Prince Harry has shared the one thing he is “grateful” for when it comes to his two young children, Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three. The Duke of Sussex’s confession came whilst he and his wife, Meghan Markle, unveiled a memorial in New York City which is dedicated to the memory of children whose families believe harmful material online contributed to their deaths.
Prince Harry told the BBC in New York: “We want to make sure that things are changed so that… no more kids are lost to social media. We’re just grateful that our kids are too young to be on social media at this point.”
The installation unveiled by Harry and Meghan is called the Lost Screen Memorial, and is made from 50 smartphones. Each one displays a screen photo of a child whose life was lost “due to the harms of social media”.
The children’s images were shared by parents who are part of the Parents’ Network, set up by Prince Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation.
Meghan said the danger of social media was a global issue. She explained: “I think in many ways what we see through these parents is the hope and the promise of something better, because… they just want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
People’s report said that the Sussexes were “visibly in sync and deeply engaged throughout the event, taking their time with each parent, offering comfort and consoling those in tears”.
A statement from the Archewell Foundation said the families attending the memorial, which is only open for 24 hours but also has a virtual version online, were a “powerful representation of the thousands of families who have lost their children to online harm”.
This week, the couple have also been in New York for the Time100 summit which they attended at the Jazz at Lincoln Center yesterday, and Meghan spoke on stage.
Meghan said it had been an “incredibly busy” time recently as she launched her Netflix show, new podcast and lifestyle brand As Ever but being a mother gave her “perspective”.
She candidly added that Archie’s first tooth has come loose and she hoped she would be back home from New York before it came out.