Royal experts claim the tide has turned for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the United States amid reports the Sussexes “are not quite the people Americans thought they were going to be”.
The royals first moved to the US in July 2020 and were soon met with various opportunities from some of the biggest media companies in the country, such as a reported £60 million ($114 million) deal with Netflix and £15 million ($29 million) partnership with Spotify.
However, six years later, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have reportedly fallen out of favour in the States following a number of business missteps, according to the new documentary Harry & Meghan: Has America Had Enough?
“America likes people who are having another go, and Harry, in a sense, was having another go,” Daily Mail editor Richard Kay said in the documentary.
“He felt he’d been driven out of his home country, he got this lovely American wife, and I think America respected him for coming to them and building a new career on their side of the pond.”
Soon, the couple were met with interest from Netflix bosses, who no doubt had hopes they would score an exclusive tell-all about the Sussexes’ exit from the royal family.
However, journalist Jack Royston says the streaming platform was “the least beneficial” when it came to Harry and Meghan’s retelling of events and, instead, was left scraping the bottom of the barrel.
“Oprah got the first bite of the cherry, and Spare had loads of exclusive materials that hadn’t been told,” Royston pointed out, referring to the couple’s interview with Oprah Winfrey on CBS in 2021 and Harry’s 2023 memoir Spare.
Alexander Larman, who penned Power and Glory: Elizabeth II and the Rebirth of Royalty, shared similar thoughts on the matter, claiming Netflix didn’t quite get what they bargained for.
“Netflix are not a stupid company. But they are beginning to look, very strongly, like they had gambled far too much money on a public appetite for a brand that doesn’t exist.”
In partnership with Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Productions, the streaming platform has released projects such as Harry & Meghan, Heart of Invictus, Polo and With Love, Meghan, which aired for two seasons before getting the axe.
“In America, there is this great love and affection for the royal family, but there’s also the sense that Harry and Meghan were not quite the people they thought they were going to be,” Larman added.
According to journalist Emma Loffhagen, public opinion of the Sussexes began to dip in the States after the release of the 2023 South Park episode, The World Wide Privacy Tour.
The cartoon series poked fun at Harry and Meghan’s numerous demands for privacy by depicting the couple on a publicity tour for the prince’s autobiography, which was titled “Waaaagh” in the episode as a dig at the Duke of Sussex’s Spare.
“In America, that was perhaps the first time that that perception had been broadcast in that way,” Loffhagen said, adding: “It’s a sign that the tide was turning, and that scathing tone would become more popular.”
The documentary echoes the opinions of royal expert Maureen Callahan, who recently predicted that Americans would be “cheering [Prince William] on” if he stripped the Sussexes of their titles.
“I do think Harry and Meghan, their titles will be stripped,” she told podcast Jo Elvin and Katie Nicholl on The Royals Uncensored podcast.
She went on to say that, despite Harry and Meghan calling the United States home over the past six years, Americans wouldn’t lose too much sleep over their downfall.
“And we in America will be cheering him [Prince William] on.”
Harry & Meghan: Has America Had Enough? will air on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom on June 13.
‘ 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 ’
