Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Need to Choose Royal or Celebrity Life: ‘You Don’t Really Get to Straddle Both,’ Expert Says
A royal expert believes that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should pick a lane: either live the celebrity lifestyle or commit to royal life. The Sussexes, according to the expert, can’t straddle both areas, especially if they are seeking privacy, as it becomes “tricky.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have to decide if they’re royalty or celebrities, expert says
During a May 2022 episode of Royally Us, PR expert Lida Citroen discussed why Prince Harry and Meghan should choose between being royalty or celebrities.
“I think they’re still trying to find their footing,” Citroen explained. “So they’re trying a lot of different things and some of them are giving them footing and some of them are feeling a little slippery … Some of this can also just be them trying to figure out who they’re going to be in this world.”
She continued, “I don’t mean to minimize what they’re going through but it sort of feels from a perception standpoint that they have to decide if they’re royalty or they’re celebrity. Because there’s a very different persona and perception mapping that goes with both of those — you don’t really get to straddle both.”
Citroen weighed in on why the Sussexes should make a definitive choice. “You sometimes don’t get to have it both ways,” she explained. “When you think about royal life and pageantry of the institution, there’s rules that come with that and there’s protocols and there’s rewards.”
She added, “But celebrity also has rules and protocols and rewards. It also has a lot of risk and being handled is different — being, you know, managed, is very different. I don’t know how they would find a way to bridge both but they kind of need to choose.”
Prince Harry might not be as ‘comfortable’ with celebrity life as Meghan Markle
The PR expert also noted that Meghan may have understood celebrity culture but it “isn’t the same” as royal life.
“The responsibility, the loyalty, the protocol is different and so it probably would feel more natural to her … to want the celebrity [lifestyle]. There’s a lot of risk that comes with that,” Citroen said. “There’s a lot of treacherous landscape. And that might be something Harry’s not as comfortable with because he grew up in a very different culture, which is the institution’s culture.”
She added, “I could see them almost being pulled in different directions — her going celebrity and him still feeling the comfort of the institution but being attracted to the freedom that you supposedly get with celebrity.”
Expert warns that it can be ‘tricky’ for the Sussexes
Ultimately, Citroen shared, “It’s a choice they have to make.” She warned that it should be a solid choice, otherwise it becomes tricky. “Once you open that pandora’s box, you don’t get to shut it and say, ‘Well now I get to take my family private. Now I don’t want pictures of me out in the public.’ That’s the celebrity burden, right?” she explained.
The expert continued, “There’s all this opportunity with being the celebrity reputation that you don’t have with the royal or the institution. But the risk is you don’t get to put it back and you don’t get to now tell people that there are things that you don’t want to talk about. So once you open it, you kind of have to keep going with it. And that’s where it gets really tricky.”
Citroen also pointed out how Prince Harry’s family ties factor into the decision. “And from a family standpoint, I don’t think we can lose sight of the fact that Harry’s still part of a family,” she said. “[Meghan] married into the family and was initially supposedly welcomed in … But it’s still his family and that’s got to be emotional.”
