Brand Harry and Meghan ‘faces failure’
Ex-courtier’s stark warning to royals
THE Harry and Meghan “brand” will fail unless the former royal lives a life of sacrifice and service, Diana’s former chief of staff, Patrick Jephson, has warned.
Jephson, now a leading brand and reputation management expert, also revealed that he urged Diana, Princess of Wales, not to go ahead with the controversial Panorama interview.
He said: “Harry and Meghan have an evolving brand issue.
“One could argue that, at its best, membership of the Royal Family gives you access to the most extraordinary and powerful brand in the world.
“To voluntarily divest yourselves of all those advantages in pursuit of something else is very daring – and we don’t even know what that something else is.
“But if it departs very much from that great tradition of personal sacrifice and public service that defines the monarchy brand then I don’t believe it will succeed.”
Prince Harry vowed to “lead a life of service” barely 24 hours after Buckingham Palace announced last January that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were to give up their HRH titles and no longer formally represent 94-year-old monarch.
Many of the couple’s projects since moving to California have involved charitable enterprises, such as establishing the Archewell Foundation to drive “cultural change across all communities”.
But Harry and Meghan are also
the
reported to have made more than £200million since they left the UK by what critics say amounts to trading on their royal links.
This includes a £122million deal with Netflix to produce documentaries, feature films and programmes for children, plus a £30million podcast deal with Spotify.
Mr Jephson was talking during a virtual conference on promoting and protecting personal
brands, which was organised by a Us-based public affairs agency.
The former Royal Navy Lt Commander, who served as Diana’s personal assistant from 1988 until 1996 – a year before her death – also revealed that he warned her against the nowinfamous Panorama interview with reporter Martin Bashir.
The BBC is investigating claims that fake documents were used to persuade Earl Spencer to introduce Bashir to his sister.
“I was very much opposed to Diana giving that interview,” Mr Jephson said.
“It backfired and partly as a result.”
I resigned