PR Disasters- Part 9

[AtIusvue]

PR disasters of Meghan and Harry.

Left off at the last page with Meg selling candles to people who want to know what her young children smell like. She’s also using the kids full titles in the press release….just for a dash of extra exploitation.

As you were

Fur coat and no knickers.

I don't think it's the fear of being called racist. Andrew kept his title until he was arrested. I think that at the moment Harry and Meghan are safe because although they are playing around in the grey area of the Sandringham agreement I think the palace believes that even without the titles they would be selling things based on who they were (it certainly isn't about the products). What is the point of causing a press storm, endless accusations, rehashing everything that is dying down here, just to remove a title? Most not on royal chat boards are indifferent to them it would cause a fuss for no gain.

I still maintain that those with power know who is important and who isn't and they know the Sussexes are empty vessels on the world stage. The palace don't gain anything positive from removing the titles because most people just don't care.

Having said that going forward I believe they should limit HRH to working royals and stop giving hereditary dukedoms out on marriage. Make them lifetime only or just don't do it.

Apparently Hazza has just turned up in Kyiv again. He wants to make sure the world doesn’t forget about Ukraine ( and him of course).

It’s also hugely entertaining. It also highlights when they don’t clap back, that there may well be, an element of truth in the comments.

It’s exhausting, don’t forget me and the good I can do. Wonder who’s paying for this trip, Invictus?

He wants to make sure that the world doesn't forget about Ukraine?
Are we likely to, unless he turns up and gets photographed?

A poster on Reddit has linked to a substack from a very reputable entertainment reporter, one who the Sussex’s have previously used for their PR. It really lays it all out. Probably could do with a separate thread.

The Truth About Harry & Meghan's Empire "They Are Wildly Unhappy"

some extracts,

The narratives in the media are poles apart: catastrophe and spin. “They’re BROKE!” scream the tabloids. They have a “thriving empire!” say more celebrity-friendly outlets. Spend time with people inside their world and what emerges is more complicated than either narrative, and frankly sadder. Two people who made enormous bets, burned bridges behind them, and are now watching the clock tick down on a life built in haste. “They are wildly unhappy,” says a source in their orbit. This is not a story about villains. It’s a story about two people who don’t quite know who they are, what their purpose is, and who are running out of time and money to figure it out.

The reported $100 million Netflix deal was closer to $60 million once development costs, overheads, and delivery tranches are accounted for. Sources say the $20 million Spotify deal netted roughly $5 million after an early exit. Harry’s memoir, Spare, remains their single most commercially successful project, delivering an estimated $20 million advance — paid in full. Harry earns an estimated $1 million annually as Chief Impact Officer at BetterUp and sources say he commands around $50,000 for keynotes. Meghan has run ticketed fan events where attendees paid $3,000 like the Her Best Life women's wellness retreat in Sydney last week. But neither is a sustainable business model.

Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel cuts to the reality of their Netflix deal: “This type of deal is not unique — there’s often an overall maximum but if you don’t bring enough product to the table that gets greenlit, you’re not going to see those headline numbers. These deals are few and far between, and short-lived unless you deliver success. The people who get them are Shonda Rhimes and Greg Berlanti.” On the fundamental question of what got them the deal in the first place: “When they got that deal, there was scepticism that it was as much for the aura of ‘we can be in business with a British royal’ as for anything else. If they didn’t have the royal title, that deal wouldn’t have been done.”

it’s a fascinating read

The docuseries Harry & Meghan landed, but everything after it didn’t. Heart of Invictus, Polo, Live to Lead were competent but inert, the kind of content that fills a platform without feeding a conversation. Then came With Love, Meghan. The show arrived in January 2025 positioned as a lifestyle offering in the tradition of Martha Stewart’s aspirational domesticity. The problem was immediate and loud: critics noted that Meghan appeared to lack the foundational expertise the format demands. The show offered warmth and aesthetics in place of knowledge, and audiences noticed. Social media didn’t just shrug — it dunked, repeatedly and gleefully, with the criticism coalescing around a specific and damaging idea: that Meghan was performing the role of a lifestyle authority rather than actually being one.

