Piers Morgan has accused Meghan Markle of 'double standards' after she shared photos of Princess Lilibet's fifth birthday online, asking why someone who speaks so loudly about child privacy would, in his words, expose her daughter to millions. The criticism came during a SXSW London panel earlier this week, where Morgan used the birthday images to challenge the Sussexes' long-running argument about media intrusion.
Princess Lilibet turned five on Thursday, and Meghan marked the occasion by posting birthday photographs to her social media audience. The timing also followed Meghan's appearance in Geneva last month, where she delivered a speech on online harm and called for stronger protections for children in the digital world.
Morgan Criticises Meghan's Lilibet Birthday Post
Morgan told the SXSW London audience that Meghan could not, in his view, campaign for child privacy and then post images of Lilibet herself. 'They've put up photographs of their five-year-old child on social media to millions of people. Immediately recognisable, and I'm like, what are you doing? What is this about?' he said, according to the Express.
He added: 'Why would you preach about privacy? Why would you lecture the world about the need to be very careful with online stuff about children and so on, and then put your own child out there to millions of people?' Morgan went on to call the move 'ridiculous' and 'a classic example of the kind of double standard' he associates with Prince Harry and Meghan.
The complaint will sound familiar to those who have followed Morgan's long-running criticism of the couple. His basic charge is hypocrisy, that the Sussexes insist on privacy while still sharing selected parts of family life and using the visibility that comes with royal status. Supporters would argue the opposite, that choosing what to reveal is not the same as handing over control.
Meghan's Geneva Warning On Online Harm
Meghan's Geneva appearance was a very different sort of moment. In May, she travelled to the Swiss city to open The Lost Screen Memorial at the Place des Nations, an installation made up of 50 illuminated lightboxes showing the lock-screen image of children who died after online violence or digital harm.
'Behind me stands The Lost Screen Memorial,' she said. 'Not statistics. Not avatars. Not data points. Children. Each name belonged to a child who was loved beyond measure. A child whose laughter once filled a kitchen. Whose shoes once waited by a front door. Whose future once felt limitless'.
If Love Could Have Saved Our Children, They Would All Still Be Here.😭😭😭
— THE SUSSEX SOLDIER 🪖 (@NSome1ne) May 31, 2026
The Lost Screen Memorial speech that Meghan gave in Geneva, Switzerland, is very powerful, and even Murdoch's Page Six and others have admitted that.
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The Lost Screen Memorial is dedicated to… pic.twitter.com/P7pDLYmAB7
She used the speech to press governments and technology firms on their responsibilities. 'How many more millions of children will be harmed by products that, while innovative, are still designed without sufficient safeguards?' she asked. 'When will children be able to enjoy the extraordinary potential of technology without it compromising their wellbeing?'
That contrast is why the Lilibet photos have become such a focus for critics. Meghan's message in Geneva was about safeguarding children online, yet her own daughter was then placed, however carefully, into the public frame.
Privacy, Public Life And The Sussexes' Choices
Supporters of Meghan and Harry would say the two situations are not the same. A parent-approved birthday post is a world away from the unregulated, exploitative content Meghan was warning about in Geneva, and public figures are often trying to balance privacy with the occasional glimpse that keeps paparazzi attention in check.
Morgan, though, has little patience for that distinction. In his telling, the birthday post simply reinforces a point he has made for years about the Sussexes, that their public posture and their private choices do not always match. It is presented less as a principled position, he suggests, than as part of their broader image management.
The Palace has not commented on the row, and the Sussexes have not publicly answered Morgan's remarks. That leaves the usual social media argument, with fans defending Meghan's right to celebrate her daughter as she chooses and critics repeating the accusation of double standards, this time with a five-year-old at the centre of the discussion.
