LIZ JONES: Meghan’s spawned feverish speculation if she used a surrogate or wore a fake bump. These cruel whispers have spread for years – it’s time to address them

The Duchess of Sussex this week posted a ‘moodboard’ of pictures on her Instagram to celebrate her seventh wedding anniversary with Prince Harry. It showed snapshots of the couple’s ‘love story’ – holding hands, kissing and cuddling their two children.

So far, so American. But in among the frocks and the poses is a photograph of a bare-bellied Meghan heavily pregnant with Archie. She even posted an ultrasound image of her unborn son: the ultimate behind-the-scenes selfie.

This has prompted suggestions that her decision to post that particular picture was not rooted in whimsy but to quash the unfounded rumours that have swirled from the moment she announced she was pregnant with her elder child in 2018 that she is not a ‘real mom’.

Yes, you read that correctly. Over the past seven years, conspiracy theorists have claimed that she has never been pregnant and that she wore a ‘moonbump’ – a prosthetic belly – to pretend that she was.

Some have even gone so far as to claim she hired a surrogate to carry both Archie and Lilibet – or even that she has hired two tots to help her sell jam and flower sprinkles.

These ludicrous theories are, of course, utterly baseless. But, instead of putting out the firestorm, Meghan’s latest pregnancy shot has lit the blue touchpaper.

Self-proclaimed social media sleuths have claimed her bare bump is too ‘shiny’, ‘far too high’, ‘transparent’ and even suggested you can ‘see the straps’ of a prosthetic belly.

They claim that even the ultrasound picture doesn’t wash, as there is no ‘hospital name, reference number, date, ID’.

Meghan’s image of her pregnancy bump has come under fire, with trolls claiming the bare bump is too ‘shiny’, ‘far too high’, ‘transparent’ and even suggesting you can ‘see the straps’ of a prosthetic belly

Meghan posted a moodboard image on Instagram to mark her seventh anniversary with Prince Harry

But why is Meghan’s womb and the veracity of her being a mum so important to these online trolls? To their mind, perhaps, being untruthful about a child in the line of succession could bring down the Royal Family, or at least make it seem very silly indeed.

Since the moment Meghan announced she was first pregnant on an official tour of Australia, online haters have cited various bizarre reasons for doubt. These have included her ‘extreme age’ (she was 37 at the time) and unearthed photos of her as a ‘pregnant’ teenager (I expect all she was carrying was a bit of puppy fat).

But the conspiracy theories really took hold when Archie was born in 2019. Why was she home so soon after the birth? Why did she and Harry shun royal tradition by having their baby at the Portland Hospital in west London rather than St Mary’s, and – horror of horrors – refuse to pose with their newborn on the hospital steps?

Many women applauded Meghan’s refusal to be paraded. After all, she was putting her own needs first, which it seems mothers should never do.

Despite Harry’s royal status, she had decided that the public did not have the right to know about her womb nor force her to stand and be photographed like a brood mare when she was doubtless exhausted.

Meghan later revealed they had shunned the traditional photocall because she was worried about her baby’s safety.

But the scepticism and trolling continued regardless. On hundreds of platforms, videos circulated of a pregnant Meghan cradling her ‘bump’ in case (conspiracy theorists howled) it slipped to the floor.

We were asked to listen to it ‘popping’ as she stooped to pet a dog. We were shown slo-mo footage of the bump swinging, with mums commenting: ‘Mine never did that!’ We were asked how on earth Meghan was able to squat, knees firmly closed, when heavily pregnant.

Even when Meghan and Harry submitted to having a photocall at Windsor two days after Archie’s birth, conspiracy theorists pored over the ‘evidence’ that Harry was holding a doll and making it move with his thumb.

All of which is why, on Monday, boom! the trolls were at it again. Snuffling for clues. Analysing photos of Archie and Lilibet – now six and three – and taking a particular interest in hair colour, skin tone, even their hands.

These amateur sleuths also claim that even the ultrasound picture doesn’t wash, as there is no ‘hospital name, reference number, date or ID’

My goodness, the swirling of conspiracy theories about Meghan’s mood board makes the fuss over the Princess of Wales’s edited Mother’s Day photo last year seem inconsequential.

Personally, I think a montage of photos collated by a grown woman is mawkish. But to think that Meghan – and, by extension, Harry – has embarked on an elaborate heist is ludicrous. There is no way such a deceitful act – which ridicules our Royal Family as well as the British people – could be pulled off.

We helped pay for their wedding in 2018. We waved at them on royal visits. We (well, I) had sympathy for Meghan when she revealed she had experienced suicidal thoughts in that Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021.

Meghan is a smart cookie. She knows that what sells these days is ‘authenticity’: stories of personal misery. If she had been unable to conceive naturally and used a surrogate, we would have all been on her side.

She has been so open about her mental health and her miscarriage in 2020 that if she’d had a problem with infertility she would have put the issue front and centre. Only the most mean-spirited would have judged her.

So, yes, I agree the bump is enormous. Meghan’s ankles didn’t puff up in pregnancy. But clearly she’s just lucky. Maybe her Pilates sessions helped her to crouch effortlessly?

She is in a tricky situation. She wants to protect her children’s privacy (and has doubtless seen the endless footage of a young Harry) but she has a business to run and a brand to sell that is inextricably tied to the public interest in her family.

Meghan and Harry pictured at a Beyonce concert earlier this month 

Meghan with her two children in a snap posted to mark Mother’s Day this year

When she does post photos of her children, it is often in silhouette or from the back. She does not parade them in the media. They made no appearances on her Netflix show With Love, Meghan, or on last month’s podcast with cosmetics entrepreneur Jamie Kern Lima, in which she revealed she is storing emails to give to them when they are older.

To many mothers, these are understandable decisions. But not to the trolls.

What on earth will Archie and Lilibet think when they are old enough to appreciate not only how their mother was treated but how their very provenance was doubted?

As someone who has been trolled horrendously myself, I have no idea how Meghan can even get out of bed given the scale of the persecution she has suffered. Last month, she told a magazine summit that she had made a ‘very conscious effort’ to ‘tune out the negative noise’, but some must seep through.

As readers of my columns will know, I have not always been Meghan’s most gushing advocate. But we must remember that she is a human being. These pregnancy whispers are going too far.

That is why I fear Harry and Meghan must be compelled to release a statement. That’s all it would take to put out the wildfires.

Harry has stood up for his wife against the mainstream Press. But the relentless hounding from these amateur sleuths is far worse. Snuff it out. Now.