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, and shared a video of herself running barefoot toward the waves on a cloudy beach while writing. “2025” in sand.
The Duchess, dressed in white, then runs towards the camera with a broad smile. In less than 20 hours after the video was posted, the new account gained nearly 781,000 followers.
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A representative of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared nbc news Prince Harry filmed the video on a beach near his Montecito, California, home, where the couple moved in 2020 after stepping down as senior royals and ceasing use of their official SussexRoyal account.
The Instagram video marks Meghan’s return to the stage after a five-year break. 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.
Reflecting on the decision to step away from social media, Meghan shared with The Cut, “It was a big adjustment — a big adjustment to go from that kind of autonomy to a different life.”
“There’s literally a structure whereby, if you want to release photographs of your child as a family member, you have to give them to the Royal Rota first,” he explained to The Cut in 2022.
Meghan and Harry have two children: 5-year-old son Prince Archie and 3-year-old daughter Princess Lilibet.
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 expressed 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 away from X, Duchess!”
“I don’t know anyone who missed him!” Another X user wrote.
A third user commented: “I was hoping Tsunami might come,” while another wrote: “She might keep running.”