Harry and Meghan’s ‘moaning and whinging’ impacting public perceptions

Joining us now is writer and broadcaster Esther Kraku. Esther, to think we started this year talking about spare, that seemed like a lifetime ago, but the year didn't really improve too much for the Sussexes, finding themselves amongst the biggest losers for 2023. Yes, so that is according to the Hollywood Reporter, which is basically the Hollywood Bible of the who's who in Tinseltown. And for them to find themselves basically as the biggest losers in Hollywood really does say something about how the attitude towards them, particularly amongst the powers that be that really emboldened them when they made their massive exit from the royal family. It just shows how they've declined in popularity. It's really quite a fall from grace, if you will. For them to be classed as the biggest losers means that actually a lot of the people that you would think would hover around them and try and steal a bit of the limelight that the Sussexes should naturally have given their proximity in the royal family. Prince Harry is a prince, for goodness sake. They're just not seeing really any value there. This is a couple that went from having deals with Netflix and Spotify, these multi-million pound deals. They were having interviews with Oprah. You couldn't run away from them in the headlines. They were literally everywhere. Everyone was thinking, what are they going to do next? Are they going to bring down the royal family? What trailblazing venture are they going to embark on next? And that's really all just shattered under their own feet because they really just didn't understand a lot of the fundamental key characteristics that's made the royal family effectively last this long. You know, the never explain, never complain, the humility, the commitment to service and duty. We never really saw that with the Sussexes and it really just made their star wane. And for that reason, many in Hollywood don't really see the point of attaching themselves to the Sussexes. I mean, they've had so many fails this year. It really beggars belief. It's very hard to even contemplate where to begin. 2023 hasn't been a good year for the Sussexes. And I imagine the decline is only going to continue. And again, like I was saying, with their relationship with the royal family, their reputation as well has calcified. Most people in one way or another have an opinion about the Sussexes, whether it's just not caring about them or not really seeing much point to them. Even if you're mega fans, you cannot argue that 2023 has been a good year for the pair. And continuing with that decline, it appears their charity Archwell doesn't appear to be doing much work or too well on the donation front either. Yeah, so in the span of a year, the Archwell Foundation has seen a drop in almost 9 million pounds in their donations. This is down from, they received about 10.4 million last year. This year, they've received only about 1.2, I believe. So it's quite a steep decline in their donations. And this is another thing that's attached to their brand. As brand Sussex effectively tumbles down and is effectively free falling. So does anything attached to them, including the Archwell Foundation. Now, it's very strange because you would think that this couple that have effectively said that the great crusaders and they're going to do good on their own terms and not be attached to the royal family. They're actually learning the hard way that the public perception of them does affect their ability to be able to have the kind of impact that they want to have. And unfortunately, that's a very tough lesson to learn now. They don't have any of the expertise or the resources or the experience that the royal family has or really anyone that's run a charity organisation or does charitable work. So they're really kind of finding their feet and learning as they go along. But a big part of that is reputation management. And when you spend the last few years moaning and whinging about your negative experience in the royal family and how awful your family are to you and the British press and all of these things, that does impact the public's perception of you. Now, last week on the show, we covered the Regents and the Wowsers Christmas cards. This week, the Sussexes have released their Christmas cards and it doesn't feature their kids. Is that odd, Esther? Well, I suspect it has something to do with their worldwide privacy tool. I'm not sure. You know, the kids who they've given the titles Prince and Princess, they've made a point of keeping them out of the spotlight, even though they themselves, the Sussexes, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex haven't made much effort to stay out of the spotlight themselves. I actually find it strange that they have Christmas cards to begin with. Now, we know family Christmas cards are nothing rare. The Blairs, Tony and Cherie Blair have Christmas cards. You have politicians that have Christmas cards. Obviously, the royal family have Christmas cards, but you really have to wonder what their Christmas cards is in relation to, because they're not exactly, they're not working members of the royal family. They're not a company. They're just a couple. I don't know if this is an attempt to kind of highlight that, yes, Brown Sussex still exists. I find it a bit strange. I wonder who's going to be recipients of, who are going to be the recipients of these Christmas cards. I certainly don't think any of their Christmas cards are going to make their way to Sandringham this year, to William and Kate in particular. But I just think it's, they have quite a discombobulated strategy going on here. On the one hand, they want their privacy and they want to do things on their own terms. On the other hand, they're handing out Christmas cards and they're fronting this effectively failed charity as if it's something that is making a significant impact. I mean, figures released last year of the amount of charity work that they've done within this charity amounts to about 50 hours for the whole year. That's about one hour a week. So it's not exactly a full-time job. We don't really know what their strategy is moving forward, even though the whole doing good rubric