On the latest episode of the Daily Mail’s Palace Confidential, Rebecca English and Richard Eden discuss the ‘extraordinary’ flood of images Meghan posted to Instagram from the Sussexes’ supposedly private family holiday.
This month Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet travelled across the Atlantic to spend time in Portugal and Britain. Meghan and the children were in the UK for just 24 hours, travelling to Highgrove for a landmark family reunion with King Charles.
The trip appeared to be a private affair, with the location of the couple’s rumoured holiday home in Portugal undisclosed and Buckingham Palace only announcing the family’s visit to Britain after Meghan and the children had departed.
However, last week Meghan posted a flood of photographs to Instagram from the trip, including images from near the couple’s rumoured Portugal hideaway. Most strikingly, one picture appears to show Harry and Archie walking with flowers towards Princess Diana‘s island grave at Althorp, the Spencer family’s ancestral home in Northamptonshire.
On Palace Confidential , Rebecca English and Richard Eden discuss the ‘extraordinary’ flood of images Meghan posted to Instagram from the Sussexes’ supposedly private family holiday
Last week Meghan posted a flood of photographs to Instagram from the trip, including images from near the couple’s rumoured Portugal hideaway
Royal editor English expressed astonishment at the decision to post the photographs, arguing it was ‘hypocritical’ given Harry’s repeated complaints about privacy and media intrusion
Royal editor English expressed astonishment at the decision to post the photographs, arguing it was ‘hypocritical’ given Harry’s repeated complaints about privacy and media intrusion.
She said: ‘We have pictures of Meghan in a swimsuit on a beach with Harry and the children in the water, we have pictures of local restaurants they have eaten at, local shops they’ve used.
‘I find that quite extraordinary given the complaints they have made about their privacy and security issues.
‘What was particularly extraordinary about this was the photograph of Harry and Archie with flowers in their hands, clearly walking to the burial place of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
‘Look, it’s up to people individually what they choose to share online. I don’t share anything with my family. That’s my choice. But what I find extraordinary about this is that Harry has long complained about the exploitation of his mother’s memory.
‘I think to allow those pictures of such a personal moment to be published like that, I personally found it quite hypocritical. I think people would say that in itself is exploitative.’
Meghan’s post included 12 intimate family photographs, captioned simply: ‘Summer Holiday’.
Diary editor Eden agreed with his co-host, arguing the images were made worse by the fact that Meghan’s Instagram account exists explicitly to promote her lifestyle brand, As Ever.
‘It’s an entirely commercial venture,’ he claimed. ‘You’re not sharing these photos with friends.
One picture appears to show Harry and Archie walking with flowers towards Princess Diana’s island grave at Althorp, the Spencer family’s ancestral home in Northamptonshire
‘I found them quite strange, the Althorp pictures particularly because it’s a combination of showing the backs of the children – not giving away their full identities – but then you’re revealing they’re going to lay flowers at the grave of their grandmother for the first time.
‘That’s a very intimate, personal moment, isn’t it? Being recorded and shared. Even as you’re going there: someone must have been like, ‘stop, I have got to take a picture.”
Catch the debate in full by subscribing to Palace Confidential on YouTube.
