Meghan Markle's decision to feature behind-the-scenes images of her children while promoting the second season of her Netflix series With Love, Meghan has drawn criticism from royal commentators and viewers, adding to the scrutiny surrounding the show's lukewarm reception.
In a post on Instagram, the Duchess of Sussex, 44, shared photos of Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, on set. One image showed Archie holding a clapperboard with his face obscured by a heart emoji, while another pictured Lilibet sitting in a director's chair in a pink jumper. Additional photos depicted the children wearing headphones as they watched camera operations. Markle captioned the post by saying filming had been "more fun than you can imagine."
Royal biographer Hugo Vickers said the strategy could unsettle Prince Harry and raise questions about the children's privacy. "He ought to be extremely annoyed. Obviously, I don't know what he thinks, but I think he does what he's told, probably," Vickers said. "What worries me much more, to be quite honest, is what the children themselves are going to think when they get a little bit older and they realize how they've been exploited." He added that Archie and Lilibet would eventually "realise at a certain point that they've never met their grandfathers and that they have cousins in England who have rather an interesting life - something which they've been kept away from."
Fans also voiced unease online. "I don't understand how they can preach about online safety for children and then roll out their children on social media for attention?" one user wrote. Another added: "I feel bad for these two children, to be pawns in their mother's quest for fame and money."
The promotional post coincided with the release of the new season, which, like its predecessor, has received poor reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season earned an average of 2.1 stars out of five; the second has slipped to 1.8. Reviewers described the series as "so boring" and "so contrived," while The Times called it "the sweet spot where irrelevant meets intolerable."
British outlets offered similar assessments. The Independent's Helen Coffey said the program felt like being "gaslit by a multimillionaire," while The Telegraph noted that Prince Harry's absence from the series was "conspicuous," quipping, "Has she got Harry locked in the pantry?" The paper concluded that Meghan appeared "more needy" than before and labeled the production "tone-deafness from the Montecito Marie Antoinette." The Guardian described it as "effortfully whimsical" and "almost fascinating" in its contrivance.
The Duchess also reignited debate about her time as a working royal in a Bloomberg interview, saying she had been required to wear nude pantyhose and felt constrained from expressing herself. "It was different several years ago, where I couldn't be as vocal and had to wear nude pantyhose all the time," she said. "Let's be honest, that was not very myself. I hadn't seen pantyhose since movies in the 80s when they came in the little egg. That felt a little bit inauthentic."
The eight-episode series includes cameos from figures such as chef Clare Smyth, who catered the Sussexes' 2018 royal wedding, and features music from Whitney Houston and Bill Withers. But critics suggest such touches have not offset the broader concerns over tone, relevance, and Markle's use of family imagery in her publicity campaign.
