Megan And Prince Harry discouraged from continuing their criticism of the Royal family. Reputation management expert Edward Coram-James argued that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex must lose both professionally and personally if they continue to talk about their UK-based relatives, as they have in recent months. The risk of airing more grievances and revealing more royal secrets, the commentator said, is that the Sussexes are likened to “reality TV personalities”.
The pair, he suggested, would prefer to keep a “low profile” for now and work to make a name for themselves as content producers.
The co-founder of Go up told Express.co.uk: “Reputation, both professional and personal, they will now want to stop attacking the royal family. From a professional point of view, it will not serve them.
“They risk looking like reality TV personalities who rely on gossip and scandal to stay relevant, and it will detract from their aspirations to be taken seriously in the film world.
Personally, while their recent book and series has won them a number of admirers, polls show it has won them even more detractors.
“The best they can do, from either perspective, is to keep a low profile and make some well-produced films, preferably those that focus on their environmental work, their work with veterans and their advocacy for the vulnerable.
“If such a film turns out to be of high quality and well viewed, then they will earn a career and reputation as filmmakers with real influence, not as one trick ponies.”
As Mr Coram-James pointed out, polls conducted in both the UK and the US in recent months suggested that Meghan and Harry’s popularity has fallen among people on both sides of the Atlantic.
YouGov polls over the years have suggested that Meghan and Harry’s popularity among Britons began to decline 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 that the popularity of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex among Americans had begun to suffer after the release of their six-part biographical docu-series NetflixHarry & Meghan and the memoir Spare.
READ MORE: Meghan’s blog relaunches ‘beginning of the end’ for Harry, critic says
Mr Coram-James acknowledged that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are currently 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 roads ahead of them, all of them rocky, but some with bright futures and others not so rosy.
“They have to thread the needle. Their entire brand, down to their last name, is that of senior royals.
“Of course, if you push the boat out too far, you risk being completely excluded from their family.
“I’m not in a position to comment on this personally, although I imagine it 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 royalties” as the pair have yet to fully show what they can do as content producers, Mr Coram-James said.
Disputing the success of the Sussexes’ very first product Netflix may have had more to do with people’s curiosity in their lives and their feud with the firm, the expert added: “The Sussexes have not yet proven themselves to be exceptional filmmakers.
“That’s not to say they aren’t gifted filmmakers. It’s just saying it’s too early to say that.”
Since they closed their multi-year deal with Netflix in September 2020, Meghan and Harry released a December 2022 docuseries about their love story and full of allegations and criticisms of the company and the British media.
Also debuting on December 31 was Live to Lead, a documentary starring several prominent personalities, including climate change activist Greta Thunberg and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, focusing on leadership and inspiring others to action.
The organization of the Sussexes, Archewellannounced in April 2021 that they were working on another program, Heart of Invictus, targeting a number of athletes who took part in the Invictus Games held in The Hague last April.
Since then, no official updates have been released regarding this show.