Meghan Markle, Prince Harry Accused Of Having To Sell Themselves Despite Royal Status: ‘Quite A Step Down’
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are allegedly selling themselves to make a living, according to a royal expert.
Michael Cole, a former BBC journalist and royal correspondent, weighed in on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's business ventures after announcing they have two new Netflix projects. Last month, Markle also unveiled her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard.
Despite Prince Harry and Markle's progress, Cole said it's a downgrade compared to what they were when they were still with the royal family.
For him, the Sussexes are now on their own and are "very much in a marketplace" for commercial deals because they have to "earn their living."
"One of the ways they're earning their living is selling themselves, that is their unique selling point. The fact that they have royal status," Cole told GB News about the Sussexes' latest projects.
"And they're going to have to work at it, very hard, because they have a very expensive lifestyle. Security alone must cost a fortune. Three shifts a day of burly men guarding the perimeter of their house. Now, that burns through a lot of money."
Markle has just unveiled the first product of her new brand -- jams. She sent 50 jars of her jam collection to her pals and some influencers in the United States. Fashion designer Tracy Robbins was among those who received the product, and she shared a snap of it on her Instagram Story.
When Cole was asked if Markle's jam would "catch on" along with her lifestyle brand, he said that if it's good, people would buy it.
"I think it will. People will sign up for it. I hope the jam tastes nice, not too sugary. If it's good, then it will sell," he said. "But it really is quite a step down from the pedestal they were once on."
Many dubbed American Riviera Orchard as The Tig 2.0. The Tig was Markle's defunct lifestyle blog, which she closed when she joined the royal family. According to Cole, the blog was a "big no-no" to the royal family.
"Really what this is, is the development of the blog she had before she was engaged, which was called The Tig. It [had] to do with a special sort of Spanish wine that she liked," Cole said.
"But she closed that down for the very simple reason that when she half joined the British Royal Family, she was told she could not exploit her royal status for commercial gain, or allow others to do so."
Prince Harry and Markle quit their royal duties in 2020 and moved to the United States. They fractured their relationship with the royals after exiting and doing their interview with Oprah Winfrey and the docuseries with Netflix.
However, according to royal expert Tom Quinn, Prince Harry wanted to reconcile with his family after King Charles and Kate Middleton's cancer diagnoses. But Markle was allegedly not OK with it as she was still expecting an apology from her in-laws.
