Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Have Been Privately Going Out on Dates in Montecito

From ELLE

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have settled into their new Montecito home—and they're making the most out of living in a more private community, according to People. The outlet reports that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been able to go out on both solo dates and group dates with friends with next-to no intrusion and almost zero press presence.

A source told the outlet, “Sometimes they do solo dates and sometimes with friends. No one really bothers them." The outlet added the Santa Barbara area has been perfect for the couple, who were "craving a slower pace" of life.

Meghan and Harry were photographed out once in Montecito while on a double date with Katharine McPhee and David Foster. Meghan wore a long camel sweater, cropped leather pants, a trench, and orange mules in photos taken of her and Harry outside Lucky's steakhouse. The couple both wore masks, of course, as the coronavirus pandemic remains very much ongoing.

Meghan and Harry have been regularly doing appearances from their house in the town. On Tuesday, Meghan appeared as part of Fortune's Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit and spoke about why she opted not to have her own social media.

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"For my own self-preservation, I have not been on social media for a very long time,” Meghan started. "I had a personal account years ago, which I closed down and then we had one through the institution and our office that was in the U.K. that wasn’t managed by us—that was a whole team—and so I think that comes with the territory for the job that you have. I’ve made a personal choice to not have any account, so I don’t know what’s out there, and many ways that’s helpful for me. I have a lot of concerns for people that have become obsessed with it. And it is so much a part of our daily culture for so many people that it’s an addiction like many others. And there are very few things in this world where you call the person who’s engaging with it a user. But if you look at social media and what it’s doing in the same capacity in which it does creating addiction, what is the comp there? People who are addicted to drugs are called users and people who are on social media are called users. And there is something algorithmically that is in there that is creating this obsession that I think is very unhealthy for a lot of people."

"So I would just say as you are out there building your brand, as you are out there engaging with your friends online, just be conscious of what you’re doing and understand that it is not limited to that one moment, that you are creating an echo chamber for yourself," she continued. "So the more that you engage with things that are negative—not just for other people that you might not know—but what it’s doing to you as a human being will really have lasting effects. And that there is an alternative to engaging in that kind of stuff so I would just say to be very conscious and responsible. I don’t think people have even started to scratch the surface on what this is doing to us and I wish more for especially the younger generation of women. You have the power to turn this around."

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