The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have always appeared united in their choices and decision-making, including when they announced they would be stepping back from Royal Family duties in January 2020. But Pauline Maclaran, professor of marketing and consumer research at Royal Holloway, University of London, says that behind the “power couple” with their “fairly coherent brand image together”, difficulties adjusting to one another’s lifestyles are evident at key moments.
Professor Maclaran told Express.co.uk that “individually, they have had very different brand images”.
She added that Meghan’s brand was orientated around her status “as a (previously) minor Hollywood celebrity associated with the Suits brand”, whereas Prince Harry was embedded in the “Royal Family brand” and is “not yet comfortable with Hollywood celebrity culture”.
She said: “The mix of these different brand cultures is bound to create tensions at times and certainly did when Meghan tried to be a working royal during their time in England.”
Professor Maclaran, who is a co-author of ‘Royal Fever’, also referenced Prince Harry and Meghan’s recent appearance at the NAACP Image Awards, where many onlookers thought the Duke appeared wooden onstage compared to his wife.
Professor Maclaran claimed “Harry’s unease” reflected the difference between the brands with which the husband and wife pair were familiar, and “that he is not yet comfortable with Hollywood celebrity culture”.
In the Duke and Duchess’s explosive interview with US chat show host Oprah Winfrey, Meghan described her alienation within the Royal Family household.
This included feeling left adrift by a lack of guidance on the rules she must adhere to as a member of the Royal Family, which she was not familiar with given her upbringing in the US.
She said: “There was no guidance.
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“So that’s me, late at night, Googling it.”
She added: “I grew up in LA – I see celebrities all the time – but it’s not the same.
“This is a completely different ball game.”
In a later interview with the Duchess’s personal friend, Ellen DeGeneres, she described her life before the Royal Family, when she lived, worked and auditioned for parts in Los Angeles.
She described how their family was “happy” with the move to her home state of California and the new life they were creating outside of the Firm.
She told the chat show host: “We moved here during lockdown, exactly when things shut down, so we’ve just been able to spend a lot of time at home and creating our home, but I think it’s just the lifestyle and the weather is pretty great.
“But we’re just happy.”
