Editor-DN
The Duchess of Sussex has welcomed the new year by returning to Instagram with her first account since 2020. On January 1, she posted under the username @meghan, writing “2025” in the sand, sharing a video of herself running barefoot into the waves on a cloudy beach.
The Duchess, dressed in white, then runs past the camera with a broad smile. In less than 20 hours after the video was posted, the new account amassed nearly 781,000 followers.
A representative for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared with NBC News that Prince Harry filmed the video on a beach near his home in Montecito, California, where senior members of the royal family will step down in 2020. After and after ceasing to use their official Sussex, the couple moved. Royal account.
The Instagram video marks Meghan’s return to the platform after a five-year hiatus. However, the Duchess of Sussex is no stranger to social media. Before marrying Prince Harry in 2018, Meghan had an Instagram account with 3 million followers and ran a lifestyle blog called The Tig.
She deactivated both her Instagram account and blog just weeks before her wedding to Prince Harry, one of the most watched and widely covered weddings in history.
“It was a big adjustment — a huge adjustment to go into a different life with that kind of autonomy,” Meghan shared with The Cut, reflecting on the decision to step away from social media.
“There’s literally a structure whereby, if you want to release pictures of your child, as a family member, you have to give them to the Royal Rota first,” she told The Cut in 2022. Explained.
Meghan and Harry have two children: 5-year-old son Prince Archie and 3-year-old daughter Princess Lilybet.
As is often the case with the Duchess of Sussex, the Instagram video attracted a wave of hateful comments. While Meghan disabled comments on her first post after returning to Instagram, critics voiced their opinions on other platforms like X and Reddit.
One user wrote on X, “Another reason I’m glad I’m not using Instagram. Please stay off X, duchess!”
“I don’t know anyone who missed it!” Another X user wrote.
A third user commented, “I was hoping Tsunami would come,” while another wrote: “She can keep running.”
