the ground. They are surrounded by what appears to be designer clothes.
“Mama’s little helper 💜,” Meghan wrote.
The timing of the post was particularly bizarre to Sykes.
“Then she goes to Geneva and says, you know, it is absolutely essential that children aren’t kind of farmed by social media without their consent, etc., etc.,” he said. “And she is literally putting Lilibet at the center of her commercial story. I mean, it’s just bonkers.”
Markle’s next post was a clip of her addressing the WHO from the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, where Sykes traveled to document the historic speech in person.
“Speak up,” Meghan said in her speech. “Demand better from the platforms shaping our children’s lives. Be an example in your own social media use of how to be intentional in every like, comment, post, and share. Hold your community to the same standard.”
The inclusion of Lilibet was not the only part of Markle’s post that the experts found perplexing.
Sykes, who theorizes that the Sussexes are either not asking for social media guidance or receiving poor PR advice, also questioned why Markle chose to show off her extensive, pricey wardrobe just before addressing an organization that seeks to represent everyday people.
He said, “I think if you had gone to any communications professional in the world and said, ‘Tomorrow I’m going to be doing a big event at the United Nations in Geneva, the World Health Organization, it’s the biggest thing of my whole life—it’s my chance to be Angelina Jolie. Do you or do you not think I should post something on social media tonight, and do you think that a good thing to post would be me in my dressing room, surrounded by clothes whose value probably equates to 25 times the annual salary of the typical person that most people think the World Health Organization are there to help?’”
Boshoff said such gaffes open the door to criticism rather than draw attention to the philanthropy that Meghan is trying to do.
“I’m not saying this is the case, but it just looks like all she cares about is the way she looks,” Boshoff said. “That’s what it says, doesn’t it? It doesn’t say, ‘I’m dedicated to this work, I’m really committed to making a difference, and to combating digital harms, and I want everyone to join with me in this campaign.’”
Boshoff noted that Markle’s social media posts about the event did not link to anything that could further educate people about this social media campaign—a “basic” part of any meaningful campaign in her eyes.
She continued, “She has presented this really weird, unclear narrative. You know, you should actually have one thing to say and say it really well. And by what she’s done is she’s muddied the narrative because you immediately then are talking about her and her wardrobe and her child and her behavior on social media.”
A spokesperson for the Sussexes did not respond to an email seeking comment on the remarks.
Boshoff also questioned why Prince Harry was not in Geneva—and, if he was not going to make the trip all along, why the couple did not get out ahead of speculation about his absence.
“So why isn’t Harry there?” Boshoff questioned. “That kind of needs to also be addressed and dovetailed off before they go, you know, to say, ‘I’m really excited. I’m going to this event in Geneva. When I get there, I’m going to post all these links, and you can all get involved. Harry’s not coming. H isn’t coming because’—insert reason here.”
Boshoff said that advanced communication would allow everyone to “concentrate on the message” rather than focus on other aspects of Meghan’s life.
“Instead, when she’s asking us to pay attention to the message, ‘You’re thinking, oh, is she wearing that jacket that we saw on Instagram last night? Is she—blah, blah? Who’s with her? How many people attended?’ All these other questions. So they then lose. All that noise cuts into the message that they ought to be promulgating.”
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