One royal has been named as more influential than the Queen herself in 2021, but who it is? Why, the Duchess of Sussex of course.
Meghan Markle appeared in more Google searches, media mentions, and Instagram hashtags combined than any other Royal in the world. Her Majesty the Queen came in second place, followed by Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.
The Duchess of Sussex’s total number of hashtags, monthly searches and article mentions came in at a whopping 8.6 million, while the Queen trailed behind at 4.3 million.
Meghan beat out the Queen for the top spot.
(Getty)But that should come as no surprise given what a huge year Meghan’s had, from her and Prince Harry’s bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview, to welcoming daughter Lilibet, and more.
The duchess kicked off 2021 by announcing her second pregnancy with Harry in February, sitting down for a tell-all TV interview in March, then giving birth in June, delighting royal fans around the world.
In August she celebrated her 40th birthday with a video starring Melissa McCarthy, and a month later, she jetted to New York for a series of exciting in-person events with Harry, later going on to grace the cover of Time Magazine.
In October Meghan advocated for paid parental leave in the US, then made her return to TV in November when she appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
With such a packed year, it’s no wonder that more people than ever were Googling and tweeting about the duchess – though, not all of it has been kind.
New reports in October revealed that much of the social media hate aimed at Meghan and Harry was a coordinated effort from real people, rather than fake bot accounts.
The couple have spoken in the past and more recently about the “crisis” of online trolling and why it’s so important to put an end to online attacks.
As for the rest of the royal “most influential” list, which was put together by creative resource Design Bundles, there were a few surprising inclusions.
The Queen was an obvious choice for second place, as was Kate Middleton in third, Prince Harry in fourth.
Princess Diana managed to take out the fifth spot despite having died more than 24 years ago, since she would’ve turned 60 this year. Meanwhile her ex-husband Prince Charles followed in sixth place.
Another deceased royal was named the seventh most influential royal; Princess Margaret, the Queen’s late sister who features in The Crown.
Prince William was number eight, Princess Anne was number nine and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall rounded out the list in tenth place.
