Prince Harry was once one of the most popular members of the Royal Family, but following his decision to leave and publicly criticise the institution, his reputation has plummeted.
In October 2019, before he left, Harry was liked by 71 per cent and disliked by 22 per cent of the British public. But data from last August shows that only 30 per cent of people now hold a favourable opinion of him, while 60 per cent disapprove, according to data from Statista.
His spectacular fall from grace comes after he fired a series of broadsides at his own family in the form of a bombshell interview with Oprah in 2021, a Netflix docuseries in 2022 and most importantly, his tell-all memoir Spare in 2023.
However, in contrast to the British public, Americans still remain fairly positive about the prince, with more than half of them (53 per cent) reporting favourable views, according to YouGov.
But things could be changing, according to Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and author of royal biographies including the recent My Mother & I.
The royal expert told The Standard: ‘I give a lot of talks to Americans and they all dislike Harry and Meghan. They hate that they let the Queen down.’
Meanwhile, other insiders have suggested that many people now simply don’t think about them and have no opinion either way.
Kinsey Schofield, an LA-based royal expert and host of the To Di For Daily podcast, told the paper that she thinks a lot of Americans will agree with Eric Trump – the son of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump – when he says they don’t care about Harry.
She said people have lost interest in Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, after realising they had given them too much credit over the years.
However, it now appears a new PR strategy has been adopted by the couple as they attempt to revive their reputation.
They have increasingly been appearing at events separately, sometimes in different countries.
It has led to speculation that they have ‘professionally separated’, due to their differing interests, as Harry focuses on charity work and Meghan on their commercial interests.
But Harry laughed off the tittle-tattle about his and Meghan’s separation last week, saying it was just the latest in a long line of rumours: ‘Apparently we’ve bought or moved house 10, 12 times. We’ve apparently divorced maybe 10, 12 times as well. So it’s just like, what?’
Meghan’s decision to wear a revealing red dress at a gala for the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in October also drew criticism, with one writer claiming she had gone from ‘Duchess to D-list’.
Phil Dampier, a royal correspondent of nearly 40 years and author of Royally Suited: Harry and Meghan in Their Own Words, told The Standard that Meghan has been keeping a fairly low profile until she’s ready to launch American Riviera Orchard.
The long-awaited lifestyle brand was launched nine months ago, with a glitzy video, an Instagram page and a website.
But since then, fans have been kept in suspense with little new information, except for the brand’s suspiciously royal logo and space to sign up for a ‘waitlist’.
So far, all that the public has seen is a few jars of homemade jam and dog biscuits bearing the company logo on social media that were handed out to high-profile friends.
And it is not just their failing reputation with the public the California-based parents of two have to deal with, their standing in Hollywood circles also seems to be depleting.
Jane Owen, a renowned Hollywood publicist, told The Standard that despite being given every opportunity to shine in Hollywood they have done ‘worse than nothing’, as she claims they have ‘actively destroyed’ the opportunities they were given.
Their latest Netflix venture, a show about the upper-class game of Polo, came out this week on Netflix, although the viewing figures have not yet been released.
But the horse and mallet documentary has been met with bemused reviews, with the Guardian labelling it an ‘unintentionally hilarious profile of the world’s stupidest sport’.
The Daily Mail’s Jane Fryer gave it one star, calling the ‘ghastly world’ of the wealthy Polo players ‘flat, plodding and really rather boring’.
Netflix executives are already grumbling about how little the prince appears in the show – making only the odd cameo appearance.
Meanwhile Meghan’s cooking show for the streaming platform is expected to launch at the same time as the long-awaited American Riviera Orchard finally launches.
A well-placed LA insider told The Standard that people in Hollywood are ‘definitely wary’ of working with them right now.
The couple’s popularity also recently came under fire when a German documentary aired at this month accused the couple of hypocrisy while enjoying an ‘elitist’ lifestyle in the US.
The programme entitled ‘Harry: The Lost Prince’ includes damning criticism of the couple’s attempts to build a new life for themselves as charity activists and campaigners since leaving the Royal family.
