Meghan Markle Says Giving Up Social Media For Her Royal Role Was "Very Freeing"

Before becoming a member of the royal family, actress-turned-Duchess Meghan Markle (opens in new tab) was a prominent figure on social media. She used Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook regularly, and even ran her own lifestyle blog,  (opens in new tab)The Tig (opens in new tab), which she described as a “passion project” and an “adventure” for her spare time. But one day of January this year, each of Meghan’s social media platforms were deleted without warning and all signs of her online presence of any kind suddenly disappeared.

She’d been inactive on each of them for some time beforehand—ever since her relationship with Prince Harry became serious and a few hints of their dating started to appear. Royals with formal working roles such as Prince Harry, Prince William, Kate Middleton, and most recently Meghan, are forbidden from having their own social media accounts (opens in new tab).

The thought for most of us might feel like losing a limb or two, but during her most recent appearance on the royal tour of Australia with Prince Harry, Meghan has described her social media purge this year as an entirely positive move. Having chatted with Meghan on the beach (opens in new tab) as part of surfing community group, OneWave, local resident Jessina Oakes recalled how Meghan had described her social media-free life as something “freeing”.

"She said a really beautiful quote,” Jessina told Mail Online (opens in new tab). "She said ‘flattery and criticism run through the same filter.’ She said it was very freeing that she no longer has social media. And just how great OneWave is making those connections with people and being able to support one another."

Meghan might have said goodbye to likes, retweets and filters, but she hasn’t entirely stepped away from Millennial life. Yesterday, fans spotted the Duchess seemingly carrying her own mobile phone as she and Prince Harry prepared to board their plane to leave Melbourne, and said goodbye to Linda Dessau, the governor of Victoria.

It's a rare move for a royal to be seen on their mobile, but Prince Harry is one member of the family who has never been too worried about it. He's often caught on camera taking calls and snapping pictures while out and about.

We all know that no one does texts or phone calls anymore, so surely this means that Meghan is at LEAST still using WhatsApp—if not ‘Gramming the trip under a secret, undercover username.