In her pre-Prince Harry days, Meghan Markle had quite the social media presence. As well as her own personal Instagram account filled with vacation snaps, decor shots and adorable candids of her dogs, Meghan also had The Tig, her personal online blog dedicated to “inspiration, support, fun and frivolity”. Following the announcement of her engagement to Harry, fans were left with a Meghan Markle shaped hole in their social feeds, as the now Duchess of Sussex would be beginning her induction into the Royal Family.
Turns out though, Meghan couldn’t leave the app completely, having opened a personal, private account to keep up with friends and family. But, negative backlash led the pregnant Duchess to ditch social media altogether, to “protect her mental health,” a source told The Sun.
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The source told the outlet that Meghan was feeling “isolated” after reports she had been dubbed “Duchess Difficult” by staff at Kensington Palace.
The friend explained: “Did this upset her? Of course, it did. She was working on all her projects in private, but couldn’t say anything publicly as her patronages hadn’t been announced. Since she shut down her public Instagram, she’d had a fake account to follow her friends.
“There was some really vile stuff written by social media trolls and obviously she also saw the headlines about her. It really got to her and, in the end, she had to shut down that account just before Christmas, too, to protect her mental health. She felt very isolated and alone.”
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While senior royals are banned from having personal social media pages, royal members who aren’t considered “working” are permitted. Princess Beatrice and Eugenie are among the royals to have social media.