Prince Harry’s early steps into life beyond the Royal Family were destined for disaster, according to crisis management specialist Carla Speight. The Duke of Sussex, who left royal duties alongside Meghan Markle in 2020, was suddenly thrust into an environment where he was encouraged to speak openly without the Palace machinery to guide him. This led to irreconcilable differences with the Royal Family and seemingly prompted his wife to move forward on her own path, as she dropped series two of her show, With Love, on Netflix.
“Previously, Harry didn’t have the freedom to say and do as he pleased without putting it past the Royal Household team for assessment,” Speight explained. “Every engagement was planned meticulously, press interviews were screened, and answers were prepped in advance by the Palace’s press team.”
But when multimillion-dollar deals with Netflix and publishers came along, the Duke’s advisors pushed him to embrace raw honesty. “In the early days of the Netflix contract, he was quite literally encouraged to ‘speak his truth’ by the teams around him, which is a terrible approach when the person at the heart of it is hurting and the emotions are incredibly raw,” she said.
Speight warned that such advice is a recipe for disaster in high-profile crises. “When this advice is given to someone in Harry’s position, it will almost always result in the fallout the couple have faced,” she added.
The Sussexes’ candid revelations brought in blockbuster viewing figures and lucrative book sales, but Speight argues that Harry himself was left exposed. “Whilst the agents around the couple at the time will have loved the great TV and millions earned in book sales, they failed to recognise that there was a very hurt man at the heart of that situation, who needed support and guidance.”
The Duchess of Sussex, she believes, had little influence on the direction of those early media projects. “I doubt that the Duchess will have had much say on the direction at the time, as she will have been outnumbered by the team around them, exploiting the situation,” Speight said. “Plus, Harry’s hurt, coupled with his newfound freedom, will have made it easy to be pushed in that direction.”
Since then Meghan has pushed forward with her own business endeavours separate from her husband, including creating a line of products under her brand name, As Ever as she has taken a more ‘wholesome” approach to work and headed down the wellness route.
Her products including jam and wine have continued to sell out despite the high prices.