The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made their first appearance in 2026! They appeared online on a Zoom call with author Jonathan Haidt. Haidt previously wrote The Anxious Generation, all about young Millennials and Gen Z people and how they’ve grown up in the social media era, and how social media has drastically affected their mental health and their physical health. Prince Harry is a huge fan of Haidt’s work – last year, Harry and Haidt did a sit-down conversation to mark World Mental Health Day. Well, Haidt has cowritten a new book with Catherine Price called An Amazing Generation. Oprah Daily hosted the “launch event” and wouldn’t you know, Harry and Meghan Zoomed in to highlight Haidt’s work.
The couple appeared virtually at an Oprah book launch event hosted by Gayle King on Wednesday, Jan. 7, speaking with authors Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price about their new book, The Amazing Generation. The book speaks on the dangers of digital overconsumption and is designed to encourage children to have fun in the real world, and Harry told the pair that their research on the topic is “incredibly valuable.”
“Over the years, we’ve worked with how the digital spaces [are] deeply affecting our collective and mental, emotional and physical health,” Harry, 41, shared with the authors. “Obviously, a huge congratulations to you and the outcome of your research, which has created a parent-led movement, which is astonishing and much needed.”
Meghan, 44, agreed, saying they were “proud to be a part” of the movement.
The couple also made a brief mention of their kids, as Meghan shared her experience putting some of Haidt and Price’s suggestions into practice at home with Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.
“You were saying, you cannot replace the feeling of a deep, guttural belly laugh. An emoji laugh is not the same physiological response that we need, that our kids need,” she said. “What I love is that the more that we encourage our children to do this, we mimic those same behaviors. We also start to play, and we also start to be more present.”
Harry added, “The insights have been incredibly valuable over the years for our work with parents who have lost their children to online harms, and [our work] working towards solutions to keep all children safe.”
For the Sussexes, all of this coincides with their work founding the Parents Network, which not only provides support to families who have lost children to online threats and activities, but advocates for more education around all kids’ online lives and social media usage. You can see the Oprah Daily Instagram here – I’m embedding a tweet because I think it will be easier to watch. Something superficial: Meghan looked ah-mazing here.
Here they are! Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan made a surprise appearance at Oprah’s special launch event for Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price’s new book "An Amazing Generation."#HarryandMeghan pic.twitter.com/3HNG7xpAiV
— ChrisBaronSmith (@ChrisBaronSmit1) January 8, 2026
Screencaps courtesy of Oprah Daily IG and Chris Baron Smith’s Twitter.
Good to see them both doing what they do best and that’s their work with helping people!! These two do the work! Cue the nasty articles 3 2 1.
Applaud this couple for the work they do. Great to see them starting the new year off with their feet on the pulse of what is happening to our youth in online spaces. Agree, Meghan and Harry both look glowed up, rested and good.
The work they do is amazing and should be amplified more. And she looks simply stunning, rested and glowing.
Bravo Sussex’s for supporting such critical work.
Very cool book. Can we acknowledge that the Sussexes been working in this space for years now? Advocating for safe social media usage for both kids and adults. They didn’t just randomly jump on and start making cell phone usage for kids their thing this past year(ahem). They’ve been doing this for years. The consistency.
And side note, Meghan’s face. Like come on now. Unreal.
Keep it up, while others are baying, the Sussexes keep working on their goals and looking good.
They are so great at this. And they are well informed and are great at public speaking and genuinely concetned
Meghan is glowing. So glad to see her glowing as she kicks off 2026. 💕
Harry and his American Queen look happy. Cheers 🥂, Happy New Year to the Sussexes.
Darn. I just signed up for Oprah Daily and this was the first event I saw. I thought about RSVPing but my kids are adults so didn’t. I did think this is exactly what Harry and Meghan have been doing. If I had thought they were going to show up I would have signed up just to see these two fresh faces for the start of the New Year.
It’s really why I joined Oprah Daily to get into a better mindset instead if all the doom we are facing in the US. I can help support changing it if I have the mental energy.
So glad they are using their platform to bring awareness to this issue and yes Meghan looks lovely here.
All their public appearances align with their work and their values. I love this about them and for them. I look forward to seeing more of them in 2026.
If no one else will, I will. Let’s be honest. We’d crucify Kate if she launched such a heavily filtered video.
The video is from Oprah Daily, the authors and moderator were together in the same space and the Sussexes were remote and on a tv screen. The image here is video of a ‘web call’ screen. This is a third party’s content. Why is it being compared to something Kate would launch (not third party content)? Smh
Anything to prop up that perpetually sour caricature of a woman known as Keen.
Oh geez. *massive eye roll*
Meh. I’m vain and in my forties and I’d like every lens I ever encounter to be swabbed in vaseline, lol. That said, we have enough Getty images of Meghan to know that her face card doesn’t decline. Is there a filter here? Sure. But it’s not so widely off the mark of how she looks irl non-edited photos so it doesn’t have me up in arms about it. It’s when the rota edit so many pics that reality becomes confusing.
Who is WE? It’s a video of a video but sure, have a whine. Ps there isnt a photo or video of kate that doesn’t make her look like an entirety different person. Meghan doesn’t do that. Good to see the haters are still on the case.
Good for them. They both look fabulous.
For any parents, I highly recommend reading The Anxious Generation. It isn’t really anything you do not already know, but it is still pretty powerful. I gave my 12 year old daughter a copy of The Amazing Generation over winter break and she read through it in a couple of days. (She rightfully shamed my husband and I for some of our phone habits.) Its a great book and presented in a really fun way for middle school aged kids.
Why do they gotta go and ” overshadow” the other brother and his stick wife like that!😅🤣😂🤣
Never mind that a fly passing by outside the window would overshadow these two.
HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!
Love that they’re just showing up for causes that matter to them. Back at work. This book sounds really good. They look well rested.
whatever people can do to make online use safe for young people is a tremendous accomplishment=Harry and Meghan have sounding the alarm in this area for a while. when children lose their life over something online it breaks my heart and makes me angry at the same time. I am going to read this man’s book and pass on any knowledge to other parents. the machines are raising our children and if parents don’t wake up and get involve it will be too late to do anything about it. God bless the Sussexes and any other persons trying to make a difference in this area.
Why is she messing with her face? She was much prettier before.