Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s brand will ‘fail’ unless they move too far from the royal model of ‘personal sacrifice and public service’, Princess Diana’s former chief of staff has warned.
The Duke, 36, and Duchess of Sussex, 39, are currently residing in their $14million mansion in Santa Barbara with eighteen-month-old son Archie, having stepped back from duty in March last year.
According to the Express, royal expert Patrick Jephson has said the couple face an ‘evolving brand issue’ with their new foundation Archewell.
Speaking during a virtual conference promoting and protecting personal brands, which was organised by a US-based public affairs agency, he said: ‘If it departs very much from that great tradition of personal sacrifice and public service that defines the monarchy brand then I don’t believe it will succeed.’
Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle’s, 39, brand will ‘fail’ unless they maintain a focus on a ‘life of sacrifice and service’, Princess Diana’s former chief of staff has warned
He added: ‘One could argue that, at it’s best, membership of the Royal Family gives you access to the most extraordinary and powerful brand in the world.
‘To voluntarily divest yourselves of all those advantages in pursuit of something else is very daring – and we don’t even know what that something else is.’
Patrick’s comments come after a royal biographer claimed the ‘long-term solution’ to the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William is for the Sussexes to ‘enjoy the freedom of America’ while the Cambridges dedicate their life to duty.
Speaking to Elle.com, royal biographer Robert Lacey said he thought ‘there will be some sort of reconciliation’ between the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of Cambridge this year.
Patrick Jephson claimed that if the couple move their brand too far from the royal tradition, then they would not succeed (pictured, at their final event as senior royals)
But he said the brother’s relationship is ‘never going to be the same’, explaining: ‘I expect that is the long-term solution here: Duty in the form of William and Kate will take over the situation, and Harry and his love will enjoy the freedom of America and, I hope, obviously there will be some sort of reconciliation.’
Robert said the brother’s long ‘history and texture’ would always be there, suggesting they both ‘took something different’ from their parent’s marriage breakdown.
The royal expert explained the Duke of Cambridge had found ‘strength’ in his duty, saying: ‘At least he had this duty, this responsibility to be King, the future monarch, and he had to live up to that.’
Meanwhile he said Prince Harry ‘took a different lesson’ from the relationship, adding that the Duke was going to ‘go for love…unapologetically.’
It comes after a royal expert said the ‘long-term solution’ to the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William is for the Sussexes to ‘enjoy the freedom of America’ while the Cambridges dedicate their life to duty
He added: ‘His parents were locked into an arranged, loveless marriage, and he’s not going to make that mistake.’
It is believed the trigger that caused the rift to develop between William and Harry was when the Duke of Cambridge advised his younger sibling to ‘take things slow’ when he first began dating Meghan Markle in 2017.
Relations became so sour that they reportedly didn’t talk for weeks after Harry’s wedding, where William was best man. Then Megxit, and the way it was handled, left William and Charles devastated.
In a documentary in 2019 – Harry & Meghan: An African Journey – the Duke of Sussex, admitted he and William are ‘certainly on different paths at the moment’.
He told ITV’s Tom Bradby: ‘Inevitably stuff happens. But we’re brothers, we’ll always be brothers.’
There are hopes the unveiling of the new Princess Diana statue at Kensington Palace this summer ‘will help to heal old wounds’ for the brothers.
A statement on behalf of the Duke of Sussex and Duke of Cambridge issued by Kensington Palace in August read: ‘The statue that Prince William and Prince Harry have commissioned to commemorate their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, will be installed next year on what would have been her 60th birthday.’
The statue was commissioned to mark the twentieth anniversary of Princess Diana’s death and recognise her positive impact in the UK and around the world.
Earlier this month, royal expert Angela Levin said while Prince Harry ‘balked at being ‘the spare’ to Prince William , he seems to accept being second to Meghan’
Earlier this month, royal biographer Angela Levin claimed Prince Harry has ‘discarded life as an action man to become an airy-fairy do-gooder’ with a ‘woke West Coast life’.
Royal expert Angela, who wrote Harry: Conversations with the Prince in 2018, has claimed that the Duke has become a ‘shadow of his former self’ since moving to California.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, she said while Prince Harry ‘balked at being ‘the spare’ to Prince William, he seems to accept being second to Meghan’.
The biographer said Prince Harry’s recent appearances were ‘out of character’ from the royal she once knew, who would instantly identify with everyone he spoke to.