As Meghan Markle and Prince Harry appeared to participate in a viral nostalgia trend with a throwback-style video, the internet wasted no time tearing it apart over certain suspicious details.
The post, shared on Saturday, January 17, to Meghan’s Instagram account, featured the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and quickly led viewers to accuse her of attempting to “manufacture authenticity” amid months of similar criticism.
Highlights
- Meghan Markle’s nostalgic throwback video sparked backlash after fans zeroed in on details they say don’t add up with her claims.
- Viewers questioned whether the intimate moment was truly “authentic” or spontaneous, with critics scrutinizing the video’s timing.
- The post reignited comparisons to the Duchess of Sussex’s sister-in-law, Princess Catherine, as people noticed an “odd” pattern of similarities in their social media activity.
“I think MM is trying to sell ‘authenticity’ since so much of the criticism she receives is that she/they aren’t authentic,” reacted one social media user.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s viral throwback-style dance video slammed over “bizarre” claims involving their 4-year-old daughter, Princess Lilibet
Image credits: Craig Barritt/Getty Images
In the now-viral post, Meghan Markle shared a romantic black-and-white video of herself and Prince Harry dancing barefoot on their lawn on a sunny day, set to Olivia Dean’s 2025 track So Easy (To Fall in Love).
The clip showed the couple sharing a kiss, with Harry playfully lifting Meghan at the end.
Meghan also shared a photo from her and her husband’s 2016 trip to Botswana, which they have described as their third official date.
Image credits: meghan
The video was shared as part of the viral 2016 social media nostalgia trend, a nod to the year the couple first began dating nearly a decade ago.
The two famously met in July 2016 on a blind date arranged by a mutual friend at Soho House’s Dean Street Townhouse in London.
Markle captioned the post, “When 2026 feels just like 2016… you had to be there.”
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However, what didn’t sit well with social media users was the line that followed, “cred: our daughter,” implying that Princess Lilibet filmed the video.
Skeptics also questioned the steadiness and professional quality of the clip, with many suggesting that a professional videographer or at least a grown adult was likely involved, rather than the couple’s 4-year-old daughter.
“Notice how they always hide behind a ‘child detail’ to disarm criticism. It’s not wholesome, it’s strategic,” expressed one furious netizen
Image credits: meghan
One critic commented on X, “There's no way in one million years that their four-year-old is taking a video, when I was four-years-old I was playing with dolls, not recording my parents dancing with each other."
Another X user, with the handle @XOQueenEsther, bluntly added, “A four year old does not film like an adult… A four year old filming a video is usually chaotic. The camera shakes. The framing is random. Someone’s head gets cut off. There is movement, sudden tilting, giggling, wandering, fingers covering the lens, accidental zooming…”
Image credits: meghan
“What we got instead looked steady, controlled, and perfectly placed. Not ‘kid with a phone for five seconds’ energy. More like ‘adult set the phone/camera & pressed record’ energy.”
Calling the post a “lie,” the user speculated that the Suits alum “did not need to mention who filmed it at all,” but chose to do so in order to make the moment “feel intimate and authentic.”
“Saying the child filmed it attempts to do three things at once. First, it sells innocence. It makes the moment sound spontaneous and family warm. Second, it shields it from criticism… Third, it forces the audience to picture the child witnessing the whole performance, which is exactly the emotional hook they want.”
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The same user doubled down in the comments, writing, “A 4 year old doesn’t film like a trained cameraman with zero wobble. That was propped up on something, tripod or shelf, and they still had to toss in the ‘Lili took it’ lie for the fake wholesome points. Clowns.”
The former actress’s decision to credit her daughter also sparked comparisons to her sister-in-law Princess Catherine of Wales’ ‘Mother Nature’ post from February last year, shared to mark World Cancer Day, where Catherine credited Prince Louis for taking the photograph.
The “cringe” and “awkward” clip was dragged online, with many viewers drawing comparisons to Princess Catherine’s post crediting her 7-year-old son, Prince Louis
In the image, Catherine was seen standing on a log in what appeared to be a forested area, her arms outstretched as she looked into the camera.
“Because Catherine shared a photo taken by Louis, so of course Meghan had to try to one up it by claiming Lili filmed the video,” wrote one suspicious netizen.
Others echoed similar sentiments, with one comment reading, “Let’s face it the only reason she has the credit for the kid filming it is because C [Catherine] credited her son for her photo.”
Image credits: Jane Barlow - WPA Pool/Getty Images
“They hate each other. It is hard to feign romantic when you would rather be anywhere else.”
As the backlash intensified over the weekend, Meghan reposted the same dancing clip on her Instagram Story on Saturday, January 18.
Meghan and Harry shared the Instagram post amid months of “bad PR,” following several controversies and reports that multiple key staff members quit their team
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This time, aside from the music playing, a faint giggle believed to be from Lilibet could be heard in the background.
Some speculated the clip was reshared with the child’s voice included to suggest that the video had, in fact, been filmed by Lilibet.
However, critics labeled the move “ridiculous,” with one person strongly reacting, “You have to do better than that, Markle. We still don’t believe a 4 yr old filmed that, and if you’d let a child film you straddling your husband, that’s weird. The Prove It Game? Again? Yet it proves nothing.”
Image credits: meghan
The renewed backlash followed what many online have deemed a “bad PR year” for the Sussexes.
Meghan and Prince Harry topped Ranker’s list of the most disliked celebrities of 2025, with Markle ranking No. 1.
The couple also lost several key staff members last year, including their chief communications officer, Meredith Maines.
Reports claim that at least 11 publicists or senior communications professionals have exited the non-working royals’ employment since their move to the U.S. in 2020, including Maines’ departure.
According to reports, Meghan has since rehired the PR firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis (SSML) to manage her publicity, the same firm she previously worked with during her acting career.
“How utterly ridiculous… That claim was only thrown in to make it sound ‘cute’ and spontaneous when it was obviously staged,” commented one social media user
