Why Royal Home Videos Might Be Crossing a Major Ethical Line
Why Royal Home Videos Might Be Crossing a Major Ethical Line
Is it cute or is it calculated? We dive into the ethics of royal sharenting and why those sweet family videos might be more about PR than memories.
The Relatability Trap
We have all seen them. The sun-drenched clips of royal toddlers running through fields, hunting for Easter eggs, or gathering fresh produce from the family farm. On the surface, it is pure, wholesome content. It makes these distant, formal figures feel like us. They have messy kitchens and kids who get grass stains. But as we double-tap these glimpses into private life, we need to ask ourselves a difficult question. At what point does sharing become sharenting, and is it fair to the children involved?
What is Sharenting?
The term sharenting refers to the practice of parents oversharing their children's lives on social media. For most of us, it might mean an annoying relative posting too many school photos. For the most famous families on the planet, it is a calculated move. When a royal couple releases a home video, it is rarely just a digital scrapbook entry. It is a tool for brand management. By showing us the intimate, relatable moments of childhood, they build a shield of likability.
The Consent Problem
But here is the catch. Those children cannot consent to being the face of a global public relations strategy. While a video of a toddler finding an egg in the garden is adorable, it is also a permanent digital footprint. These children are being used to humanize a brand before they even know what a brand is.
Is it possible to be a public figure and a protective parent at the same time? It is a tightrope walk. On one hand, the public feels entitled to see the next generation of a royal lineage. On the other, these kids deserve a life that is not curated for engagement scores. When we see candid footage of farm to table living, we are seeing a version of reality designed to make us feel a certain way about the adults in the frame.
Protecting the Future
We should be wary of consuming childhood as a form of entertainment or image repair. Even the sweetest Easter egg hunt loses its magic when you realize it is being used to move the needle on public opinion. Maybe it is time we let royal kids just be kids, without a camera crew or a social media manager standing by. The farm-fresh eggs are great, but a private childhood is even better.
