Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are “fighting too many battles on too many fronts”, a public relations expert has said – warning that they are “bound to lose” their ongoing PR battles as a result.
It has been a busy year for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with Harry releasing his bombshell memoir Spare in January not long after the couple’s Netflix documentary series was broadcast.
Months afterwards, the Sussexes were at the centre of speculation about whether they would show up for the King’s Coronation, while later in the year the release of Omid Scobie’s book Endgame thrust them into the spotlight once again.
Throughout the year, Harry has continued his fight against media groups including Mirror Group Newspapers and Associated Newspapers over claims of phone hacking.
While he won £140,600 in damages last week after a judge ruled in a case against Mirror Group Newspapers that he had been a victim of hacking, PR expert David Yelland said on his When It Hits the Fan podcast: “The fact is Harry and Meghan have just done too much at the same time.
“If you’re going to fight on so many fronts you’re bound to lose on the lot and that’s why you need focus.”
The former editor of The Sun has also warned that Harry is running a “very high-risk, all-or-nothing strategy” to wreak revenge on the press.
“It’s an all-or-nothing strategy. He’s clearly out for revenge as he sees it. He’s taking no prisoners and he’s making more and more enemies in the press and that makes his job more difficult, not less so.”
Despite the risks of the Duke’s strategy, Mr Yelland said the legal judgment was a “very big victory indeed for Prince Harry” and described the episode as a “shameful moment for the newspaper industry”.
He said Harry was “brave” to take on the “immense power” of the media, even if he thought it “unwise” to do so.
Simon Lewis, a former communications secretary to Queen Elizabeth II and co-host of When It Hits the Fan, said Prince Harry’s victory in court was “a battle in what will be a long war”.
