Meghan Markle rejoins Instagram 5 years after stepping down from royal role
Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, kicked off 2025 with a return to her past.
The wife of Prince Harry on Wednesday rejoined Instagram, where she developed a following of millions before her 2018 wedding.
The first post on Meghan's new account, which has a simple handle of @meghan, is a video of her running on a beach, towards water and writing "2025" in the sand before moving off camera.
ABC News understands the video was filmed by Harry on a public beach near the couple's home in Montecito, California, where they live with their two children, Archie and Lilibet.
Earlier this year, Meghan launched another Instagram account under the handle @AmericanRivieraOrchard. That account launched with several posts on its grid to reveal a larger image of a logo for what appears to be a new project. However, it has not been active since those original posts in March.
Meghan's return to Instagram under her own name comes nearly five years after she and Harry closed their @sussexroyal Instagram account after they stepped down from their senior roles in the British royal family and had to stop using the Sussex Royal brand.
When the Sussexes launched their @sussexroyal account in 2019, it quickly broke a world record for the fastest time to gain one million followers on Instagram, according to Guinness World Records.
Prior to her relationship with Harry, Meghan frequently posted photos of her home, her dogs, her travels and food on her personal Instagram account, which she shut down several months before her May 2018 wedding.
The former "Suits" star also authored a blog, The Tig, which she closed in 2017 as her romance with Harry became even more serious.
"It was a big adjustment -- a huge adjustment to go from that kind of autonomy to a different life," she said of that period of her life in a 2022 interview with The Cut.
Since leaving their senior royal roles in 2020, both Harry and Meghan have spoken publicly about the dangers of social media, especially for young people.
In 2021, Harry denied a report saying he and Meghan had left social media for good, adding that he has seen how the platforms "can offer a means of connecting and community, which are vital to us as human beings."
"We will revisit social media when it feels right for us -- perhaps when we see more meaningful commitments to change or reform -- but right now we've thrown much of our energy into learning about this space and how we can help," Harry told Fast Company.
