Harry and Meghan Urged to Take a Good 'Look at Themselves' as Year Ends With Another PR Disaster
Negative press, creative misfires, and constant staff changes have put the couple’s Hollywood future under scrutiny.
Once seen as reinventing life after royalty, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle now appear mired in stalled projects, bad press, and frequent staff exits. With their publicist reportedly the 11th to leave in five years, the most plausible question is being asked: Is this bad luck, or something of their own making? Presenter Kevin O’Sullivan and royal commentator Rupert Bell dissected what has widely been described as the Sussexes’ most difficult year yet. While publicists come and go in show business, the frequency with which Markle and Harry’s communications team has been reshuffled has become part of the story itself, and that is definitely not in a flattering way.
Bell suggested that the constant churn mirrors a resistance to outside counsel. “They'd like people who've been around some time, but Markle thinks she knows best, and that's part of the problem,” he said. “Perhaps the Sussexes need to take a look at themselves rather than blaming everybody else.” O’Sullivan further argued that 2024 marked a turning point for Markle’s public image, and not for the better. “This was the year where Markle suffered some extremely negative press on behalf of the Hollywood Reporter and Vanity Fair magazine, both of which are in extensive investigations, alleging that she was a bullying boss who reduced grown men to tears. She was called a tyrant in high heels and so on, and so forth,” he slammed.
According to O’Sullivan, the fallout from those reports has only intensified tensions behind the scenes. “I think what happens is she doesn't like this, and she blames her publicist,” he asserted, before sketching what he called a familiar industry pattern. “So, publicists no doubt respond by saying, ‘Well, Meghan, if you behave better, then these stories wouldn't be written about you.’ So it's the old vicious circle. People blame their publicists for bad publicity.”
Bell went on to widen the lens, arguing that the Sussexes’ creative output has done little to arrest the slide. “It's quite difficult to say what's causing problems,” he said, before listing what he described as a string of misfires. “Obviously, the TV series was an absolute car crash, and the holiday special was even more of a horror show.” Nor did he spare Markle’s podcast, which was once touted as her big media breakthrough. “Well, it was absolute rubbish really, and her podcast was not up to much as well because she thinks it's all about her, whereas actually when you do something it's all about your guests.”
The cumulative effect, Bell argued, has been a steady narrowing of their professional options. “So a lot of the stuff that has gone on has not been successful; they now just seem to be reduced to appearing at various stages around the country for vast sums of money, so they've got a lot to sort out.”
The conversation briefly turned to whether the Sussexes’ American base could bring them closer to the royal family, particularly with the 2026 World Cup set to take place across the US, Canada, and Mexico. Bell, however, sounded sceptical about any meaningful reunion. “Harry has become a distraction, which the King doesn't want to be, because every time it becomes the story, it's a family soap opera, rather than the King going somewhere as Head of State,” he said. “Will Harry be seen near them with all the eyes on them?” Bell asked. “It will be an interesting one.”