that they're functioning under, there has to be some sort of organisation and strategy and focus and direction. And we're really not seeing that. I think 2023 has been a very listless year for the Sussexes. I think they're trying to find their feet after months and months, actually years of exposés and titillating stories that have really not come to any significant good or any meaningful action on their part. Now, in contrast, the Royal Family has released a video of Princess Kate sorting through donations at a charity with George Charlotte and of course, Prince Louis, whose characteristically cheeky antics were on full display. Here he is. And so you're the volunteers for this evening. Right, you ready? What we'd like you to do is try and choose some presents for some children who are similar age to you guys. So if you think about what you would like to play with. Yeah. All these bags are donations. And then we have to then go and sort them and put them in all the boxes. Esther, fans have loved seeing this very authentic insight into particularly the youngest Royals. What note should Harry and Meghan be taking away from this, the way that Kate, Will and the family handles the media? Well, the thing is, the Royal Family are experts in anything to do with PR and managing their reputation. And that's not to say that it's disingenuous. It's just to say that they understand, you know, the privilege that they have being in the position that they have representing the United Kingdom and living the kind of lifestyles that they have. And it's about giving back and it's about not complaining and not making it seem like you're so disadvantaged that all you have to do is complain about your life. Princess Catherine was at a baby bank in Maidenhead and she and her children were packing presents for families with young children. These are the kinds of things that actually make people understand that they're aware of the things that go on around them. They're actually not completely tone deaf. They have a sense of self-awareness. Now, you haven't really seen that with the Sussexes. It's mostly been about their grievances within the Royal Family, with the media, how effectively their reputation hasn't been curated in the exact same way. And unfortunately, that has really backfired. I mean, I was making the point that for someone like Prince Harry to be able to get away with being a lovable public figure because of the work that the Royal Family did in curating his reputation after, you know, wearing a Nazi costume, for instance, and making racial slurs towards certain members of staff, for him to be able to be seen by the British public as a human being who's made mistakes, who's a lovable character, who's someone in tune with reality, to now this kind of moaning, really miserable, middle-aged man who doesn't seem to understand that he's a literal prince and couldn't have more privilege if he tried. It just goes to show that, actually, that you have to have a certain level of self-awareness. And that's something that the Royal Family has really mastered, even in times of crisis, even in times of, you know, when the Royal Family had a lot of internal conflict, like now, but for instance, back in the 1990s with the dissolution of the marriage between Diana and King Charles, you know, there was still a sense of, actually, we realize that we're in a very privileged position and we tread carefully about how we come across. And I don't think the Sussexes ever learned that. I mean, one of the points that I made is the Sussexes never really displayed a sense of duty. It only took a couple of years for them to storm out of the Royal Family, like petulant children, you know, release an interview with Oprah where they were just complaining, you know, release a book like Spare where they were just complaining, release a Netflix documentary, again, where they were just complaining. And it just goes to show that, actually, they didn't have a lot of grit, which may demonstrate that their hearts weren't in it or they had different motives which don't align with what the Royal Family is about. And we're seeing that as their star continues to fall, you can actually see the flaws in the couple's character and what they actually thought they were going to do as members of the Royal Family. Now, on to Princess Kate. And despite the barrage of allegations which seem to have been aimed at her this year, including those racism claims made in Endgame, she seems to be just getting more and more popular. Do you think it's because she just gets on with it and keeps her head down? I think so. And I think that there's an element of understanding that most things will blow over. Most outrage mobs don't have the stamina to keep being outraged for months or even years at a time. At the end of the day, it's very difficult to be in the public eye and not have moments where you have negative media press or there'll be people that will make unsubstantiated claims against you, especially as a working member of the Royal Family, where you effectively forfeit your right of reply. You know, you can't complain to the media, you can't effectively make your case because most people don't want to hear it. And that's something that, you know, Princess Catherine understands. This is a woman that was involved with Kate, with William from a very young age. You know, she received a lot of negative media attention. She was called weighty Katie, and, you know, the press followed her every move. We've really seen her evolve from a young woman in university to now being the future queen. And in all of that, she's never given an inclination that she's not grateful or that she hates what she's doing or she's a victim in any way. She really just gets on with it. And I think that's a mantra that many members of the Royal Family have adopted that's been very successful. And the Sussexes are a prime example of how things can go south once you deviate from that. Once you make it known that actually you feel like a victim and everyone must treat you as such, you're not going to get very far. Unfortunately, that's the name of the game. You do forfeit certain things when you are in a position of prominence. And unfortunately, your right to complain is one of them.