The Duke of Sussex has called for children to “feel safe wherever they are” in an emotional speech about online child safety, just days after the arrest of his father-in-law, Thomas Markle Senior.
“They deserve to feel safe wherever they are. In a classroom. On a playground. At any time, no matter where they are,” Prince Harry said during his keynote address at the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial at the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday.
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Meghan was initially due to present alongside her husband but pulled out of her speech at the last minute, and instead sat in the audience.
“She’s just not strong enough, emotionally, to be doing any public speaking right now,” a source told the Telegraph of Meghan’s last-minute decision not to speak.
The duke took the stage alone, where he called for greater protections for children on the internet.
“All children should be able to go online and discover something wonderful: a friend, an interest that becomes a passion, a place where they feel understood,” he said.
“My approach to life and to the value of it is, perhaps unsurprisingly, always being about prevention: preventing harm before it happens, rather than waiting for tragedy before deciding something must change.
“Because safety doesn’t begin when a child picks up a phone – it begins long before that, in a design meeting, in decisions about what a product rewards, how long it keeps a child engaged, and whose interests it serves.”
Harry then once again called on the tech companies behind social media to take greater responsibility for their products.
“We cannot keep blaming children or their parents for responding to systems deliberately designed to hold their attention.
“That isn’t simply a failure of self-control; it’s a failure of design.”
Prior to Harry’s address, the Sussexes were greeted by a wall of media as they arrived at Parliament on Tuesday morning and walked the red carpet before meeting privately with bereaved families associated with the Lost Screen Memorial initiative.
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The Memorial is a powerful exhibition featuring a series of light installations comprised of the lock screen images of young people who have died as a result of digital harm.
It serves as both a tribute to the victims and their loved ones, and a call to action for those in power to work harder to protect children in the digital world.
The couple’s engagement in Brussels marks their first joint visit abroad since relocating to the UK, and comes after Meghan’s father was charged with possessing child pornography last Friday.
Harry and Meghan have made children’s online safety a key priority since stepping back from royal duties in 2020, and have previously supported the launch of the Lost Screen Memorial’s temporary installations in New York City, Los Angeles and Geneva.
Following the duke’s 20-minute address, Sandra Spitaels, the mother of a young person featured in the Memorial, gave an emotional testimony about the impact of online dangers through her own tragic experience.
Harry and Meghan, led by European Parliament President Robert Metsola, were then taken through the exhibition.