Meghan Markle explains why she’s so protective over photos of her children Archie and Lilibet

‘Why would I give the very people that are calling my children the N-word a photo of my child,’ duchess says

Meghan Markle has opened up about her life in Montecito, California with Prince Harry and their two children, Archie Harrison and Lilibet Diana.

In a new cover story published in The Cut, the Duchess of Sussex reflected on her role as a parent to two young children, and how it might have been different if she and Prince Harry were still senior members of the royal family. As Meghan picked up her three-year-old son from preschool alongside profile writer Alison P Davis, she recalled how she’d never be able to do school pickup and drop-off in the UK without tons of people snapping pictures.

“Sorry, I have a problem with that,” Meghan admitted. “That doesn’t make me obsessed with privacy. That makes me a strong and good parent protecting my child.”

Before stepping down as senior members of the royal family in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared a joint Instagram account with Prince William and Kate Middleton, with the handle @KensingtonRoyal.

Meghan – who had more than three million followers on her personal Instagram page prior to her relationship with Prince Harry – told The Cut how she didn’t like having no control over the joint account, or over what photos were given to the press before she could post them herself.

“There’s literally a structure by which if you want to release photos of your child, as a member of the family, you first have to give them to the Royal Rota,” the UK media pool, she explained. However, that didn’t sit right with Meghan, given her own strained relationship with the British tabloids.

“Why would I give the very people that are calling my children the N-word a photo of my child before I can share it with the people that love my child?” she said. “You tell me how that makes sense and then I’ll play that game.”

Now, the mother of two is considering returning to the social media platform, this time on her own terms. “I’m getting back … on Instagram,” she revealed.

Meghan Markle launched her new Spotify podcast Archetypes on Tuesday, 23 August. On the first episode of the podcast, Meghan interviewed her friend and tennis champion Serena Williams, where they discussed the “labels and tropes that try to hold women back”.

Following the debut episode, the duchess unseated Joe Rogan as the Number One spot on Spotify’s US podcast rankings. The hour-long episode also reached the top spot in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand Spotify podcast charts.