Meghan Markle surprised people across the world on New Years Day as she launched a new Instagram account, @meghan.

The Duchess of Sus𝑠e𝑥, 43, posted her first video on the account yesterday, which featured her running across a beach believed to be close to her Montecito home.

In the clip, the duchess runs across the sand before stopping to use her finger to write 2025. She then runs in front of the camera and smiles before the video comes to an end.

Meghan is the only person to feature on the video, which has the comment section switched off.

Harry filmed it

While Meghan’s husband Prince Harry does not feature on the video, it is believed this is for a very good reason. PEOPLE reported that they understood the video that was Meghan’s first post on the Instagram account was shot by her husband Prince Harry at a public beach near their Montecito home in California.

It is not known exactly when the video was taken.

Meghan made the account in 2022

Instagram information also confirmed that while the public account was only officially launched yesterday with its first post, it had been created in June 2022. It was then only officially verified this year.

Before yesterday, the account was not widely known and had no posts or reference to the fact it was the account of the Duchess of Sus𝑠e𝑥.

The account username has only changed once

Instagram information on the account also shows that the username has been changed once since 2022. It does not confirm what the first username was.

How many followers she has

Royal fans may also be surprised that Meghan has an impressive number of followers on the account so far, with 626,000 followers in total (as of 9:30am on January 2).

It is believed that some of these followers may have already followed the account before the first post yesterday.

Comments have been turned off

Though fans have responded to Meghan’s Instagram launch excitedly, they were not able to directly respond to the video as comments have been disabled.

This is likely to avoid trolling and negative comments.

The account uses her royal title

Some followers may also not have noticed that the account uses Meghan’s royal title – the Duchess of Sus𝑠e𝑥.

Despite quitting life as senior working royals in 2020, Meghan and Harry have been able to keep their royal titles of the Duke and Duchess of Sus𝑠e𝑥 – a decision that has divided royal fans for years.

On the account, the name underneath the Instagram handle reads “Meghan, Duchess of Sus𝑠e𝑥”. This has angered some people online, with one person writing on X: “I don’t understand how a woman can hold a title for a country that she won’t even step foot in anymore, let alone live there.”

The dress she is wearing

While Meghan’s first video post looks like the duchess is wearing a long oversized shirt with trousers, her outfit is in fact a dress.

In the featured image of her account, Meghan is wearing the ‘Francine’ Jersey cream maxi dress from Khaite NY, believed to cost €910 – which equates to around £727.94 in the UK.

The duchess has not worn this dress publicly before, with the outfit believed to be a new addition to her impressive wardrobe.