Video claiming to show Meghan Markle ‘clone’ is from wax museum

CLAIM: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, appears to be a clone or a robot in a video shared on Facebook.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context. This video shows a moving figure in a special exhibit years ago at Madame Tussauds wax museum in London. It does not show the real Meghan.

THE FACTS: As unrealistic as the lives of British royalty may seem to the average person, the Duchess of Sussex isn’t a robot or a clone, as one misleading video suggested this week.

The 16-second video viewed thousands of times on Facebook appeared to show a robotic-looking Prince Harry and Meghan waving awkwardly, their facial expressions unchanged.

Behind the royals stood figures who resembled Prince William and his wife, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. “Pink Soldiers,” a song from the Korean Netflix drama “Squid Game,” played in the background.

“She is a Clone or something,” a caption on the video read. “Our ruling world is sick.”

However, an internet search reveals there is an innocent explanation to the stone-faced figures in the video: They aren’t real.

The figures resembling the British royals were part of a special experience at Madame Tussauds wax museum in London, which featured actors posing as Harry and Meghan in realistic masks and wigs. The experience, “Meghan and Harry LIVE,” debuted in 2018, according to a press release at the time.

A promotional video for the live figures still available on Vimeo shows the figures impersonating Meghan and Harry in the same outfits and with the same background as the video spreading on Facebook.

Madame Tussauds London did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.