Meghan Markle made her royal return to Instagram on New Year’s Day, ending a seven-year hiatus amid speculation her marriage to Prince Harry is on the rocks.
The 43-year-old “Suits” alum, whose handle is simply @meghan, shared a beachy Reel Wednesday morning.
The video shows Markle, who lists herself as “Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,” running to the sea in white capris and a cream-colored cardigan to write “2025” in the sand. ABC News reports that the Duke of Sussex, 40, filmed his wife on a public beach near the pair’s Montecito home, in Markle’s native California.
At the time of publication, Markle had already racked up nearly 800,000 followers, though she herself is not yet following any other accounts.
Markle’s profile picture is a black-and-white portrait of the duchess laughing, donning a white sleeveless dress.
Markle deactivated her exceptionally trafficked personal social media accounts ahead of the couple’s May 2018 nuptials. Guinness World Records crowned the Sussexes’ @sussexroyal Instagram account, which launched in 2019, as the quickest to ever garner 1 million followers on the platform. The polarizing duo stopped updating the account in 2020 following their departure from senior royal duties and decision to relocate to the States.
This isn’t Markle’s first time dabbling in a more personal social media return though.
In early 2024, the former blogger unveiled the name of her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, with a brief Instagram debut in March. To date, there have not been any additional social media posts.
Wednesday’s video and Markle’s newest Instagram return comes less than a month after her husband publicly addressed the latest round of divorce speculation.
“Apparently we’ve bought or moved house maybe 10, 12 times,” Harry deadpanned at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, hosted at Lincoln Center’s Appel Room. “We’ve apparently divorced maybe 10, 12 times as well [laughs]. So it’s just like, what? It’s hard to keep up with.”
The prince, who shares son Archie and daughter Lilibet with Markle, said he does his best to “sort of ignore” the noise surrounding the couple.