Duchess of York sends strong message to the 'sewer' social media trolls

The Duchess of York, speaking out about social media, as Kensington Palace reportedly continues to see a flurry of negative comments about Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton.

"The truth is, a lot about these sites terrifies me, I know that a lot say nice things, but there's a large minority who seem to think that all the normal rules of society don't apply to the internet," Sarah Ferguson writes in Hello Magazine, "Take a look at any website, and you’ll see extraordinarily abusive comments aimed not only at people in the public eye but also other internet users. Bullying, sniping, bitching, even the most appalling sexism, racism and homophobia are commonplace – it seems that online, anything goes."

She also says social media has become a "sewer."

Ferguson also says the criticism of Markle and Middleton reminds her of how she and Princess Diana were portrayed as rivals, something she says neither of them felt.

"Women, in particular, are constantly pitted against and compared with each other in a way that reminds me of how people tried to portray Diana and me all the time as rivals, which is something neither of us ever really felt," she explained.

According to the Daily Mail, some of the threats against Markle and Middleton have been violent.

Neither of the two women are on social media, so people are flocking to Kensington Palace's social media accounts, which have around 7 million Instagram followers.

Read Sarah Ferguson's full letter here.