{"id":460304,"date":"2026-06-04T08:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/460304\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T08:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:32:09","slug":"meghan-markles-one-reason-she-shares-archie-and-lilibet-photos-royal-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/460304\/","title":{"rendered":"Meghan Markle’s one reason she shares Archie and Lilibet photos | Royal | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meghan Markle has defended her decision to share images<\/a> of Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet online after facing criticism over her stance on children’s safety on social media.<\/p>\n

The Duchess of Sussex has regularly posted family photographs<\/a> since returning to Instagram<\/a> in 2025, though she typically obscures her children’s faces in an effort to protect their privacy.<\/p>\n

The issue has come back into focus ahead of Princess Lilibet’s fifth birthday on 4 June, with Meghan’s team rejecting suggestions that her social media activity contradicts her public campaigning on online harms.<\/p>\n

Why has Meghan Markle<\/a> faced criticism?<\/p>\n

Questions were raised after Meghan delivered a speech to the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, in which she spoke about the dangers social media can pose to young people.<\/p>\n

Some critics argued that posting photographs of Archie and Lilibet online appeared inconsistent with those concerns.<\/p>\n

The debate intensified after Meghan shared a photograph of Archie as a baby sleeping on Prince Harry<\/a>‘s chest to mark his seventh birthday in May.<\/p>\n

She later posted images from a family trip to Disneyland, including a photograph showing Lilibet embracing a performer dressed as Elsa from Disney’s Frozen.<\/p>\n

What has Meghan Markle’s spokesperson said?<\/p>\n

Responding to the criticism, a spokesperson for the Duchess told Newsweek that there was a clear difference between sharing family moments and exposing children to unwanted public attention.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said: “The Duchess has always been clear that there is a distinction between sharing moments from her life and exposing her children to public scrutiny.<\/p>\n

“By obscuring their faces, she is demonstrating the very principle she advocates for: giving children privacy, agency, and protection in an increasingly digital world.”<\/p>\n

They added: “Far from being contradictory, by concealing their faces she is actually reflecting the message she delivered in Geneva: that parents can choose to share family experiences while still taking deliberate steps to protect identities, privacy, and digital footprint.”<\/p>\n

Will Meghan post for Princess Lilibet’s birthday?<\/p>\n

Attention is now turning to whether Meghan will share a public tribute when Lilibet celebrates her fifth birthday.<\/p>\n

The Duchess has frequently used social media to mark family milestones since relaunching her Instagram presence last year.<\/p>\n

However, any new birthday post is likely to attract renewed debate because of the comments she made in Geneva and the scrutiny surrounding her children’s online presence.<\/p>\n

People magazine previously reported that the Disneyland trip featured on Meghan’s Instagram was intended to celebrate both Archie and Lilibet’s birthdays, which fall less than a month apart.<\/p>\n

That has fuelled speculation over whether Meghan may decide not to publish additional photographs for Lilibet’s birthday.<\/p>\n

Whatever approach she takes, the Duchess appears unlikely to change course following the criticism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meghan Markle has defended her decision to share images of Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet online after facing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[61818,233569,1510,156,4866,111,139,69,49901,200595],"class_list":["post-460304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-childrens-mental-health","tag-childrens-privacy","tag-cybersecurity","tag-entertainment","tag-meghan-markle","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-online-safety","tag-social-media-criticism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}