They may not have their own private social media accounts, but it seems Meghan and Catherine are still not immune to vile online comments and abuse.
According to Hello! magazine, Kensington Palace staff are being forced to spend hours moderating offensive comments aimed at them, many of which are described as “sexist and racist” while some even contain threats towards the royals or other ‘rival’ fans.
It has prompted the magazine to launch a new worldwide campaign, named #HelloToKindness, aiming to change the way people post online and focus more on positive comments.
The royal family have several Instagram and Twitter accounts, covering all members of the royal family across Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace. The main royal Instagram account alone has 4.5million followers, while Kensington Palace, (which covers all of Meghan, Prince Harry, Catherine and Prince William’s activities) has 7.1million.
A source told the magazine: “Over the course of last year, with hundreds of thousands of comments, there were two or three that were violent threats.”
It comes amid ongoing and unconfirmed claims of a feud between the Duchess of Sussex and the Duchess of Cambridge, which the magazine claims has sparked a lot of nasty comments between both of their fanbases.
The source added: “It follows a Kate vs Meghan narrative and some of the worst stuff is between Kate fans and Meghan fans.”
“There’s a wider narrative in the media pitting them against each other, and unfortunately people are piling in and taking sides,” Emily Nash, the magazine’s royal editor, explained to CNN.
“It seems to me to be particularly sexist… You have people comparing them in a way that doesn’t really happen with men, ‘She’s walking funny, or her heels are too high, or her legs are too skinny’.”
Despite the ongoing claims of animosity between them, Meghan and Catherine have appeared amicable with each other on outings in recent months and happily walked side by side as they arrived for a church service at Sandringham over Christmas – showing no signs at all of any issues.
And Catherine has previously shared her excitement over Meghan and Prince Harry’s pregnancy during a visit to Leicester, revealing to fans: “It’s a special time.”
When asked if she was excited about the arrival of the baby, which is due in the UK spring, Prince William’s wife replied: “Yeah, absolutely!”.
The duchess also told the excited fans how great it will be for her children to have a new play mate, adding: “A cousin for George, Charlotte and Louis as well. It’s really, really special.”