Sussexes 'at a Crossroads': Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Continued Professional Divide Sparks Concern
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's career split has left the controversial couple "at a crossroads" when it comes to how to "market the Sussex brand," a Hollywood insider shared.
According to reports, the "toxic duo" label Team Sussex navigated around for years is reportedly "taking its toll" on the couple, so they both "are doing something about it."
PR analyst Ed Coram James may have the answer, and told an outlet, "Since their marriage, Harry and Meghan have had a distinct brand. That brand is based on a duo. Call it 'Harry and Meghan,' call it 'the Sussexes,' call it whatever you like. The fact is that for years they have become synonymous with one another."
Harry and Meghan had the magic of a senior royal wedding at engagements, which soon was replaced by the incarnation many know of them today after 2020's "Megxit."
James added, "And, since the famous Oprah interview, in which they took a simmering disagreement between themselves and the rest of the royal family and essentially declared all-out-war, that brand has been steadily becoming more toxic and thus commercially untenable."
In the wake of many unflattering nicknames and hashtags, James said it has gotten "to the point where not that many major brands are going to be rushing to write them a large check based on their brand value."
He continued, "This is because the ongoing confrontation with the rest of the royal family, as well as much of Meghan’s family, have made them appear confrontational and combative, their string of commercial projects that haven’t worked out and have led to a sense that they aren’t the best producers. And their worldwide publicity tour made them look whiney, ungrateful, and unconscious to the enormous privilege that they have enjoyed."
Some believe that the pair's ultimate goal was to keep the highs of the post-Oprah interview era "alive and well," by tapping into "woke culture" to placate the Tinseltown status quo. James feels that regardless of what their motives may have been, it all backfired and will take work to fix.
"But, it is achievable," he further observed. "To do it, they need to lean into the exact opposites of these labels. The first step in this always had to be to dissociate themselves from the brand that had achieved such labels in the first place."
Since Harry and Meghan left the Crown in early 2020, the duo have amassed a "whopping" $62.5 million dollars alone based solely on their projects. Meghan was rumored to have been worth roughly $5 million when she met her future Duke in 2016, whereas Harry had a reported $25 million dollars of inherited wealth in the bank.
Daily Mirror reported on James' comments.