Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Have a "Golden Opportunity" to Reconcile With the Royals Amid Wales Drama, Publicist Says
They're sadly used to dealing with negative press.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been estranged from most of the Royal Family pretty much since their departure from the U.K. in 2020.
But now, as Prince William and Princess Kate find themselves at the center of a huge PR debacle, might be as good a time as any for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to reconcile with them, according to one publicist.
"Meghan and Harry now have a golden opportunity to not only accelerate healing their riff with the Royal Family, but to restore some of their likability in the eyes of the public," PR expert Ryan McCormick told the Mirror.
"If I was advising Meghan, I would tell her to speak loud and passionate in defense of Kate."
For McCormick, it would be a question of Meghan sharing with Kate what she's had to learn the hard way over the years, as she's been on the receiving end of a ton of "negative press."
"Meghan may not like being on the brunt of negative press but, she's definitely more familiar with it than Kate," the expert continued. "The duchess could help the Princess of Wales tremendously by guiding her through this crisis publicly and behind the scenes."
As I'm sure you know by now, Kate and William have been the subject of speculation for a few weeks now, as Kate has been out of the public eye while she recovers from abdominal surgery.
Stay In The Know
Get exclusive access to fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more.
A post shared by The Prince and Princess of Wales
A photo posted by princeandprincessofwales on
In an effort to communicate with the public, the Wales family put out a photo of Kate with her three children on Sunday, UK Mother's Day, which turned out to have been edited.
After several news and photo agencies pulled the photo from their platforms citing doctoring, Kate issued a rare and vague apology for the "confusion" caused, and admitted to using photo editing software on the picture. This, of course, has only added fuel to the rumor fire, with social media users throwing out conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory, and joke after joke about the situation—which PR experts have called a "disaster."
While I agree that Meghan could become a source of support for Kate if the latter was open to it, it's definitely arguable that the Princess of Wales isn't used to receiving bad press.
Although Kate has been largely respected and liked by the press and public since she joined the Royal Family, she was criticized a lot when she was first dating William, as exemplified by the cruel nickname "Waity Katie"—a reference to the years it took for her and the future King to get engaged.
There was also the time when a French magazine published topless photos of Kate on vacation and she had to deal with the fallout of that.
That said, it is absolutely true that the tabloids more generally have been extremely and disproportionately critical of Meghan in a way that they just haven't with Kate. We've all seen the side-by-side headlines that are so much meaner about Meghan than they are about Kate doing the exact same thing.
Anyway, perhaps McCormick is onto something here, and the unfortunate situation Kate finds herself in right now could be a way for her and Meghan to build a friendship after all these years. How likely that is to happen is a different matter entirely.
Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.
-
Rihanna Is the Patron Saint of Lazy Girl Halloween
Her costume was a leopard onesie and $59,400 of jewelry.
By Kelsey Stiegman Published
-
Fans Go Wild After ‘Suits’ Star Shares Unseen Photo of Meghan Markle
Patrick J. Adams shared a throwback pic of the duchess on set.
By Kristin Contino Published
-
Sophie Turner Says It's "Absolute Agony" When She's Away From Her Children With Joe Jonas
She hates being home without them.
By Iris Goldsztajn Published
-
Fans Go Wild After ‘Suits’ Star Shares Unseen Photo of Meghan Markle From Her Acting Era
Patrick J. Adams shared a throwback pic of the duchess on set.
By Kristin Contino Published
-
Mike Tindall Says "Pretending to Punch" Prince Harry Got Him into a Ton of Trouble
"Loads of trolls went in on Mike, especially about him wanting to hit a young, defenseless Harry."
By Amy Mackelden Published
-
Why a Phone Call Warning of an Impending "Apocalypse" on Halloween 2016 Changed Everything for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
"Well, we said, staring anxiously at our phones, it was going to happen eventually."
By Kristin Contino Published
-
Prince William Will Reportedly Snub Royal Family's Christmas if This Family Member Is Invited
The Prince of Wales is apparently "nervous" they might show up this year.
By Amy Mackelden Published
-
King Charles Is "Happy" He Can "Quietly Ask" Princess Eugenie About Prince Harry
"The King is probably happy that Harry still has at least one royal cousin he clearly trusts."
By Amy Mackelden Published
-
Prince Harry Reveals How Meghan Markle Is Different From Other Royal Women in Viral TikTok
The Duke of Sussex is always ready to defend his wife.
By Amy Mackelden Published
-
Prince William Shares Rare Comments About Princess Diana and Prince Harry in New Documentary
"She took Harry and I both there... And I was a bit anxious as to what to expect."
By Amy Mackelden Published
-
Prince Harry Has Beat Out David Beckham and Channing Tatum on 'Hottest Men of All Time' List
Gingers for the win.
By Kristin Contino Published