Princess Kate's Star Visit Comes as Meghan Markle Dips on TikTok

Princess Kate drew an overwhelming response from the Italian public on a recent royal visit, sparking viral social media content just days before Meghan Markle gave a major speech in Geneva that appeared to fall flat on TikTok.

The Duchess of Sussex was once an influential figure whose interventions on subjects ranging from miscarriages to parental leave sparked a major response from mainstream media and social media alike.

However, for some time there has been a noticeable dearth of engagement with positive content about Meghan on social media-particularly on TikTok-typified over the past week by the very different responses to two overseas trips by royal women, albeit one a working royal and the other not. It is worth nothing that Meghan is not herself on TikTok.

Why It Matters

Meghan and Prince Harry have long argued the duchess was relentlessly trolled, including by dedicated hate accounts and with racist content, but even during some of the most fierce eras of royal debate she had her supporters too.

Now, Meghan appears to be losing share of attention-even negative attention-on key platforms. Some might argue this reflects a broader decline in interest in the royals, but Kate's trip to Italy-and other high-performing posts about the Princess of Wales-suggests the audience remains, even as Meghan seems to be struggling to get an important message across to the public.

Meghan Markle’s Speech in Geneva

Meghan flew to Geneva, in Switzerland, at the invitation of the World Health Organization to help launch The Lost Screen Memorial at Place des Nations, hosted by World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Her speech was poignant and policy-focused, telling the stories of children whose deaths were linked to social media and expressing concerns about child safety discussed among parents the world over.

She said: “One day, generations from now, children will look back at this era with disbelief-that adults once allowed digital spaces to exist without basic protections for young people.

“But let's do something now so that they will also look back and see that during this increasingly polarized time-where people can barely agree on basic facts-that beyond politics, or party lines, beyond demographics, incomes, or ideologies, race or religion, we could all universally agree on one thing: we want our children to be safe.

“Let our children look back at this moment, and let them feel proud of us-that we chose something better-for them, and for us all.”

However, by Wednesday Newsweek was unable to find a post from the visit with more than 5,000 likes on TikTok. One clip can be seen here.

Content Meghan released on Instagram marking the couple’s anniversary did a little better after it was reshared on TikTok, with one fan post getting 13,700 likes and 556,000 views.

In fact, over the past seven days one of the top posts about Meghan found by Newsweek was about her relationship with Kate. That particular video, which showed old footage from Meghan and Kate’s joint visit to Wimbledon to watch the tennis in July 2019, was liked 14,800 times and viewed 113,000 times.

Among posts mentioning “Meghan Markle,” the name many still refer to her by, the 11 most liked posts were completely unrelated to the duchess. The first that had any connection to her was an AI-generated deep fake purporting to show Harry saying he regretted marrying her. It was, of course, not real.

Queen Elizabeth II famously said she had to be seen to be believed, and the same might be said about Meghan, that in order for her positive moments-such as an overseas visit to speak at the request of a major international body on a subject of high importance to her-must be visible to her primary audience.

TikTok has historically had a big audience among young people, who were traditional more favorable to Meghan and Harry than older generations, yet positive content about her appears to struggle to make a mark.

The same cannot be said about Kate.

Princess Kate’s Visit to Reggio Emilia

Princess Kate's visit to Reggio Emilia, in northern Italy, in May 2026 focused on a central plank of her work: early childhood development, particularly in the pre-school years.

The trip garnered extra attention because it was her first since her cancer diagnosis in 2024. She announced in January 2025 that she was in remission.

The scale of attention surprised even seasoned royal observers, as thousands filled Piazza Prampolini to catch a glimpse of the princess on May 13.

The visit translated well on TikTok. One clip showing Kate shaking hands and running to collect flowers from the crowds got 51,000 likes and 284,000 views. Other posts about the visit got 37,000, 20,000 and 17,600 likes.

Alongside the crowds, the presence of media-both Italian and international-was conspicuous, with banks of photographers clustering around the town square, swelling the numbers and reinforcing the sense that this was not a routine engagement but a major international moment.

Italian commentators emphasized Kate's personal popularity in Italy, with one journalist, Paolo Rosato, from Il Resto del Carlino telling the BBC: "Catherine is very popular here in Italy… They see Kate as a story that follows Diana."

That comparison, frequently echoed in coverage, helps explain the emotional tone of the reception, as well as the appetite among Italian media to document the visit in detail.

Kate’s walkabout-marked by handshakes, brief conversations and moments spent crouching to speak to children-encouraged a closer connection with those gathered. This informal style, long associated with modern royal engagement, appeared to resonate strongly in Reggio Emilia, where crowds responded with cheers, chants and repeated attempts to photograph or engage with her directly.

It was not just content about the visit itself however. Other posts about Kate have garnered significantly more attention than the content about Meghan.

Over just the same seven-day period, one post, comparing William and Kate during their heady romance to their relationship now, had 375,000 likes and 1.9 million views. Another suggesting William was lucky to be in a relationship with Kate had 110,000 likes, and 513,000 views.

Analysis

Newsweek has tracked changes in the audience for Meghan and Harry content on TikTok before, including in 2023 when positive content about the couple saw a sharp decline.

Back then though, they were still widely talked about. Eileen Kwok, social marketing specialist at Hootsuite, at the time told Newsweek: “Meghan and Harry are the most talked about couple on TikTok-but the conversation tends quite negative with most people being highly critical about their relationship.”

While negative, the top posts about Meghan Newsweek tracked for that earlier piece of research had 114,000 likes, 95,000 likes and 89,000 likes, all substantially more than the content about her posted in the last seven days.

Now, the dip in engagement appears to be deeper and span negative as well as positive posts about Meghan, suggesting not merely polarization but a broader drop in attention.

Perhaps, the duchess might feel there is a silver lining there for her, though there is still plenty of hostile commentary about her in the digital world more generally.

Either way, Meghan has since 2023 been fighting back against a general decline in her star power, particularly in America. A recent trip to Australia, though, coincided with a significant dip in Australian traffic on her As Ever online shop.

For now, there are few clear signs she has reversed that trend. The contrast with Kate's continued ability to command both physical crowds and digital attention suggests that, in the current media environment, visibility-and the platforms on which it is achieved-may matter as much as the message itself.

2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.

This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 5:20 AM.