Duchess Meghan & Prince Harry Support LGBTQ Pride On Their Instagram Page

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are sharing their support for the LGBTQ community on their official Instagram page, and they included Princess Diana and her early support for AIDS victims in their photo collage.

The Daily Mail says that the couple wanted to express their support for the community and to shine a spotlight on LGBTQ pride. The two included images from accounts that they are following on the social media platform, and by artist Ruben Guadalupe Marquez.

One photo in the collage features Prince Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, and Gerard McGrath, a patient at Aids hospice London Lighthouse, shortly before her death. In 2017, McGrath still recalled Diana’s visit from decades back, saying that when the princess came to visit him, she was illuminated.

“When she came in, she was shining. That smile, it just beamed when she smiled. She beamed. I sound like a sycophant but that’s how it was. I’m not a royal person really, I’m a republican, but she was an exception.”

Princess Diana was one prominent public figures credited with helping remove the stigma of treating and caring for those with the disease. The princess would visit hospitals and hospices, holding hands with patients without wearing gloves.

Princess Diana wanted to show the world that the disease could not be spread through casual contact.

For the month of June, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex want to pay tribute to causes they support, like Stonewall, The Trevor Project, Human Rights Campaign, It Gets Better Project, Sage, and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Despite over 300,000 likes, the Daily Express says that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are facing backlash by those who say that the royal family “doesn’t endorse political beliefs.” In response to that line of criticism, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry say that they are supporting social causes and not political ones because their interest is human.

That didn’t stop critics from posting comments calling out the couple, including one who suggested that royals should not support anything controversial.

“What happened to the Royal Family doesn’t endorse political beliefs/controversy beliefs one way or the other?” one Instagram user wrote.

Others criticized them for including more American organizations than British ones, saying that as members of the royal family, their focus should be on the U.K. But others, including British Olympic bronze medalist diver Tom Daley, praised Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry, writing, “This is just awesome.”