Prince Harry says his children, Archie and Lilibet, are on his phone’s lock screen
On stage at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual summit on Tuesday, Prince Harry stood in front of a screen displaying photos of children on his phone screen. In the most emotional moment of the speech, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and mentioned his children, Archie And Lilibet.
“My lock screen is a picture of my children. What about yours?” he said. “These children, and thousands of others, mean so much to their families. The beautiful faces you see before your eyes, their smiles, their dreams.” He added that they were lost too soon “to social media.”
Harry gave a speech explaining why he and his wife Meghan Markle launched the Archewell Foundation Parent Network, an online support group for parents whose children have been harmed online. He also references some of his tabloid adventures when talking about the changes in childhood today. “Some people say kids will be kids, and that may be true. Kids can get into trouble—I know a thing or two about that,” he says. “But our kids are being targeted. The harms of social media are created by design.”
Although his speech was timed after the appearance of Bill Clinton, Samantha Power, Laurene Powell Jobs, And José Andres, His comments about empowering young people to change technology received the warmest applause of the morning.
Harry and Meghan launched the network, part of their larger effort to promote online safety, an August interview with CBS This Morning where they also shared their experiences learning about parents whose children had committed suicide after being bullied online or overdosing on drugs bought on social media. In his CGI speech, Harry also touched on some of the more common harms.
“As the digital landscape has evolved, we have seen increased polarization, social unrest, and disconnection that often manifests itself in violence and fear,” he said. “Personal social connections have become secondary to alternative digital realities. These platforms are designed to create addiction.”
The speech was a somber start to the prince’s second day of events related to the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week. After the event, he attended a panel discussion at the United Nations, where he appeared alongside King Letsie III And Queen Masenate Mohato Seeiso of Lesotho to discuss the work of Sentebale, the HIV/AIDS charity he founded in 2003 after spending time in the country with Letsie’s brother Prince Seesio.
