Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have failed to find their feet after leaving the royal family, royal experts have claimed.
Speaking on this week’s Palace Confidential, the Daily Mail’s diary editor Richard Eden and Town & Country Contributing Editor Victoria Murphy and journalist Jo Elvin discussed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after the pair released a video speaking to young leaders as part of their new initiative to improve the digital world.
Discussing the latest issue of People magazine, which says the couple are ‘under pressure’ after a string of failed deals, Victoria explained that people are questioning if they’ve ‘made the right decisions’.
‘What they have failed to do yet is to really kind of cultivate a really strong brand outside of the monarchy,’ she explained.
‘Something that means that they can go out there and that they’re representing something other than just themselves in a meaningful way and that’s what they lost when they stepped back as working royals.
Speaking on this week’s Palace Confidential, the Daily Mail’s diary editor Richard Eden and Town & Country Contributing Editor Victoria Murphy (pictured) and journalist Jo Elvin discussed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after the pair released a video speaking to young leaders as part of their new initiative to improve the digital world
Discussing the latest issue of People magazine, which says the couple (pictured) are ‘under pressure’ after a string of failed deals, Victoria explained that people are questioning if they’ve ‘made the right decisions’.
‘They took away that substance that you get from representing this institution and representing a country.
‘If want to be this philanthropic power couple with the longevity then I think that’s what that’s what they need to find.’
She added that the pair are trying to be a ‘really visible, really game changing couple’ ‘completely on their own terms.’
‘They set that bar and they also set the bar for their lifestyle, you know that the property that they live in is very expensive.
‘They have this security that they feel it’s very important for them to have. So they are the ones who are sort of trying to live up to their own expectations’.
When asked by Jo what they were actually doing and how they managed to win humanitarian awards, Victoria added: ‘I think that is what they need to either to find that better or communicate that better.
Richard added that the video was ‘interesting’ because the video was about ‘showing how marvellous Harry and Megan were’
‘What the royal family can go off and do all these things because they have this central focus at the core their raison d’etre.
‘They’re the monarchy, and that’s what they represent, and people get that and Harry and Megan, I don’t think of either found that or communicated it properly.
‘They are doing lots of different things. And they do in some senses fit into certain categories,’.
She added that Meghan is ‘doing things around female empowerment’ and Harry is focusing on internet safety but ‘there’s a lot of different things going on’ that means they’re ‘not connecting people into one really strong message’.
She added that Meghan (pictured) is ‘doing things around female empowerment’ and Harry is focusing on internet safety but ‘there’s a lot of different things going on’ that means they’re ‘not connecting people into one really strong message’
‘There are times when I wonder, would they if they were doing something like this from within their family? Would they be making more of an impact with the message around this that they’re trying to make?’
Richard added that the video was ‘interesting’ because the video was about ‘showing how marvellous Harry and Megan were’.
‘It was a bit cringe making,’ he added. ‘The video just seemed to say “we’re here, we’re great, and everyone love us”.
Richard added that Harry had ‘gone from being this great asset to actually, you know potentially a bit of a liability’ for brands and is often not taking front and centre of brands.
It comes as experts said the royal is ‘losing his star power’.
PR gurus said the Prince has become a ‘lightning rod for negative PR’, after he was overlooked by the Travalyst relaunch.
PR gurus said the Prince (pictured) has become a ‘lightning rod for negative PR’, after he was overlooked by the Travalyst relaunch
The Duke of Sussex’s sustainable tourism project announced that it has entered an ‘incredibly exciting’ era with a new board of directors – with no mention of the royal.
The independent non-profit organisation based in London was launched by the Duke of Sussex in 2019, when he was still a working royal, with wife Meghan.
Harry spent three years as the public face of the initiative to encourage the tourism industry to become more sustainable – despite a furore over his use of private jets.
But he was left out of a major announcement by the group in May about its transition from a ‘pilot phase’ to a new board of five people with ‘world-class expertise’.
PR experts said today that Harry had become a ‘polarising figure’ and business would ‘second think their association’ with him amid the ‘negativity’ after his book Spare.
Brand and culture expert Nick Ede told MailOnline: ‘There is a problem with brand Harry and that’s that in the space of only a few years he has begun to lose his star power, authenticity and ability to elevate brands and good causes he believes in.
September 2019 – Prince Harry launches his Travalyst initiative at A’dam Tower in Amsterdam
September 2019 – Harry addresses an audience as he launches Travalyst in Amsterdam
September 2019 – The announcement of Travalyst on the ‘Sussex Royal’ Instagram account
‘Businesses rely on spokespeople who engage their audience, elevate by association and generally benefit from the relationship. The tide of negativity towards the Prince post the book Spare has made businesses second think their association.
‘Businesses rely on spokespeople who engage their audience, elevate by association and generally benefit from the relationship. The tide of negativity towards the Prince post the book Spare has made businesses second think their association.
‘Whilst Harry can be perceived as a man on a mission to right many wrongs and take institutions to task, this one-man crusade may not fit in to the narrative of the businesses he put his name to on leaving the UK.’
Mr Ede added: ‘Harry has become a polarising figure and when businesses have spent big money on their star spokespeople they don’t want to deal with negativity from the media, shareholders and stakeholders.
‘This is going to be an issue for Harry for a while as South Park made a mockery of him and this satirical opinion of him has stayed glued into many people’s minds and has damaged his brand terribly.’
Travalyst’s statement about its changes was made eight days after Harry and Meghan’s spokesman said the couple had been involved in a ‘near-catastrophic’ car chase while being followed by paparazzi in New York after the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards.
The NYPD later seemed to soften the couple’s dramatic account, saying ‘there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries or arrests’ related to the incident.
Harry, 38, is still in regular contact with the Travalyst chief executive and board behind the scenes and remains committed to it, according to a report in Newsweek . In addition, the Duke is still listed on the Travalyst website as its ‘founder and patron’.
But it is notable that he was not used as a promotional tool for the revamp – given how prominently he has previously been involved in conferences and marketing.
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