Meghan Markle turns 42 today. The Duchess of Sussex has much to be thankful for, but things are probably pretty tense in the California home she shares with Prince Harry.
Harry and Meghan’s popularity has taken a surprising turn for the worse in the past few months. Some polls show that the couple is less liked than ever on both sides of the pond.
When Harry’s memoir came out, things started to get worse.
The book was an instant best-seller, but readers had mixed feelings about it. Some thought the Duke of Sussex seemed ungrateful and out for himself.
It might have been a small setback in the lives of two well-known people.
But British tabloids, always looking for a way to make fun of the Sussexes, started running stories about how the couple was in a crisis and how their failed careers were starting to hurt their marriage.
Soon, the string of bad news began to come true on its own.
Meghan’s podcast on Spotify was canceled, and sources close to the company jumped on the latest trend by calling the Sussexes “f–king swindlers.”
Meghan and Harry were not allowed to ride on Air Force One, and the media reported that this was the Biden administration’s way of publicly siding with King Charles, which it wasn’t.
This week, the Sussexes got more bad news when the mental health app BetterUp, where Harry is chief impact officer, had to lay off 16% of its staff.
People say that the next few weeks will be very important for the duke and duchess.
Spirit of Invictus, Harry’s long-awaited documentary, will be shown for the first time on Netflix at some point this month, before the Invictus Games start on September 9.
Harry started the competition for wounded veterans in 2014, and it has been his most important project ever since.
Harry will definitely be thinking about the brave competitors in the coming weeks, but as a new article in The Daily Beast points out, the Sussexes’ recent PR problems are probably always on their minds.
Royal expert Tom Sykes says that this is a chance for the couple to “burnish their reputations as social activists, banish memories of the long pity party they held after leaving the royal family, and fight their way back into the hearts of the American public.”
Sykes says that the Sussexes’ recent digs at the royal family, while not without reason, came at a bad time because people thought the duke and duchess were being insensitive to Harry’s family after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Experts say there’s also a sense that when the Sussexes cut ties with the royals, they became just like any other influential couple.
“What set Harry and Meghan apart from other rich philanthropists in their 30s was their link to the Royal Family,” says branding expert Norah Lawlor.
“America has a short attention span, and once Netflix took away the royal mystery, you were left with a rich, slightly neurotic couple living in a mansion by the Pacific Ocean in California. Their brand is in disarray as a result.”
On December 6, 2022, Prince Harry and his wife show up at the Hilton Midtown in New York for the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award Gala. (Getty Images has the photo) )
Harry and Meghan are already working on their comeback, but it may be a while before they see results.
People magazine is writing about how the Sussexes have ended their feud with Charles, and a source “close to the Archetypes production” has come forward to say that Spotify is to blame for the failed podcast.
“They didn’t get a formal overview of the situation before they started, so they were already on shaky ground before the ink was dry,” the insider said.
The source went on to say that they had “a lot of ideas and did pitch them,” but there was “too much red tape between Spotify and the Sussexes.”
Another insider said, “The royal element and, in some ways, the drama around them drove up the price, deals, and expectations,” and a third said, “Hollywood loves a comeback.”
That’s definitely true, and Meghan’s experience as an actress might help in this way.
In the coming weeks and months, the Sussexes might have to act like they’re already on top until they actually get there.
The road ahead won’t be easy, but these two have already been through harder times.