The intended synergy with her As Ever product line (honey, herbal teas, edible flowers) collapsed with it. The logic had been sound on paper: the show would function as content marketing, building the emotional universe that As Ever lived inside. But when the show became a punchline, it poisoned the well for the product. You cannot sell aspirational domesticity when the world is mocking you.

The reality, sources say, is more nuanced. Netflix funded the show. Meghan received a meaningful payday for both seasons on top of the overall deal. The inventory now sits with her, cost-free. Says a Netflix insider, “she got a nice payday for those two seasons and now they have the inventory gratis.” A soft failure - but soft failures have a way of hardening into reputation, and in the lifestyle space, reputation is the entire product. PR consultant Mark Borkowski is characteristically direct: “It was always smoke and mirrors. The success of all the production deals is basically the output, and after giving a few interviews, there’s not much left.” He never saw evidence they were surrounding themselves with people capable of making great content. “From what I have heard, Harry and Meghan had a better sense of the content than their production teams. They didn’t look for people who would push them so it became a vanity industry.”

Their Outgoings Are the Real Problem

Revenue in the tens of millions sounds significant. Until you examine what’s going out. Their Montecito home was purchased for approximately $14 million and is believed to carry multiple mortgages. A source with knowledge of the inner workings of their world says security costs around $3 million a year: four personnel stationed at the house, three more deployed when they travel. “They should have bought a $7 million house free and clear,” says one source. “People who buy a $14 million home usually buy it outright.”
Then there are the legal bills. Harry’s UK litigation is believed to have cost tens of millions, his case against the Mail newspapers alone is estimated at $38 million by the UK Times. The inheritance from Princess Diana (estimated at $10 million) and the Queen Mother (estimated $10.5 million) has been substantially absorbed. “The inheritance has largely been spent on the house and the legal trials,” says the source.
They have cut back. Staff has been reduced from 16 full-time employees to five. They retain a chief of staff each, one foundation consultant, two TV execs, a UK press representative, and a US agency. Meghan has a sense of how careful they need to be, the source says, but Harry — raised in a world where everything was provided — reportedly lacks basic awareness of what things cost.

Ive noticed they are clapping back at everything …more so than usual. It’s embarrassing. I’m guessing this is Sunshine Sachs ?

• Clap back to the bondi outfit - posted it up thread.

• Clap back to the video where she’s glaring at the assistant at the hospital.

‘Sykes said representatives for the Sussexes alleged that the video, which had been slowed down for dramatic effect, was “designed to be manipulative and perpetuate a false narrative.” The Daily Beast has reached out to Markle’s representatives for further comment.’

• Now clapping back to the P6 article about her TM titles.m with the People article.

This must cost them a lot of money to be replying to EVERYTHING.

What Harry Actually Wants
^^
This insight is striking in its consistency across sources: Harry does not want the life he has right now. He misses his family, his friends, his former existence in the UK. He would, sources say, be content to downsize, move somewhere like Montana, live modestly, pursue charitable work on his own terms. “He doesn’t care about the appearance of wealth. He cares about the appearance of doing good work.”
Borkowski understands his predicament: “Harry has been conditioned to be part of the establishment. He has been conditioned to play a role.” Strip it away and he seems profoundly disorientated. The most powerful vehicle Harry has, Borkowski argues, is hiding in plain sight: “The Invictus Games. There’s so much he could be doing off that brand.” But instead, “he’s wedded to this idea that they can do it on their own, which has never succeeded.” Fitzwilliams reads the recent Australian visit as strategic groundwork: “Australia is a trial run. What I think they want to do is visit Charles in July and test the water.” And Invictus, he notes, gives them leverage: “It will be very hard for Charles to decline attending its opening.”
^^
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What Meghan Actually Wants
^^
Something else entirely. “Deep down Meghan wants to be like Lauren Sanchez, living her best life at couture shows. She wants to be a princess who’s invited to Chanel, but she’s not,’ says an insider. The departure from the royal family, UK sources say, was catalyzed by a specific realization: that her finances would be managed by Prince William eventually. “When she realized that William was going to be in charge of how much they were getting for the rest of their lives, she wanted out.” However a source close to Meghan says this is untrue.
The couple’s goals have quietly diverged. Harry wants privacy and reconciliation. Meghan wants scale, visibility, and reinvention. “She would never allow” the quieter life Harry craves. Borkowski captures the divergence bluntly: “Harry is now a proper spare, to Meghan, because they are both going off in different directions. They are both hungry for attention, but different types.”

