PR Expert Urges Meghan and Harry to ‘Separate the Lanes More Clearly’ After Recent Backlash
A PR expert says Harry belongs in humanitarian spaces, Meghan belongs in the lifestyle lane — and mixing the two is hurting them both.
The Sussexes' two-day visit to Jordan was meant to carry humanitarian weight. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle flew to Amman at the invitation of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), to focus on humanitarian aid, mental health, and the millions of people displaced by the wars in Gaza and Syria.
But despite it, the visit has reignited a familiar debate about what exactly Harry and Markle are — and whether they are trying to be too many things at once. The couple traveled to Amman earlier this week, meeting Jordanian leaders and senior health officials, engaging with WHO teams, visiting frontline health and mental health programmes, and spending time with World Central Kitchen staff coordinating food relief for Gaza.
And since the trip had all the hallmarks required for a serious diplomatic engagement, but the reception was largely unkind, with critics dismissing it as a "useless exercise" and questioning what, concretely, the visit was meant to achieve.
And now a PR expert suggests the problems are not only about this trip. Renae Smith, founder of branding and PR agency The Atticism, argues that the couple's core issue is a blurred narrative — one that comes from combining two very different public identities under a single banner."If I were advising them, I would actually separate the lanes more clearly," she told the Daily Express. "Harry continuing in humanitarian spaces makes sense. Meghan, at this point, does not feel aligned with that positioning anymore. She is clearly building a lifestyle and commercial brand." Smith’s assessment has a logical basis.
Since relocating to California, Markle has leaned increasingly into the influencer and lifestyle space– most visibly through her Netflix series and her brand American Riviera Orchard. Harry, meanwhile, has remained anchored to causes rooted in mental health, veteran welfare, and humanitarian access. Another royal expert, however, sees the Jordan trip through a different lens entirely. Speaking to The Mirror, Ingrid Seward suggested the visit may have been as much about the Sussexes' relationship with the Royal Family as it was about humanitarian work. "Their trip to the Middle East appears to be part political, part message — and is it a secret message to William and Kate, or a blatant one?" Seward said.
She believes the timing, whatever the couple's original intentions, may have worked in their favor. "They wouldn't have known what was going to happen with Andrew when they planned the trip, but the not-so-secret message is: 'We're here, we can help, we can do this with you' — and that can only work to Harry and Meghan's advantage," she added, pointing to the possibility of a renewed relationship with the Waleses.
Seward also noted that Middleton's childhood connections to the Middle East may not have been lost on the Sussexes, suggesting it could have served as an opening to extend a hand across the divide. As for what any reconciliation might realistically look like, she had a straightforward answer. "It is very possible there could be a personal royal truce and a reunion in that sense," she said. "But a professional royal truce, in terms of the Sussexes ever working as royals again, is very unlikely, despite the other difficulties in the family."
