Is Meghan Markle’s ‘Brand Identity’ in ‘Crisis’ Now?
Things haven’t exactly gone smoothly for Meghan Markle since she and Prince Harry stepped down as working royals more than five years ago. Some of her decisons made the duchess and her husband the butt of jokes as they were criticized by late night comedians and on shows like South Park and Saturday Night Live.
And who can forget the Sussexes’ bizarre story about a car chase through the streets of Manhattan that didn’t add up and opened them up to more criticism? Moreover, when Meghan’s Archetypes podcast was canceled after one season and the deal with Spotify ended, the two were humiliated by a company executive who publicly labeled them “f****** grifters.” To round out that year, they landed on The Hollywood Reporter’s annual “Biggest Losers” list.
The Sussexes decided to reinvent themselves and began working separately on solo projects. So to start off 2025, Meghan returned to Instagram. And she’s had a lot going on since from launching a version of Shop My Closet online to selling her As Ever products to promoting her Netflix lifestyle show to announcing her second podcast. But with so many things going on at once, it’s hard to describe who Meghan is and what her brand is really about.
Now, a couple of experts are weighing in and using words like “panic” and “crisis” to describe what we’re seeing now from the former Suits star.
Expert says Meghan has ‘brand whiplash’
During an appearance on Sky News Australia, royal expert and To Di For Daily podcast host Kinsey Schofield was asked to comment on the report from investigative journalist Tom Bower that Meghan and Harry are in a “crisis” of conflicting interest because the duchess “hasn’t got the status” that she craves while Harry’s hopes of reconciling with his family are “totally unrealistic.”
Schofield gave her take on that and Meghan’s current “brand identity.”
“Get over that real quick!” Schofield said regarding the news about Harry wanting and expecting a reconciliation with his family, before adding, “But I think, Bower’s description of what is happening behind the scenes gives us an explanation for Meghan Markle’s lack of strategic cohesion over the last few months.”
Schofield then opined that with Meghan putting out so many things at once: “What we’re witnessing is brand whiplash, this erratic flurry of launches with no clear through line or brand identity whatsoever, from underperforming podcasts to her lifestyle series that’s been panned … The approach feels like a panic-filled blitz, rather than a focused brand strategy.”
Another expert believes the Sussexes are both at a ‘crisis point’ now
Another expert also weighed in as they too believe both Meghan and Harry and in “crisis” mode now and that may not end well for the Duke of Sussex.
Speaking on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show, commentator and biographer Hugo Vickers, who’s written dozens of books on the royals, explained: “I think they’re always at a crisis point, because they’ve left the royal family.”
He continued: “The royal family are working for the United Kingdom commonwealth, whereas they [the Sussexes] have taken the celebrity route which means they have to completely reinvent themselves the whole time to keep in front of the public. They’re always changing direction, therefore, they must always be at a crisis point.
“I have a feeling this story is going to end badly, certainly for Prince Harry. I don’t see it lasting. I mean I don’t wish, but people actually always act in character. I mean, I’m a biographer rather than a journalist. So I look at how people deal with their lives and she’s dumped her father, her first husband, Jessica Mulroney, the entire British royal family.”