Seen that @Thedom

The only thing I disagreed with was that they got $60 million from NF. They wouldn’t be struggling if they had that amount. I think they got 20-30 million.

but we can all see that they can’t possibly maintain that lifestyle. Weve mentioned it frequently on here.

interesting that the have multiple mortgages though! Thats surely sign something’s up isn’t it?

That's so interesting, @Thedom .
So now Harry is a Spare to Meghan.
He wants to be the popular, responsibility free Prince of the past, hanging out in Kensington and having a laugh with mates, but getting applauded for attending Invictus

She wants to be Lauren Sanchez, fabulously wealthy, famous, with a high status billionaire husband.

She backed the wrong horse

I don't believe it will be hard for Charles not to attend Invictus. I fully expect him to send the Duke and/or Duchess of Edinburgh with the reasoning that the Duke is Patron of the British paraolympic team.

However fond and emotional Charles may be I think recent events with Harry and Andrew show that he listens to harder heads than his and takes their advice. Maybe he has learnt from the mess the late Queen made due to her fondness for Andrew and refusal to listen to facts?

Most of this has been said on here over the years, so it’s nothing new, but it is interesting to see it delivered by someone who was classed as a conduit for their PR and who is respected in the entertainment reporting industry

It will be a blow for them as they try to spin the Aussie tour as a success.

It would be worth it if it was working but I don't really see the narrative shifting in the media or on social media. Most people simply don't care enough about them to have opinions so it's money wasted.

What on earth does this clown have to offer ? He's a joke

He thinks the Ukrainians need a Prince, obviously!

What on earth is he doing in Ukraine? Does he not want to go home and see his children?

On a separate topic, the candles for the kids is a super weird and creepy thing to do, for all the reasons already stated. But the other part that baffles me is that she’s released this for Mother’s Day. So is she expecting that people will buy candles designed to remind you of some stranger’s children, as a Mother’s Day gift? In what world does that make any sense whatsoever. There’s also a supreme arrogance in thinking someone would rather have a gift to remind you of someone else’s children than your own on the day specifically designed to celebrate your own family.

of course the super fans will buy them, but who else would? It is ridiculous.

Two very good points, @elessar .
It's baffling.

I agree. They are really irritating me now. I wouldn't have minded at all (not that anyone asked me! But I am a taxpayer so pay for the BRF) if they had gone off to Cali, lived their best lives, stopped being working royals etc etc but the faux royalty, trying to be half in half out is pissing me off, among other things:

Harry has wasted thousands of pounds of taxpayers money on court cases

Monetising the clothes you wear to visit sick children is disgusting

As is visiting sick children and using them as props / publicity

As is monetising the clothes you wear when visiting Bondi

WTF are they visiting disaster zones & hospitals if they're private individuals?

Telling the press you sent flowers (to a mausoleum?) for your dead grandmother is weird and attention seeking beyond belief as is the disaster tourism above.

Announcing candles smelling of your children and monetising their titles on the same day is also weird, as is the timing of many of their pronouncements.

They are absolutely trying to set up a rival court. In California. But they don't have what the royals have and have absolutely failed to understood the assignment, as the kids say. They think they can out-royal the royals and they just can't, no way in any universe would that ever have been possible.

Their hubris should be their downfall and I'm not sure why it hasn't been yet although maybe the RF are just biding their time partly because Charles is a pussy on this subject? I hope William turns out to have bigger balls!

Do the RF have to send anyone ? Have RF had any attendance in the past ?

There's been a lot of publicity about the late Queen's centenary, with events and a museum style retrospective.
They're back from Australia, so how do they get another headline?
Harry goes to Kyiv.
Yet again, happy to go to a war zone, but freaking out about not enough security in London