Monarchist trolls are in a tizzy. The Duchess of Sussex shared a sweet black-and-white clip of her and Prince Harry dancing barefoot in their Montecito garden, filmed by none other than their daughter, Princess Lilibet, who will turn five in June. The footage was tender, joyful, and utterly domestic. Which is precisely why monarchists have decided it must be impossible. Their argument? A four-year-old couldn’t possibly hold a phone and press record. This, from the same crowd who think Kate Middleton deserves a standing ovation for knowing what season it is.
If you live in the real world, you’ll know that children today can unlock iPads before they can tie their shoes. They can FaceTime grandparents, navigate YouTube, and accidentally order £200 worth of Paw Patrol merchandise on Amazon. But apparently, when the child in question is Princess Lilibet, the laws of physics and human development are suspended. The trolls insist she’s too young, too incapable, too… Sussex. It’s almost as if they can’t fathom that royals, other than the Leftovers, might be more than ornamental.
And who can blame them? After years of watching Kate Middleton be infantilised into sainthood for the most banal acts - driving herself, wearing clothes, or bravely acknowledging that autumn exists - their bar for human achievement is subterranean. If Kate closes a car door, it’s a feminist triumph. If she drives in heels, it’s Everest. If she goes for a walk in December, it’s a masterclass in seasonal awareness. Against this backdrop, the idea of a four-year-old filming her parents is simply too radical.
Meghan and Harry’s daughter captures a moment of love and laughter, and monarchists respond as though she’s attempted to split the atom. Meanwhile, Kate is praised for existing in daylight.
The trolls’ disbelief says less about Lilibet’s abilities and more about their own limited imagination. They’ve been spoon-fed a monarchy where women are celebrated for being passive, pliant, and photogenic. So when a Sussex child demonstrates agency, even the modest agency of pressing “record,” it short-circuits their worldview.
The video was charming, the dance was joyful, and the fact that the Sussexes’ daughter filmed it only adds to the warmth. The trolls can huff and puff, but the rest of us know that children are capable of far more than monarchist propaganda allows. And if Kate Middleton can be canonised for driving herself to Windsor, surely Princess Lilibet can be credited with filming her parents without the nation collapsing in disbelief.
A four-year-old filmed a dance. That’s it. No scandal, no conspiracy, no constitutional crisis. Just a child with a phone, parents in love, and monarchists proving once again that their imagination is stuck somewhere between a tiara and a traffic cone.