Kensington Palace issue statement on social media abuse: 'Show courtesy, kindness and respect.'

Kensington Palace has this morning released a powerful statement, setting out strict guidelines for interacting with their social media account online.

Alongside the other official royal channels, Royal Family, and the channel for Prince Charles and Camilla, Clarence House, the court that looks after the affairs of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has communicated the new guidelines presumably in response to controversial social media trolls, and their abuse of some members of the family.

The guidelines were posted on the official royal family website, explaining they have been set up to 'create an environment where our community can engage safely in debate and is free to make comments, questions and suggestions.'

They asked that royal fans 'show courtesy, kindness and respect for all other members of our social media communities'.

Within the guidelines, the statement explained that comments must not promote discrimination, nor should they be 'abusive, hateful or inflammatory'.

They also detailed that comments should not be off-topic, or contain any advertising.

Sharing the consequences of breaching the guidelines, the statement went on to say that comments will either be hidden or deleted if they are deemed to be inappropriate, and users may well be blocked if they are not following the rules.

It also warns that comments that break the guidelines could be investigated. The statement reads, 'We also reserve the right to send any comments we deem appropriate to law enforcement authorities for investigation as we feel necessary or is required by law.'

Plenty of royal fans appeared to be delighted by the new regulations, revealing that it's something they've wanted for a long time.

One wrote, 'Fantastic and long awaited!!!', while another said, 'Absolutely needed- emotional wellbeing is crucial 👍🏻

A third fan commented, '👑Well done KP!! 👑 Finally! 👍', as a fourth agreed saying, 'Thank you! This has been much needed.'

It's likely that the new royal family social media guidelines have been brought about in part by the online abuse the Duchess of Sussex has faced since joining the royal family.

Earlier this year, Hello! also revealed that palace aides regularly face having to moderate a wave of abusive comments directed towards both Meghan and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

Fingers crossed the new guidelines make the online world a nicer place to be...