Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bust up after she’s slammed for 'hypocritical' new family photos
Prince Harry is ‘furious’ over his wife’s latest move@Getty Images: Samir Hussein/WireImage
The countdown to Prince Harry’s July trip to the UK is on, but Meghan Markle is ensuring that their new life in the US stays fully in the limelight by sharing glimpses of their picture-perfect family and idyllic Montecito home on social media.
What started off as a public page to promote her Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, last January, has gradually led to the domestic Duchess sharing behind-the-scenes snaps of, firstly her and Harry, and increasingly of their children – Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five.
Last week, the Sussexes celebrated their daughter’s fifth birthday at home, with Meghan, 44, sharing an intimate photograph of her and Harry, 41, holding Lilibet, whose long, strawberry blonde hair only just covers her face.
After just five days it had received double the reposts of Meghan’s usual content and now, with Meghan putting all of her efforts into making her lifestyle brand, As Ever, a commercial success, we’re told the mum-of-two is considering posting more snaps of their children to share with fans in the near future – a decision that a source says has been a ‘hard pill’ for Harry to swallow.
The insider says, ‘Harry has always balked at the thought of putting his kids up on the internet. To him one of the benefits of not being working royals is the fact they don’t have to parade their kids around, or blast out photos of them to random strangers.
‘At the start, it seemed like they were on the same page, it wasn't until Meghan had her brand to promote that she suddenly made this push to share photos of the kids. That has been a hard pill for Harry to swallow, he has agreed to it, but one thing he's still very much against is showing their faces.
Yet the increased exposure of Meghan and Harry’s children comes amidst alleged financial pressure for the Sussexes.
In April, royal author Tom Bower made the shocking revelation in his new book, ‘Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family’, that the Sussexes need an income of at least $3 million annually to maintain their current lifestyle, with recent US reports speculating that the figure could even reach $6 million.
This figure is said to include a team of house staff, including security and a nanny, on top of key figures like PR advisers, management teams and travel costs – the list is seemingly endless – despite an oft-barefooted Meghan’s insistence that they live a very simple life, fuelled by homemade jam and edible flowers.
And there’s no doubt that the appetite to see Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie – is growing, given that we’ve only ever seen Archie’s face as a baby, ahead of Meghan and Harry stepping down as senior royals in 2020.
However, the photos were published just two weeks after Meghan made a speech in Geneva to raise awareness of the campaign: No Child Lost to Social Media, which both highlights the dangers of social media for young people and remembers those who have lost their lives either through online influence or bullying.
And last week Meghan was slammed by critics online, with royal author Tom Sykes further adding, ‘They have to be on the platform to promote their businesses but the farming of the children on the platform is totally hypocritical.’
A spokesperson for Meghan responded to the criticism, saying, ‘The Duchess has always been clear that there is a distinction between sharing moments from her life and exposing her children to public scrutiny. By obscuring their faces, she is demonstrating the very principle she advocates for: giving children privacy, agency, and protection in an increasingly digital world…’
Meanwhile, Harry has openly expressed his fear and upset over the continued interest and intrusion into his personal life.
‘My connection to privacy, and the lack of it, begins in a different place than most. From birth,’ he said at a conference in Australia in April, after previously claiming his life in the Royal Family had felt like a ‘cross between the Truman Show and a zoo’. So naturally, the source says he wants to protect his own children from such scrutiny.
‘Unfortunately there is a huge demand from the fans to see their faces and now he feels there's pressure building on him to bend that rule and he is not happy about it. More and more his concerns in this area are getting questioned,’ the insider says.
‘Harry’s stance is that he wants to protect their privacy and shield them from the sort of overwhelming attention he got as a child. But in Meghan’s view he’s taking it way too far and if anything, he’s making the public more obsessed with seeing their faces. Keeping them hidden is certainly not stopping the interest in them.’
Having grown up in Hollywood, quite literally behind-the-scenes when she would visit her dad, former lighting director Thomas Markle, on set, Meghan found fame in her early 20s.
Meanwhile, Harry has been photographed, and every aspect of his life pored over since birth, with his late mother Princess Diana tragically losing her life as her drunken driver crashed amid a paparazzi car chase in 1997. So of course, it’s little wonder that he will do whatever it takes to protect his own family.
However, the source says that Meghan sees posting pictures of their children to her own social media account as taking back control, and showing both their supporters and their critics that they are thriving.
‘This seems to be something Meghan wants, her argument is that they're living in the public eye, regardless, so why not shape the narrative,’ the insider says.
‘Anytime the kids appear in a photo on her social media page it generates endless headlines and the feedback is always overwhelmingly positive, across the board people have a genuine affection for the children. It’s the one ray of sunshine when it comes to public perception of them right now, so of course she’s going to want to do more of that.
‘She says it’s a very simple and effective way to combat all the negativity that’s constantly flying at them, and bottom line she’s very proud of her life with Harry and her kids and she wants to share that.’
In a new twist, we’re told Meghan has also taken inspiration from Kate Middleton and Prince William, who share candid family snaps and mark special milestones with photographs on their own social media page.
Celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary on April 29th, the Waleses delighted fans when they released a new photograph of their now family of five. Believed to have been taken while the family holidayed in their favourite spot of Norfolk in the UK, William, 43, and Kate, 44, are pictured lying on their backs in the long grass with their children by their sides; limbs entangled and with happy, smiling faces.
Joining Kate, William and their children – Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, eight – are their two beloved spaniels, Orla, five, and one-year-old Otto.
©POOL/AFP via Getty Images
The poignant photo sparked positive headlines globally, and now the source says that, with ‘sensible boundaries’, Meghan doesn’t see why Archie and Lilibet shouldn’t follow the same path as their royal cousins.
We’re told, ‘One point she brings up repeatedly is William and Kate. Their children are photographed all the time, not just at public events but also for their social media pages.
‘She really doesn’t think there is anything to fear; it’s one point she actually does agree with William and Kate on. She doesn't believe Archie and Lilibet should have to live by a completely different set of rules than their cousins.
‘In her view, George, Charlotte and Louis can grow up in the public eye with sensible boundaries, then there has to be a way for her children to do the same.’
However the source says Harry has been left ‘furious’ by what he perceives to be constantly moving goal posts, especially when Meghan’s latest moves come amidst growing reports that he is becoming increasingly disillusioned with the fickle world of Hollywood.
The insider says, ‘It’s very frustrating for Harry because Meghan is constantly moving the goalposts. He was reluctant to allow them to be posted online at all, and only agreed to it with the caveat that their faces be hidden.
‘Naturally he’s pretty furious that he’s now being pushed to go further. The thing with Harry is he usually just goes along with what Meghan feels is best but the rare times when he does put his foot down, he tends to really dig in.
‘Knowing Meghan though, she will continue to chip away at this, she’s not one to give in. She almost always gets what she wants so it’s likely only a matter of time before things do change.’
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