Happy birthday, Princess Lilibet! The youngest Sussex turned five today, and Meghan Sussex did what she always does: she shared a loving tribute on Instagram, on her own terms, without asking permission from the palace or the press.
The post features two lovely images. The first shows Prince Harry holding a barefoot Lilibet in a warm family embrace, with Meghan smiling beside them in an olive outfit. The second captures Lilibet alone, standing on a sunny lawn in a light dress, reaching toward a purple agapanthus flower. The caption reads: “Our dream girl. Happy 5th birthday, Lili 🤍”
Last Year’s Video Was Iconic, And It Drove The Haters Crazy
Remember Lilibet’s fourth birthday? Meghan didn’t just post a static photo. She dropped the baby mama dance video, her and Harry dancing joyfully while she was nine months pregnant, trying to get labor going. Spicy food didn’t work. Long walks didn’t work. So they tried the Baby Mama dance. Sweet, funny, and completely human.
That video has since racked up 74 million views on Instagram. That is not a woman hiding from the public. That is a woman sharing her life on her own terms, and the world loving it.
And here is the part the royal rota will never admit: that video was proof. Proof that Meghan carried her own babies. Proof that she was there, in California, living her life, no matter what the conspiracy theorists claimed about fake pregnancies or surrogates. The video was joy as evidence.
So it is no wonder that journalists like Jack Royston at Newsweek spend their time trying to police how Meghan releases her own content on Instagram. They know her posts get millions of views. They know she bypasses their narratives and speaks directly to her fans and the world. And it drives them insane.
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The Double Standard Is Exhausting
Meghan is not being hypocritical. She gave a speech about the harms of social media, focusing on predatory algorithms, unregulated platforms, and the mental health crisis among children. That has nothing to do with a mother posting two carefully curated, face‑obscured (or partially visible) photos of her daughter on her birthday.
Meghan is not handing Lilibet an iPad and letting her scroll through TikTok, nor is she exposing her child to the cesspool of comment sections. Instead, she is sharing a moment of motherly joy with her followers, something millions of parents do every day.That is called parenting in the 21st century. Millions of parents do the same thing.
The difference is that when Meghan does it, the press calls it hypocrisy. When the Wales children are trotted out for photo calls, plastered on magazine covers, and have their school schedules published, that is somehow “modern royalty.”
Where is the outrage about their kids’ digital footprint? Where are the concerns about online safety for George, Charlotte and Louis? Funny how that conversation only applies when Meghan and her mixed-race children are involved.
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I usually think Feminegra’s takes are spot on, but you missed a step with this article.
You wrote: “Meghan is not being hypocritical. She gave a speech about the harms of social media, focusing on predatory algorithms, unregulated platforms, and the mental health crisis among children. That has nothing to do with a mother posting two carefully curated, face‑obscured (or partially visible) photos of her daughter on her birthday.”
You’re correct that Meghan is not hypocritical on this topic.
But her posts of these portraits of her daughter, and all the other glimpses of a happy family life she and Harry choose to share, while simply and easily and directly protecting their children’s privacy and agency, are DIRECTLY RELEVANT to what she had to say in Geneva and elsewhere about the harms of social media.
Meghan is literally practicing what she preaches on this topic. She is showing the world, with each joyful moment she shows us without exposing her children to those who might exploit their images, how simple and easy it is to share your happiness online without imposing a public presence on kids too young to make those choices for themselves.
The two go hand in hand: public policy and private happiness, kindly but responsibly shared with the fascinated public.