It takes a dig at the couple by detailing how their much-publicised visits to poverty-stricken countries such as Nigeria and Colombia sits uneasily with Meghan’s love of expensive designer clothes.
One stinging voice in the documentary is former soldier Ben McBean, who lost his left arm and had his right leg amputated above the knee after being seriously injured by a landmine blast in Afghanistan in 2008.
McBean, who shared a flight home from Afghanistan with Harry, did not hold back in criticising the prince over his revelations about his family in his bombshell memoir and in his Netflix show.
The veteran soldier said: ‘I just thought, with him kind of whinging about his family and he was saying something about his brother pushing him over or something like that, I was just like, “Mate, just leave it out”.
‘You and your brother had a little fisticuffs…but family’s family, you know.
‘If one of my friends fell out with his partner and started posting things on social media and saying my ex is this and that, I’d have told him to shut up as well.’
The German documentary also points the finger at Harry and Meghan for inevitably trading off their former Royal roles by seeking to make money to support their lifestyle.
It even pours scorn on them for ‘failing’ to mix with wealthy neighbours in the celebrity enclave of Montecito of California, where they have made their home with children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
But Harry and Meghan may be most uncomfortable with the documentary reminding viewers that they had admitted to spending just one hour a week working for their charity Archewell.
Richard Mineards, one of the couple’s neighbours in Montecito, also appears, talking about the exclusive lifestyle that the couple enjoy in the area.
He says: ‘It doesn’t come cheap. I mean…most houses are about eight or nine million dollars.’
But he added: ‘I personally don’t think that Meghan is an asset to our community… She doesn’t really go out or get involved with the community.
‘Harry has to a certain extent, because he’s quite jolly…but Meghan doesn’t seem to get seen anywhere…. And you don’t see him either.’
Although Harry’s journey to London for the WellChild awards for ill children in September was widely praised, those type of successes now seem to be quite rare.
Speaking about Harry and Meghan’s time since leaving Britain, royal author Angela Levin said earlier this year Americans are getting fed up with the couple’s ‘hypocrisy’ and whinging.
She told The Sun: ‘I think endless moaning puts off Americans because they like people who are go-getters rather than those who blame everyone else.
‘They also don’t like the attacks on the Royal Family especially as they so loved and admired the Queen.’
‘We want privacy!’ South Park ROASTS Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
Their unpopularity was made clear when they were mocked and humiliated in an episode of South Park last year.
The satirical cartoon launched a series of attacks against the couple in an episode of the show, which was entitled The Worldwide Privacy Tour and depicted the couple embarking on a publicity blitz to promote the Prince’s new book, Waaagh.
At one point, they were seen stepping off the plane holding signs which said ‘we want our privacy’ and ‘stop looking at us’.
After the show aired, reports surfaced suggesting that Meghan had been left ‘upset and overwhelmed’ by the couple’s less-than-flattering portrayal.
The Sussexes previously took an American popularity battering in July after Harry triggered an angry backlash when he picked up the Pat Tillman Award, which is typically given to unsung heroes.
More than 76,000 people signed a petition demanding the decision was reversed, while Harry came under increasing pressure to hand the trophy back.
Tillman’s own mother Mary slammed the decision to give him the award that honours her dead son, labelling Harry ‘a controversial and divisive individual’.
A poll of 1,500 Americans at the time appeared to back her with 38 per cent saying it was wrong for Harry to be given the award.
Of those asked by polling agency Redfield and Wilton, only 21 per cent came out in support of the prince. The other 41 per cent said they ‘didn’t know’.
The current attitude the public has for the Sussexes seems to be quite the contrast to when they were first greeted when they moved to America with much fanfare in 2020.
The Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021 was watched by more than 17 million Americans and was lauded in the US press, in contrast to Britain.
However public opinion of the pair has been appearing to wane ever since the release of Harry’s controversial memoir Spare in January 2023.
Slowly but surely, the court of American public opinion seems to be turning against the Sussexes.
