Royal family
Find out why a couple of royal experts think Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s big rebrand and new website screams “desperation.”
After some not-so-great press in 2023 and landing on the “Biggest Losers” of the year list, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have embarked on a quest to rebrand themselves. They were said to be done with bashing the royal family and want to move away from being known as ex-working royals as they focus on new projects. But their online rebrand has made their connection to the royal family crystal clear and reportedly hasn’t gone down very well at the Palace.
Now, the prince and former Suits star are receiving criticism for not letting go of that royal connection as much as they claim they want to. The couple’s behavior is also being labeled as “sleazy” and “desperate.”
The uproar Harry and his wife caused with their first major step toward a rebrand has to do with their online presence. The pair’s previous Archewell website, which had replaced the Sussex brand after they quit royal duties, now automatically redirects to “Sussex.com” referencing their official royal titles and features a royal coat of arms.
In the “About” section, the website reads: “The Office of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex is shaping the future through business and philanthropy. This includes: The Archewell Foundation, Archewell Productions, patronages, ventures, and organizations which receive the support of the couple, individually and/or together.”
Their individual biographies describe Harry as a “humanitarian, military veteran, mental health advocate, and environmental campaigner” and Meghan as a “feminist and champion of human rights and gender equity” who has been named “one of the most influential women in the world.”
They have received backlash for “cashing in” on their royal titles and changing their children’s surnames to “Sussex.”
Royal commentator and host of the To Di for Daily podcast Kinsey Schofield told Talk TV what Meghan and Harry have done is “clearly just an attempt to milk off the royal brand. That is just so blatantly obvious. Why can’t you make an all-new logo? Something very American and something very savvy and cool like Meghan did with The Tig.
“The opportunity was there. It’s just blatant desperation to have those royal ties because without them they are irrelevant.”
Fellow commentator James Morrow labeled Harry and Meghan as “grifters” who people are “sick of” and slammed them for the timing of this rebrand.
He told Sky News host Rita Panahi: “This an absolute betrayal [to the late queen]. They wanted out of the family, they got out of the family but they still want the Sussex name … They’re just grifters.
“There’s a lot of issues now and questions around — with the king’s health — whether the family might be unified again. But it’s like this constant just sleazy behavior — I think people are sick of it. They’re not listening anymore.”
