4 days Ago By [email protected] (Gemma Strong)
It's been a difficult month for Prince Harry and Meghan . Having endured speculation about the state of their marriage following a slew of solo appearances, they returned to the spotlight with their latest Netflix show, Polo, in early December. It made headlines - just not in the way the couple would have hoped.
Even The Cut, a magazine once favoured by Meghan, turned against the Duchess with a very scathing review in an article titled 'Harry and Meghan's Projects Can't Stop Flopping'. Writer Danielle Cohen commented on the couple's "tortured attempts to launch a successful Stateside endeavour" which, she wrote, "continued this week" with the release of Polo. "Seems like this one is bound for the same fate as Markle's beleaguered jam company," she wrote.
Indeed, the negativity surrounding the couple's most recent endeavours has led to questions about the couple's future plans - and the roles they will fill. When Harry and Meghan first relocated to Montecito following their royal exit, they were warmly welcomed with open arms. But now the mood seems to have changed.
As Maureen Callohan noted in the Daily Mail : "America has moved into a new phase of this relationship. We no longer even rubberneck with these two. We have become utterly uninterested.
And that's the death knell for Brand Sussex. "Was it fun to hate-watch their first Netflix series, Meghan mocking her curtsy to the Queen, Harry looking on mortified, both of them bitching endlessly? Of course! Was dissecting 'Spare', with its humiliating revelations about Harry's frozen 'todger' and his mother's face cream as the ultimate salve, a guilty pleasure? You bet. "However, just as the opposite of love isn't hate, but indifference, America has grown bored.
" Adding that their future 'humiliating' future together is an 'open secret' across the pond, she continued: "We've heard and seen it all. We've become that guest at the party cornered by the griping dullard that nobody wants to talk to, looking haplessly about for a more sparkling conversationalist. Or at least a top-up on the Champagne.
" US-based royal commentator Lee Cohen also previously spoke about the Sussexes' plummeting popularity in the States . He said Harry and Meghan had once "epitomised a modern fairy-tale", but that America's love affair with the pair has "significantly cooled". He wrote in The US Sun : "Harry and Meghan just love to complain.
And in America 's largely optimistic society, that is a bad look. While some view the couple's openness as a brave stance against institutional rigidity, many others perceive it as ungrateful and divisive. "A segment of Americans, particularly those of us who respect and admire the monarchy , find these repeated criticisms disrespectful and unbecoming.
So the Sussexes' endless narrative of grievance has alienated many who once admired their candour." Adding further salt to the wound, Richard Mineards, one of Harry and Meghan's neighbours in Montecito, appeared on the German documentary Harry - The Lost Prince , and publicly criticised the Duchess. "I personally don't think that Meghan is an asset to our community," he stated.
"She doesn't really go out or get involved with the community. Harry has to a certain extent, because he's quite jolly..
. but Meghan doesn't seem to get seen anywhere..
. And you don't see him either." According to reports, the pressure is now on Meghan to 'salvage' the situation.
With Polo failing to impress, her upcoming lifestyle show is the couple's "last chance" to save their Netflix deal. For almost a year there have been rumours that Meghan is making her own programme celebrating 'the joys of cooking, gardening , entertaining, and friendship'. But there is still no sign of any release date for the series, which was set to complement Meghan's lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard .
Updates have been notably quiet on the front too, save for the release of a few products - namely jam and dog biscuits. And one Californian insider told the Mail's Alison Boshoff: "It's make or break. People say Netflix are exhausted.
" Harry and Meghan signed a five-year agreement with Netflix in 2020, worth an estimated $100million (£80million). It is due to come to an end in autumn next year. So far, they have released just four projects through the streaming giant, all of which are docuseries: Harry & Meghan, following their love story, Heart of Invictus, about Prince Harry's Invictus Games, Polo, and Live to Lead, highlighting inspiring world leaders.
Should Meghan's series be given air time, it is most likely to launch - alongside her brand - in the first quarter of the year. It has not been included in Netflix schedules for January, and therefore might hit screens in late February – after Harry's Invictus Games in Whistler, Canada – or in March..
