Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s international profile and commercial ventures have led royal biographer Tom Bower to claim they could lose their official titles.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, 41 and 44, landed in Australia last week for a tightly packed itinerary across Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, taking part in a mix of paid appearances and charitable engagements.
Mr Bower said the Australia trip was a desperate bid to commercialise and make money but would have negative long-term consequences.
“The King and Prince William will realise that they can have absolutely nothing to do with them if they dare come to England in July, because they use every opportunity to exploit their royal status to earn money,” he said.
“What it’s done is taken them one step closer to being stripped of their titles.”
He suggested that any formal decision would come under the next generation of the monarchy.
“When William’s King, I think he will strip them of their titles, because it’s hugely damaging to the Royal Family,” he said.
“It might look spiteful, but the majority of Britons would support it. They’re sick to death of seeing Harry and Meghan exploit their royal titles.”
Despite the high-profile nature of the visit, a new poll suggests it did little to win over the public.
Research conducted by Roy Morgan and shared by Channel 7 found that while millions of Australians were aware of the couple’s visit, a staggering 81 per cent said it did not improve their opinion of them.
The survey, which canvassed 1,767 Australians aged 18 and over, also revealed deep scepticism about Harry’s standing within the Royal Family.
An overwhelming 87 per cent of respondents said the visit would not help repair his relationship with his father, King Charles III, while 51 per cent said they did not believe the late Queen would have approved of the trip “given Harry stepped back as a working royal”.
Mr Bower also raised questions about how the Royal Family may respond to future visits by Harry to the UK.
“I don’t think Charles will even meet Harry in July, because it’s far too dangerous. But who knows what can happen between now and then,” he said.
Despite the criticism, he acknowledged reconciliation cannot be ruled out.
“Well, there must be hope, but it’s not going to be done on Harry’s terms,” he said.
“The Australia trip shows how difficult reconciliation will be.”
Looking ahead, Bower questioned whether the Sussexes’ current model can last.
“No and that’s what makes them so desperate,” he said.
“There is nothing to Meghan other than her royal marriage and that was the problem with her series – she doesn’t have a mystery, a magic, which attracts huge audiences and therefore there are very few people who want to identify with her.
“Harry is just a sad-case, he just regurgitates his mental-health problems the whole time.”
His comments come after Harry and Meghan dismissed his latest book; Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family, as “deranged conspiracy”, rejecting his portrayal of their conduct and motives.
Harry and Meghan have previously said Mr Bower has “made a career out of constructing ever more elaborate theories about people he does not know and has never met.”
They continued their criticism of Mr Bower saying: “Those interested in facts will look elsewhere; those seeking deranged conspiracy and melodrama know exactly where to find him”.
Mr Bower argues the Sussexes’ response shows fragility.
“They don’t like criticism; the Sussexes like to control the narrative,” he said
“That is the problem with them – unlike other members of the Royal Family, they are hypersensitive about people criticising their conduct and I am a leading critic.
“It just makes the point about them being totally unsuitable.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.skynews.com.au ’
