Markle’s New Year post became the subject of scrutiny.

Meghan Markle‘s decision to turn off the comments on her latest Instagram post means she has a strong desire to dictate and control what people are saying about her, according to a royal commentator.

The 43-year-old marked her return to social media by reigniting her Instagram account to welcome in 2025 with a video of her running on the beach and by drawing her name in the sand, but she quickly disabled the comments.

It’s unclear whether the decision relates to trolling because of an apparent mistake that required a reshoot, or if she did it as soon as she uploaded the 28-second clip based on her previous struggles online.

The Duchess of Sussex is a vocal advocate for protecting younger people from abuse online and strives to find new measures to counter cyberbullying based on her own experiences when she had her fall out with the British Royal Family, and decision to quit as a working member.

But for Phil Dampier, this actually suggests she’s a “control freak” who is desperate to control the narrative about her.

“Harry and Meghan are control freaks, there’s no doubt about it,” Dampier told The Sun. “And in putting this up on Instagram I think Meghan’s teasing us quite considerably.

“She’s already apparently turned off the comments so that people can’t interact with her. But of course, the actual video that she’s posted online doesn’t really tell us anything. This [comments disabled] tends to indicate that the Sussexes are rather thin-skinned.”

“I think that’s been one of their biggest problems,” Dampier continued. “Because if they weren’t so obsessed, if they learned to just ignore some of the stuff and let it wash over them, they could possibly find some much more useful things to do in life. But unfortunately, that’s where we are – and this is all part of that.”

Dampier backed up: “They read everything written about them”

Dampier isn’t alone in his theory regarding Markle and Prince Harry either, as Hugo Vickers proclaims the Sussexes read everything in a big to understand what’s going on around them and how they are being received.

“They read everything available that’s written about them,” Vickers told The Sun. “And they monitor everything.

“So they’re going to – as with anybody in public life – get a lot of flack and criticism along with the support that some people still give them.”