Hero video poster

Meghan Markle hugs grieving parents whose children’s deaths have been linked to social media as she attends WHO assembly in Switzerland

Meghan Markle embraced grieving parents who lost their children to online harm ahead of the World Health Organisation assembly in Switzerland.

The Duchess of Sussex attended the opening of a memorial to the children, partly funded by the charitable organisation she runs with her husband, Prince Harry.

In a speech alongside the chief of the WHO, Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Meghan, 44, urged global health leaders to take steps to improve safety for children online.

She then mingled with members of the crowd, which included bereaved families, with photos showing her hugging several visibly emotional attendees.

Meghan also posed for selfies with fans, and accepted gifts from children who had been watching.

The ceremony marked the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial, and ran ahead of the 79th annual WHO assembly.

The installation features a poignant tribute to 50 children who died as a result of digital harm.

They have been remembered through illuminated light boxes, with each showing the mobile phone lock screen of one of the children.

Meghan Markle embraced attendees at a memorial for children who died after viewing harmful content on social media
+10
View gallery

Meghan Markle embraced attendees at a memorial for children who died after viewing harmful content on social media

She appeared at the opening ceremony for the memorial, which features light boxes depicting the mobile phone lock screens of children who lost their lives
+10
View gallery

She appeared at the opening ceremony for the memorial, which features light boxes depicting the mobile phone lock screens of children who lost their lives

Some members of the crowd, which included bereaved families, were visibly emotional during their meetings with Meghan
+10
View gallery

Some members of the crowd, which included bereaved families, were visibly emotional during their meetings with Meghan

In one sweet moment, she crouched down to speak to a child who had been watching the proceedings
+10
View gallery

In one sweet moment, she crouched down to speak to a child who had been watching the proceedings

The Duchess also had time to pose for selfies with fans
+10
View gallery

The Duchess also had time to pose for selfies with fans

Meghan insisted that children’s safety online must be framed as a ‘public health issue’ during her address to the crowd, which she later posted to Instagram in a video.

Referring to the screens behind her, displaying the lock screens, Meghan 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.

‘And now their faces ask the world questions we can no longer avoid.’

She said: ‘Children today are being shaped by systems designed to capture attention at any cost: relentless algorithms, exploitative engagement, and endless exposure to harmful content that they are not seeking out.’

Meghan said new technologies, such as AI, are ‘not just repeating past mistakes’, but ‘accelerating and amplifying’ them, adding danger now travels globally.

She said: ‘We are seeing new forms of harm emerge faster than our systems are prepared to respond, affecting children at alarming scale and across borders.

‘But these outcomes are not inevitable, and prevention begins with one simple principle: children must be safe by design, not safe by chance.

‘Because danger now travels globally – instantly, invisibly, intimately. And our protections must do the same.’

Meghan was appearing at the opening of the No Child Lost to Social Media memorial in Geneva, Switzerland, ahead of the 79th WHO annual assembly
+10
View gallery

Meghan was appearing at the opening of the No Child Lost to Social Media memorial in Geneva, Switzerland, ahead of the 79th WHO annual assembly

The Duchess strode out wearing an all-black suit, including a jacket that appeared to feature in a mirror selfie with her daughter Lilibet posted on Saturday
+10
View gallery

The Duchess strode out wearing an all-black suit, including a jacket that appeared to feature in a mirror selfie with her daughter Lilibet posted on Saturday

The Duchess embraced Adhanom Ghebreyesus, chief of the WHO, which is hosting the event in collaboration with the Sussex's charitable foundation
+10
View gallery

The Duchess embraced Adhanom Ghebreyesus, chief of the WHO, which is hosting the event in collaboration with the Sussex’s charitable foundation

Meghan on Saturday shared a photo showing her daughter Lilibet helping her pick an outfit for the event
+10
View gallery

Meghan on Saturday shared a photo showing her daughter Lilibet helping her pick an outfit for the event

She called on attendees to ‘speak up’ and ‘demand better from the platforms shaping our children’s lives’.

Listening to the duchess’s speech was online safety campaigner Amy Neville, whose 14-year-old son Alexander is among the children featured in the memorial’s exhibition.

Meghan said the voice of Ms Neville, and the voices of ‘so many’ others, ‘remind us what is at stake’.

She added that, during an ‘increasingly polarised time’, adults must ‘all universally agree on one thing: we want our children to be safe’.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have both advocated for stronger protections for children online.

In April last year, the couple unveiled a memorial in New York City to young people who lost their lives due to the harmful effects of social media and met families who believe social media played a part in the deaths of their youngsters.

Some five months later, Harry warned the impact of social media on children is ‘one of the most pressing issues of our time’, as he spoke at a gala in New York.

At the same event, Meghan said she and her husband often discussed how they would protect their own children, seven-year-old Archie and Lili, four, as they grow older.

In preparation for the event, Meghan enlisted her daughter Lilibet to help her select an outfit.

The Duchess on Saturday shared a mirror selfie of herself and her four-year-old on Instagram, with the caption: ‘Mama’s little helper’.

Meghan was wearing an all-pink outfit featuring a statement overcoat, with the Princess sitting at her feet in a red dress.

Hanging on the wardrobe was a black suit jacket, which appears to be the one she ultimately chose to wear in Geneva.

Meghan’s office confirmed on Friday she would be attending the ceremony to ‘pay tribute to the children remembered in the installation and underscore the urgent need for stronger global protections for children online’.

It is being co-hosted by the WHO and Archewell Philanthropies, the charitable foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in partnership with The Parents’ Network.

The organisers said the memorial aims to ‘highlight the measurable and preventable harms associated with online violence against children’.

This includes cyberbullying, grooming, sextortion, exposure to self-harm content and unsafe emerging technologies without adequate safeguards.

Meghan’s appearance in Geneva comes after her recent Mother’s Day trip to Disneyland in California with Prince Harry and their children, Lilibet and seven-year-old Archie.