Yahoo News Meghan and Harry just shut down their Royal Sussex Instagram account with a message for everyone
The big day is here. March 31st, 2020 is Meghan Markle and Prince Harry‘s last day as senior working members of the British royal family. In recognition of the change, the couple shared a final Instagram post on their @SussexRoyal account, thanking their 11.3 million followers for their support. (Although, if you’ve ever seen the comments on their posts, you know not all 11.3 million of those people are so supportive…)
Meghan and Harry can no longer use the designation “Sussex Royal,” and so this end of an Instagram era was inevitable.
In their statement, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex first recognized that the world can feel “extraordinarily fragile” right now. They brought up the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and noted that everyone’s health is the most important thing.
“As we all find the part we are to play in this global shift and changing of habits, we are focusing this new chapter to understand how we can best contribute,” Meghan and Harry wrote. “While you may not see us here, the work continues.”
The @SussexRoyal Instagram account generally focused on the couple’s charity work and highlighted worthy organizations around the world, encouraging their followers to check them out. So, Meghan and Harry aren’t thanking their Instagram followers for their support of them exactly, but more for spreading positivity and supporting good causes. As Meghan and Harry wrote:
“Thank you to this community—for the support, the inspiration and the shared commitment to the good in the world. We look forward to reconnecting with you soon. You’ve been great!”
While shutting down—or at least making a major change to—their Instagram account is one thing, Meghan and Harry have a lot of bigger moves going on. Namely: actually moving. The pair recently relocated to Los Angeles with their 10-month-old baby, Archie. They also plan to start some sort of nonprofit, which, according to their website (which will also shut down), is “intend[ed] to develop a new way to effect change and complement the efforts made by so many excellent foundations globally.”
A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on Mar 30, 2020 at 9:17am PDT
The Duke and Duchess’ website also details all the new rules that will go into effect as they embark on the more private lives they seek. There’s info on whether they’ll keep their titles (yes), whether they’ll be able to still use “Sussex Royal” (no), whether Harry is still in line to the throne (yes), and more. Basically, they won’t be working on behalf of the Queen in an official way and won’t be financially supported the way the royals are. But they are still very much members of the royal family.
What the website doesn’t say is what their new Instagram handle will be (or if they’ll be Instagram users at all!). We’ll have to wait and see on that one.
