Meghan and Prince Harry have been advised against carrying on with their criticism of the Royal Family. Reputation management expert Edward Coram-James argued the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have to lose both on a professional and personal level if they carry on speaking about their UK-based relatives as they have done in past months. The risk of airing more grievances and unveiling more royal secrets, the commentator said, is for the Sussexes to be likened to “reality television personalities”.
The pair, he suggested, should rather keep “a low profile” for the time being and work on making a name for themselves as content producers.
The co-founder of Go Up told Express.co.uk: “Reputationally, both professionally as well as personally, they will now wish to stop making any attacks on the Royal Family. From a professional point of view, it will not serve them.
“They risk looking like reality television personalities that rely on gossip and scandal to remain relevant, and it will detract from their aspirations to be taken seriously in the filmmaking space.
“Personally, whereas their recent book and series have won them some admirers, polling shows that it has won them even more detractors.
“The best thing that they can do, from either perspective, is to keep a low profile and go about making some well-produced films, preferably that focus on their environmental work, their work with veterans and their advocacy for the vulnerable.
“If such film proves to be high quality and well watched, then they will earn themselves careers and reputations as film-makers with actual clout, and not as one trick ponies.”
As noted by Mr Coram-James, polls carried out both in the UK and in the US in recent months suggested Meghan and Harry’s popularity has dropped among people on both sides of the Atlantic.
YouGov polls over the years have suggested Meghan and Harry’s popularity among Britons started decreasing noticeably after their interview with Oprah Winfrey in early 2021.
On the other hand, a series of polls conducted by Redfield & Wilton for Newsweek suggested the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s popularity among Americans started being badly affected following the release of their six-part biographical docu-series of Netflix, Harry & Meghan, and the memoir Spare.
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Mr Coram-James acknowledged the Duke and Duchess of Sussex currently find themselves in a “split” position when it comes to their future and how to deal with their difficult relationship with the Royal Family.
He said: “There are a number of avenues ahead of them, all of them rocky but some with bright futures and others, not so bright.
“They have to thread the needle. Their entire brand, down to their last names, is that of being senior royals.
“Pushing the boat out too far would of course risk fully ostracising themselves from their family.
“I am not in a position to comment on this on a personal level, although I imagine that this would be very painful for everyone involved. From a PR point of view, it would cut off their brand at the root.”
At the moment, Meghan and Harry’s “entire brand is built on the premise of their royalty”, as the pair have yet to fully show what they can do as content producers, Mr Coram-James said.
Arguing the success of the first-ever product the Sussexes put out with Netflix may have had to do more with the curiosity people have in their lives and their feud with the Firm, the expert added: “The Sussexes have not yet proven themselves to be exceptional filmmakers.
“That is not to say that they are not gifted film-makers. It’s simply to say that it is too early to tell.”
Since they struck their multi-year deal with Netflix in September 2020, Meghan and Harry have released in December 2022 a docu-series focused on their love story and filled with allegations and criticism against the Firm and the British media.
On December 31, also debuted Live to Lead, a documentary featuring several prominent personalities including climate change activist Greta Thunberg and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern focused on leadership and inspiring others to action.
The Sussexes’ organisation, Archewell, announced in April 2021 they were working on another programme, Heart of Invictus, focused on a number of athletes taking part in the Invictus Games held at The Hague last April.
No official updates have been released since regarding this show.
