Meghan Markle’s New Instagram: Who’s Following from the Royal Family?

The Duchess of Sussex is “excited” to make her Instagram return after almost five years offline.

Meghan Markle is back on Instagram for the first time in years, and her comeback is already being embraced by many of her closest friends and supporters, who have followed her account and celebrated her return, but are any members of the royal family following her new account?

On Jan. 1, the Duchess of Sussex, 43, unveiled a verified Instagram account with the handle @meghan and has amassed 1.4 million followers in the week since. After almost five years away from social media, a source says Meghan is “excited” to make her Instagram comeback, where she plans to spread “joy” and share updates on her latest projects.

While several members of the British royal family also maintain a presence on the platform, none of those accounts have followed Meghan’s profile so far. Prince Harry and Meghan’s relationship with the royal family remains strained. Last summer, insiders revealed to PEOPLE that Harry’s attempts to reach out to his father, King Charles, and his brother, Prince William, went unanswered.

Neither Charles and Queen Camilla’s @theroyalfamily handle nor William and Kate Middleton’s @princeandprincessofwales profile have clicked to follow @meghan, but both official accounts still follow the @sussexroyal page that Meghan and Harry once maintained.

Britain's Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Britain's Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester, Britain's Prince George of Wales, Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Prince Louis of Wales, Britain's Princess Charlotte of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's King Charles III, Britain's Queen Camilla, Britain's Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Britain's Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, Britain's Lady Louise Windsor and Britain's Princess Anne, Princess Royal, pose on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after attending the King's Birthday Parade "Trooping the Colour" in London on June 15, 2024.

Princess Eugenie and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, who is married to Eugenie’s sister, Princess Beatrice, also both follow @sussexroyal, but not the @meghan account. Eugenie, who also doesn’t appear to follow her brother-in-law on Instagram, has remained on close terms with the Sussexes since they stepped back from their royal roles in 2020.

Fellow family members Sarah Ferguson and Mike Tindall, meanwhile, do not follow @sussexroyal or @meghan, and Princess Beatrice doesn’t have a public Instagram account.

Unlike the King and Queen or the Prince and Princess of Wales, Eugenie, Edo, Sarah (who was previously married to Prince Andrew) and Mike (who is married to Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara Tindall) are not full-time working royals and pursue private careers. The four use their Instagram pages to highlight their work, personal lives and charitable commitments, which are mostly the same themes that King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Kate spotlight on their verified pages. However, the @theroyalfamily and @princeandprincessofwales pages are likely run by communications teams, while their fellow family members likely run their own social media.

The Prince of Wales, Prince Louis, Queen Camilla, King Charles III, Prince George, the Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte following the Christmas Day morning church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham

Shortly after splitting royal households with Prince William and Princess Kate in March 2019, Prince Harry, 40, and Meghan broke the mold by launching their own Instagram account, @sussexroyal. It drew over one million followers in six hours, and the account exclusively highlighted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s royal work. The couple would sometimes share messages directly from them (as opposed to their communications team) to the page, creating a personal feel for fans to follow along.

The account stopped being updated in March 2020 after Prince Harry and Meghan announced their step back from their royal roles, and the page’s final post featured a farewell letter from the couple.

Harry and Meghan's last post on the sussexroyal Instagram page from March, 2020

“As we can all feel, the world at this moment seems extraordinarily fragile,” began the caption of the post shared on March 30, 2020, two weeks after the COVID pandemic began. “Yet we are confident that every human being has the potential and opportunity to make a difference—as seen now across the globe, in our families, our communities and those on the front line—together we can lift each other up to realise the fullness of that promise.”

“What’s most important right now is the health and wellbeing of everyone across the globe and finding solutions for the many issues that have presented themselves as a result of this pandemic. 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,” it said. “While you may not see us here, the work continues.”

The message thanked “this community” for “the support, the inspiration and the shared commitment to the good in the world,” which was the same text repeated on the navy blue slide of the Instagram post itself, under their joint cypher.

“We look forward to reconnecting with you soon. You’ve been great! Until then, please take good care of yourselves, and of one another,” closed the post, signed “Harry and Meghan.”

Britain's Prince Harry (2nd R), Duke of Sussex, speaks with his wife Meghan Markle, flanked by Colombia's vice-President Francia Marquez (L) and the director of the National Centre for the Arts Xiomara Suescun attend a show at the centre in Bogota on August 15, 2024. Prince Harry and his wife, American actress Meghan Markle, arrived in Colombia at the invitation of Colombia's vice-President Francia Marquez, with whom they will attend various meetings with women and young people to reject discrimination and cyberbullying

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in Bogota, Colombia on Aug. 15, 2024.

The account with nine millions followers has been dark since, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved to her home state of California that summer with their son Prince Archie, now 5. The family expanded when Harry and Meghan welcomed daughter Princess Lilibet, now 3, in June 2021, and the couple are raising their kids outside of the limelight in Montecito.

Meghan made a splash on New Year’s Day when she debuted her @meghan Instagram handle, taking her back to the popular platform for the first time in nearly five years after @sussexroyal shuttered. Before she met and later married Prince Harry, Meghan also maintained personal Instagram and Twitter (now known as X) accounts, which she closed in 2018 a few months before their royal wedding that May.

The Duchess of Sussex has so far shared two posts to her namesake page. On Jan. 1, she posted a video filmed by Harry that showed her running on the beach to write “2025” in the sand. PEOPLE understands the footage was filmed at a public beach near their Montecito home.

On Jan. 2, Meghan shared the official trailer for her upcoming lifestyle series With Love, Meghan, which premieres on Netflix on Jan. 15, along with her first message on the new Instagram.

“I have been so excited to share this with you! I hope you love the show as much as I loved making it. Wishing you all a fantastic new year! Thanks to our amazing crew and the team @netflix. Beyond grateful for the support – and fun!” she wrote below the video. “As ever, Meghan.”

The @meghan handle notably has comments turned off, and is not following anyone.

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