Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s four-pronged approach to winning over royals fans in the United States has “fallen flat”, as their popularity is at risk of dropping further.
Lee Cohen, the ex-Great Britain adviser to the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, appeared on Mark Dolan’s GB News show, where he claimed that America has “no appetite” for the couple’s “failures”.
He said: “Americans have no appetite for what the Sussexes are selling. While initially they were received with a great deal of interest, Americans, like Brits, don’t have patience for negativity, for victimhood narratives, for trashing one’s family for monetary gain, and certainly for hypocrisy.”
Mr Cohen added how their “failure to harm the monarchy” had been their first setback since they moved to Montecito, California in 2020.
Since then Harry and Meghan have given a tell-all interview to Oprah and released a Netflix documentary series detailing the hardships they faced as working royals, with Harry’s memoir Spare adding further fuel to the fire.
A poll conducted by Redfield & Wilton for Newsweek concluded in December that the couple’s approval had surged, having been much lower a year previously.
On Decenber 5 2022 Harry and Meghan had a net approval rating of plus 38 and plus 23 respectively, however a month later, following the release of their series Harry & Meghan and Spare, this had dropped dramatically to -7 and -13.
Over the course of 2023 the Sussexes managed to steadily regain some approval, resulting in Harry finishing the year on plus 29 and Meghan on plus 15.
However, the trend suggests another dip in popularity is possible if the Duke and Duchess make another poorly judged move or continue to trash the royals.
When asked whether Harry and Meghan risk financial difficulty Mr Cohen replied: “Of course. I hope they have someone responsible controlling their finances.
“Someone who’s better adept at that goal than whoever is advising them on their messaging.”
Royal biographer Tom Bower has also suggested that the pair may end up facing money troubles as they have now “run out of fuel” to profit from.
The author suggested that the only big money-maker for them would be Meghan’s autobiography, which would risk causing further upset with the Royal Family.
He told TalkTV: “The idea they have anything other to contribute beyond their trashing of the Royal Family is laughable. They’ve been found out. They are now ridiculed in Hollywood. They are ignored in New York.
“They set themselves up to be living like royals but their income is pretty limited. If pushed into a corner (financially), they may be desperate and say some more terrible things.”
