Royal Family Reportedly Missing Star Power Of Prince Harry And Meghan Markle

Jun 28, 2021 by apost team

Prince Harry arrived in the UK on June 26, 2021, to attend the unveiling of a statue of Princess Diana. This will be his first trip back home since Prince Philip's funeral. The unveiling of Diana's statue is set to take place on July 1, 2021, the day that Diana would have turned 60 years old.

Though royal fans have been excited for this even since it was first announced in 2017, it has been reported that both Harry and Prince William have drastically scaled it back. With Diana's statue, the hope is to remind Kensington Palace visitors of Princess Diana's life and legacy with the statue.

William and Harry have worked hard to preserve their mother's legacy both symbolically but also throughout their own charity work as parts of the royal family. Both brothers have taken carried on Princess Diana's legacy in terms of being outspoken about mental health.

However, both brothers have taken drastically different paths in their life; while William has stuck to his duty, Harry took the unconventional path and left behind his role as a senior royal, opting instead for a life in the United States with his wife Meghan Markle. His controversial decision, however, has led to a major rift in the family, which has been covered thoroughly in the media. 

Royal experts are now claiming that Harry and Meghan's absence from the royal family has them missing the "star power" the couple can provide. While William and his wife Kate Middleton can certainly fill the vacuum, they continue to represent a more outdated form of the monarchy than the one Harry and Meghan can provide. 

MSN News reported that correspondent Holly Williams asked Ayesha Hazarika, a journalist and former political advisor, "How difficult is it for Harry to make these return visits to the U.K. following the interview that he and Meghan did with Oprah?" Hazarika responded, "Oh, it's incredibly difficult. They are like pariahs in this country. They are treated abysmally by the press. They are criticized left, right and center."

However, Hazarika also added that the royal family's image has been damaged since Harry and Meghan's allegations of racism. "There's a lot of younger people, a lot of people in Black and Asian communities, that look at that. They took that very, very personally. They felt really ashamed of the royal family and quite embarrassed about Britain."

Harry and Meghan provided a new perspective on how the royal family works and added "star power" that the royal family has now been desperately missing, and expects William and Kate to take over and provide it.  

Hazarika said, "William and Kate are really being pushed to the fore in terms of publicity, particularly Kate Middleton," adding, "I think what the PR machine behind the royal family is trying to do is turn William and Kate into the new Meghan and Harry. They're trying to make them a bit sort of rock star-like."

Kate and William's "rebranding" can be seen in a lot of their recent actions, such as the Hollywood-styled anniversary video that the couple released on April 29, 2021, to mark 10 years of being married, which has never happened before in the royal family. 

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Jonny Dymond, a royal correspondent for BBC News also said, "Harry and Meghan were very, very popular and they sucked up an awful lot of the oxygen. And so, with them off the scene, there is certainly more attention paid to William and Kate."

Dymond also commented on the fact that Harry and Meghan named their daughter after Queen Elizabeth. In a statement released about Lilibet's birth, Harry and Meghan wrote, "Lili is named after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet. Her middle name, Diana, was chosen to honor her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales."

About this, Dymond said, "When I first reported on it, I said, 'That is a mark of great love and respect,' Then, I was told a slightly different story from the palace. It has not made people feel any better, I think, on either side of the Atlantic."

The vast majority of the UK supports the monarchy being in place, but according to a poll conducted by YouGov, more than 40 percent of people aged 18 to 24 years say they'd prefer an elected head of state instead. 

Williams also asked Jane Wilson, a public relations guru, to analyze Kate and William's anniversary video. "It was like an ad for an insurance company or some country living company," Wilson said.

Dymond was also asked if she thinks the royal family is worried about their place in the future of the country, to which he replied, "I don't know if they're worried. They know they have no God-given right to survive. They know that they are here with the forbearance and with the support of the British people. I don't think they're terrified, but yeah, without a doubt they think about it."

Do you agree that Harry and Meghan gave the star powers to the royal family? Tell us your thoughts, and be sure to ask others what they think as well.