Meghan Markle's major announcement after two-year speculation: 'So proud'

Following over two years of speculation, Meghan Markle has finally made her return to social media. The Duchess of Sussex shared her first post to her account @meghan on Thursday morning, which received over 1.7 million views in less than four hours.

The video, believed to have been taken by Prince Harry, shows Meghan running on the beach in an all-white outfit as she stops to draw 2025 in the sand before running past the camera and laughing. She chose not to write a caption for the post and also turned off comments.

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Meghan’s Instagram account was first launched in June 2022, although there was no confirmation that it was owned by her as there was no information in the bio. The profile picture was also a photo of pink dahlias, which symbolise inner strength, positivity and growth.

The mother-of-two has since updated the account’s name to ‘Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’ and changed her profile picture to a black-and-white portrait of herself wearing a white dress and smiling.

The account has quickly grown in followers, going from 115,000 to almost 400,000 in the first few hours - including celebrities like Kris Jenner and Serena Williams.

Fans were clearly thrilled by Meghan’s return, with one person writing on X: “Meghan Markle is back on Instagram, and as expected, I am losing my mind.”

“Meghan Markle, the icon you are dropping your first Instagram post in 8 years on New Year’s Day,” another added, followed by a third who said, “Meghan Markle back on Instagram makes 2025 the best year already

"I’m literally sitting here crying, Meghan Markle I love you so much and I’m so proud of you. You’ll always be MY GIRL,” someone else shared.

Meghan’s Instagram account is said to be part of her new chapter with Prince Harry as she prepares to launch her new company American Riviera Orchard, which she created an account for in early 2024.

The former actress originally shut down her personal social media accounts in January 2018 after becoming engaged to Prince Harry. The pair then used their official @SussexRoyal accounts on Instagram and Twitter but stopped posting on there in 2020 when they quit their royal duties.

Meghan's 2025 plans

Meghan first teased her return to social media in 2022 during an interview with The Cut, telling the journalist: “Do you want to know a secret? I’m getting back … on Instagram.”

While she secured the new account in June 2022, a source told Daily Mail at the time that she had backed out of launching it at the last minute.

“Meghan was set to go live on Insta, but changed her mind shortly before she launched her Archetypes podcast, so it’s just sitting there now,” the insider said.

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The New York Post’s Page Six reported in November that Meghan was laying low as she prepared to launch American Riviera Orchard alongside her Netflix series centred around “cooking, gardening and entertaining” in “early 2025”.

“As far as Meghan being quiet, she’s been in the background working on her entrepreneurial efforts,” an industry insider told the publication. “Both the Netflix project and her brand will come out within the same timeline in the New Year.”

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