I thought it was very unfair that a press statement was issued immediately when they allowed the media to literally pull Meghan’s name and character to shreds.
Kate and William's press office released a statement saying that they thought much of the Tatler article was inaccurate. There's no magic in that, it's something Harry and Meghan could have done any time they wanted to in the course of their dealings with the press - and they did. They are all free to issue their own corrections and rebuttals. What I think people were calling for with Meghan was escalation of statements up the chain - eg Harry and Meghan say something, then Kate and William (Kensington Palace), Prince Charles (Clarence House) and then the Queen (Buckingham Palace) all issue their own statements backing them up. Which I don't think happens very often, if at all? I do remember William issued his own statement supporting Harry when he first told the press to back off his girlfriend, Meghan, but not sure about another examples.
As for whether or not they really work, I often think that people who think what they do involves no effort must never have had the kind of jobs where that's an integral part of what they are doing. I have been both the person who has to go out and be "on" all the time, and also been the person in charge of preparing the top person to go to events and meetings etc fully briefed as to who they'll meet, what they need to say (and not say), what background they need to know etc. It most definitely takes work. So does managing correspondence and schedules etc, even when you have people you can delegate to.