Meghan and Harry 'win popularity over Kate and William' says Smith

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge launched their own YouTube channel this week, demonstrating how they are stepping away from the rest of the Firm and marking themselves out as a slightly separate entity. The couple have gathered 511,000 subscribers so far, which is still a long way off their other social media accounts. On Twitter, Kate and William have 2.2 million followers while on Instagram they have a whopping 12.8 million.

They also made a significant decision to change their handle on Instagram — but curiously not on Twitter — from @kensingtonroyal to @dukeandduchessofcambridge.

While many perceived this as the couple trying to further distinguish themselves apart from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — whom they used to share an Instagram account with — other commentators believed it was more tactical than that.

Speaking on Pod Save the Queen, Daily Mirror royal editor Russell Myers and podcast host Ann Gripper speculated what might have been behind the sudden change.

Ms Gripper said: “I think it’s a good thing they changed their handle — they’ve done it in a very professional way.

“Because they just did it, and they grabbed the old one and shut it down — so @kensingtonroyal still exists, but it’s a private account that’s not doing anything.

“So they have basically flipped the name of their account and then registered the other one at the same time.

“Presumably in collaboration with Instagram, because usually it takes a little minute for a thing to be re-released.

“Obviously they wouldn’t want to be impersonated.”

She then pointed out how this name change will be beneficial for their royal engagements.

Ms Gripper said: “If you think about how you write an Instagram post, if you want to tag someone, you wouldn’t say, ‘Great to be visited by @kensingtonroyal today’.

“You would say, ‘It was great to be visited by @dukeanduchessofcambridge’, or ‘great to see @dukeanduchessofcambridge’s work’.

“So I suspect they’re getting tagged in a lot more things now, which helps to grow their brand as it means people will see it and follow [their account].”

Ms Gripper also noted that the new handle made the couple’s account seem “more human”, while Mr Myers said it looked a “bit too long” and “messy” to him.

The rebrand occurred at the same time as they launched their new YouTube platform which, as commentator Katie Nicholl noted, is “already shining a unique spotlight on their work”.

As part of the publicity for Kate’s new book ‘Hold Still’, the Duchess phoned many of the finalists who shared their pandemic experiences by submitting a photograph to her last year.

These casual conversations have been uploaded in small snippets on their YouTube channel and have provided new insight into how the royals interact with the public.

Writing in Vanity Fair, Ms Nicholl added: “William and Kate are the only royals to have their own YouTube channel independently of the Royal Family’s own channel.

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“Sources close to the Cambridges say that they are focused on their digital efforts and have worked hard to build a successful social media campaign which has seen them amass millions of followers around the globe.”

The couple have been reinventing their digital image throughout the pandemic as they sought new ways to connect with the public.

Shortly before their channel was officially launched, the Cambridges also released a professionally filmed video of their family off-duty, to celebrate their anniversary.

Kate Middleton and Prince William share anniversary video

It was a huge success and amassed more than one million views on YouTube in the first six days.

Still, William used to be opposed to most forms of media intruding in his life, but sources told Ms Nicholl that the future king is now “more relaxed” and willing to embrace social media.

Like Meghan and Harry, William has expressed his concerns that online platforms can be used for cyberbullying — but the Cambridges are expanding their social media presence while the Sussexes’ accounts are no longer active.

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