A damning side-by-side photo is tearing through social media today, and it has royal watchers seething. On one side: a famous image of Princess Diana diving into the sea. On the other: Prince Harry hurling his five-year-old daughter Lilibet into a swimming pool. The caption that accompanied the viral comparison pulls no punches: “There is nothing cute about sharing images of Diana, Princess of Wales final days before her death and using it as PR. And why the fuck is the media not calling out that EXTREMELY LARGE 5 year old when they made a fucking stink over some leaves when it came to Catherine’s photo?”
The timing is no coincidence. Just days ago, Meghan Markle dropped a carefully curated Instagram carousel of the family’s “summer holiday,” including rare shots of Harry, Archie and Lilibet walking the grounds of Althorp – the Spencer family estate that houses Princess Diana’s final resting place. Harry and the children appear carrying flowers, strongly suggesting a visit to the island grave. Another set of images shows Harry playfully throwing Lilibet into a pool.
Critics immediately called the entire release what it is: cold, calculated PR. After years of lecturing the world about “privacy” and “protecting the children,” Meghan is once again using her late mother-in-law’s memory and the kids themselves as content. Royal commentators noted that even Prince William has never publicly shared photos from visits to his mother’s grave. Yet Meghan had no hesitation posting images from the very estate where Diana is buried – complete with the implied emotional capital of a “touching family moment.”
The hypocrisy is staggering. This is the same couple who fled Britain claiming the media was destroying them, who sued newspapers over privacy, and who still demand taxpayer-funded security while living in a $14 million Montecito mansion. Yet the moment it suits the brand, the children are staged on the sacred grounds of Diana’s childhood home and final resting place, and Harry is captured mid-throw recreating the athletic image of his late mother for Instagram likes.
Worse still is the deafening silence from the same media that spent weeks obsessing over a few leaves in a Princess of Wales Mother’s Day photo. Lilibet, officially five, appears in these new images significantly larger and more developed than many expected for her age. Online observers have repeatedly noted the physical differences between the child in the Althorp walk and the child being thrown into the pool. The media that once demanded forensic analysis of Kate’s photo editing has nothing to say.
This is peak Sussex. Meghan has spent six years turning Harry’s family trauma into a business model. First the Oprah interview, then the Netflix series, then the endless “mental health” and “victim” narratives. Now she is packaging a private family visit to Diana’s grave as content while Harry plays along, reducing his own mother’s memory to a photo opportunity. The same man who once claimed he wanted to protect his mother’s legacy is now complicit in turning Althorp into a backdrop for his wife’s Instagram feed.
Their popularity continues to collapse. Meghan’s lifestyle brand is haemorrhaging traffic. Harry’s recent UK trip ended in a humiliating court defeat and public snubs. And still they double down – using the one person who can no longer speak for herself to prop up a failing brand.
There is nothing “cute” or “heartwarming” about it. It is exploitative, tone-deaf, and revealing. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have proven once again that nothing – not privacy, not dignity, not even the memory of Princess Diana – is off-limits when it comes to keeping themselves relevant.
The public is noticing. The media is not. And that silence speaks volumes.
