Meghan Markle returns to Instagram after royal exit

Meghan Markle kicks off 2025 by starting a new chapter in social media.

On Wednesday, January 1, the Duchess of Sussex, 43, opened her Instagram account with the username. @meghan to connect with fans around the world and share updates on their latest projects.

For her debut record — filmed by her husband Prince Harrynear the couple's home in Montecito, Calif. — Markle jogged along a cloudy beach before pausing to write “2025” in the sand.

Megan's return to Instagram comes almost five years later last entry on her and Harry's shared page, @sussexroyalwas shared. “As we can all feel, the world seems extremely fragile right now. However, we believe that every person has the potential and the opportunity to make a difference – as is now seen around the world, in our families, our communities and those on the front lines – together we can lift each other up to realize the fullness of life. this promise,” they wrote in March 2020, referring to the Covid crisis.

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Meghan Markle is back on Instagram after five years with a new business. Markle, 42, officially launched the American Riviera Orchard brand on Thursday (March 14). Although details were scarce, the account's Instagram bio reads: “Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, founded 2024. Some reports suggest that the account name is a hint (…)

Addressing the “many challenges that have arisen as a result of this pandemic”, Harry, 40, and Meghan noted that they are “focusing on this new chapter to understand how we can best contribute”.

They continued: “As long as you don't see us here, the work continues. Thank you to this community—for your support, inspiration, and shared commitment to doing good in the world. We hope to be able to contact you again soon. You have been great! Until then, please take care of yourself and each other.

Meghan previously deactivated her personal social media accounts in January 2018, shortly after her engagement in November 2017 to Harry. Shortly before the @sussexroyal account went inactive, she and Harry announced their plans step down from leadership roles as working members of the royal family and become financially independent of the royal family. They have since moved to the US with their son Prince Archie (5) and daughter Princess Lilibeth (3).

“I love living (in the US) and raising my kids here, it's a part of my life that I never thought I'd live and it seems to be the life that my mom (Princess Diana) wanted me,” Harry said Andrew Sorokin at The New York TimesDealBook Summit on December 4th.

Before launching her new personal account, Megan returned to Instagram in March 2024 with a page for her lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard. “By Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Founded in 2024″ account's bio reads. The only posts on the account were uploaded to create the brand's logo on its photo grid.

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Meghan previously expressed that she “worries” about raising their children in the exaggerated world of social media. “Nowadays everyone is influenced by the online world and social media. Some more than others,” she said at the Healthy Minds Project's World Mental Health Day Festival panel in October 2023. “We all just want to feel safe. Because so much of this can lead to the fact that if someone is looking for something, please don't feed them what they are not looking for and will harm them.

Harry agreed with his wife at the event, adding: “I think for me and my wife, as kids growing up in the digital age, it's a priority for us to turn pain into purpose.”