If the Duke and Duchess of Sussex desire to reconcile with the British royal family, they must exercise caution in their business activities.
Several royal analysts told Fox News Digital that as the couple’s enterprise in California grows, their rift with the royal family would likely worsen.
According to Christopher Andersen, author of “The King,” Harry and Meghan have lost touch with King Charles III and Prince William.
“There is really no foreseeable way in which they’ll ever be welcomed back,” Andersen told me. “Even if Harry was to throw himself at the king’s feet and beg for forgiveness – which Harry is not about to do – the best he could hope for would be crumbs from the royal table, and the sort of grudging acceptance that is currently being afforded to Harry’s disgraced uncle, Prince Andrew.”
“If Harry and Meghan are determined to monetize their titles, then they’ll just be digging that hole deeper and deeper,” Andersen says. “But if they just use their California-centric popularity to grow their brand while avoiding blatantly capitalizing on the Sussex name and Windsor link, then everyone has the right to make a living. Even then, there would be acrimony, and Harry had no prospect of regaining the king’s and William’s favor.”
Andersen’s statement came shortly after royal correspondent Russell Myers warned that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be accepted back into the royal family if they utilize their titles for financial gain.
“Members from the royal family have told Harry, if he wants a relationship with the rest of the family, then first and foremost, he has got to stop talking about them,” Myers told Australia’s Sky News.
“They can’t go about making money off their associations with the royal family,” Myers told me. “They’re going to [have to] sort of realize, if they’re going to have a relationship with the rest of the royal family, they can’t go about trashing them.”
“Hopefully, they’ll see that the royal family are very united without them, and if they do want a relationship, going forward, they need to take the steam out of their relationship and out of the things they say sometimes,” according to him.
Nacho Figueras, a friend of Kate Middleton, faced criticism for promoting the Duchess of Sussex’s wares as she regained public attention.
According to People magazine, the polo player and model posted an Instagram story on Friday night with a pot of jam from Meghan’s new lifestyle business, American Riviera Orchard, as well as a jar of dog biscuits.
While uploaded on Friday evening in the United States, where Figueras appears to be based on location tags on recent posts, due to the time difference, they appeared in U.K. followers’ feeds in the early hours of Saturday before the Trooping the Colour ceremony.
The Princess of Wales stated on Friday that she would attend the ceremony, a public celebration of King Charles III’s birthday, despite her ongoing cancer treatment.
The timing of Kate’s revelation and Figueras’ article sparked outrage among viewers. However, some speculated that the timing could have been coincidence.
Doug Eldridge, celebrity branding specialist and CEO of Achilles PR, told Fox News Digital that it wouldn’t be shocking if the pair, who live in the wealthy coastal city of Montecito, used their royal titles to improve any commercial operations while continuing to live freely.
“If recent history is any indicator, they’re not just likely to do so, their success is almost dependent upon them doing so,” Eldridge told the audience. Prior to their departure from the royal family, Harry and Meghan had vastly different paths and levels of global recognition. “Everything they’ve done since [their royal exit]…has been based on their royal connections.”
“Can they be prevented from exploiting their former/current royal status? “Probably not,” Eldridge replied. “Harry was beloved all throughout the world. Meghan was popular among a small segment of the American television population. She rose to prominence during the 2018 wedding and thereafter faced public relations challenges. Taylor Swift is the only person on the earth who can make billions of dollars presenting the same story about a ‘girl done wrong’ to new audiences with open wallets. Meghan lacks the shine.
Harry, who has a rocky relationship with his family, rushed to London in February for a brief visit when the king, 75, was diagnosed with an unknown type of cancer.
The prince, 39, has seen his father sparingly since he left royal duties in 2020 and relocated to California with his wife, 42, citing what they described as unacceptable intrusions and racial attitudes in the British media. He has discussed his difficult connection with his family in TV appearances, a documentary, and his biography, published in January 2023.
On March 14, Meghan previewed her new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, while launching a new Instagram account. There has been no formal announcement from Markle or a spokeswoman for the duchess and her husband, Prince Harry, concerning the new brand.
On March 9 and 19, the duchess applied for two new trademarks that broadened the lifestyle brand’s scope include cosmetics and gardening.
The March 9 application included bath soaps, body creams, cosmetics, scented oils, scents, and incense. It added the following: “Non-medicated skin care preparations; Bath and shower gels and salts not for medical purposes; Non-medicated hair preparations.”
The March 19 filing expanded the trademark to include “gardening trowels; garden weeding forks; gardening shears; bags specially adapted for holding gardening hand tools; garden tool gift set, comprised of hand tools for gardening.”