Meghan’s divisiveness may well work to her advantage

Five years on from Megxit, as the Duchess of Sussex launches a new lifestyle empire, her viewing figures are high but, in the UK at least, popularity levels are low. So, ahead of the release of her new podcast tomorrow, experts ask whether anything she does can win wider appeal?

“The problem is that people are much more interested in the royal gossip than they are in learning how to make a jam.” The Countess of Sandwich gets to the crux of what she sees as the Duchess of Sussex’s rebrand dilemma.

As an American woman who married into the British aristocracy back in 2004, the countess knows firsthand the challenge of slipping between two cultures.

When I first spoke to her about this – long before “Megxit” – she was positive that Meghan would win over the nation. “Having this American optimism and this go-get attitude, that is what you guys kind of like about us, right?” she told me.

Seven years on, the countess remains optimistic about Meghan’s progress. “As an American, I look at her and I think she’s a hustler. She’s taking these opportunities, using them as stepping stones to get to where she wants to go.”

Only not everyone appears to agree. In the UK, Meghan’s popularity rating was just 19% at the start of 2025 according to a YouGov poll, down from 26% a year earlier. (In the US, the view is slightly more favourable, sitting at 43% in January 2025.)

Her recent Netflix lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan, which featured her upcycling supermarket bouquets and scenting flannels with lavender water, wasn’t received entirely warmly either.

Despite it being the tenth most watched Netflix programme globally in its first week, audiences gave it a rating of just 33% on the film and television review website, Rotten Tomatoes (based on more than 2,500 votes).

This was followed by the launch of her new brand As Ever, selling, among other things, £11 ($14) edible flower petals and jars of £21.50 ($28) wildflower honey. These sold out within a day, yet this too was met by criticism in some quarters — with prices being lambasted and some questioning whether Meghan had a clear vision for the brand.

Now, she is set to host a new podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, which launches tomorrow. In an Instagram post, she wrote with some excitement: “I’ve been having candid conversations with amazing women who have turned dreams into realities.” But the question now is how will this be received.

And, as her era of brand builder, lifestyle influencer, and businesswoman steams on, what will it really take for her to broaden her popularity and win over those who are circumspect – or downright negative?

Or could it be that no matter how successful her bottom line or however pioneering her next project, a wider issue is holding back the possibility of broader appeal – and if that really is the case, how to shrug that off?

It has been five years since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex walked out of Westminster Abbey, after the annual Commonwealth Service, and into a life away from royal duty.

As the couple’s grand finale in the UK, it made the optics around the service incredibly tense. Even the question of how the royal party should enter the Abbey became a sticking point.

The printed order of service did not include Prince Harry and Meghan in the official royal arrival. The plan had been for them to take their seats earlier, and for Elizabeth II to lead a small procession of senior royals into the Abbey slightly later. However this decision upset the couple, according to those planning the service.

It was eventually decided, in order to diffuse the situation, that the Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales (back then, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) would not walk behind the Queen either. Instead, like Prince Harry and Meghan, they would take their seats earlier.

Someone who attended the service that day described it to me as “deeply uncomfortable”.

The friction set the mood for the years ahead. And though Meghan has only made two visits to the UK since 9 March 2020, and her life is now firmly rooted in her home state of California, the impact continues, according to some experts.

According to Evan Nierman, a US-based public relations guru: “Whatever she does to distance herself, it comes back to Buckingham Palace and her relationship with the Royal Family.”

Mark Borkowski, founder of the UK-based Borkowski communications agency, also believes that whatever Meghan does next, it will always be filtered through “the royal lens”. “Even when Meghan is launching jam or Harry is speaking about mental health, the coverage returns to the same question: are they thriving or failing in their post-royal life?”

There have been questions around choices the couple have made since leaving the UK, too, particularly around the polarising interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, and through the publication of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare in 2023.

One source who has worked with them described this as “brave and idiotic”.

With that chapter behind them, it was natural that they would focus on new income streams that don’t involve talking about the Royal Family. But as Mr Nierman, founder of Red Banyan Public Relations in the US, puts it: “She’s trying to stand out on her own, but she has this level of notoriety and fame that is inextricably linked to the Royal Family.”

Much of the response to Meghan, positive or negative, “is driven by her marriage to Prince Harry and her ties to the Royal Family”, argues James Crawford, managing director of PR Agency One. “That connection shapes how everything she does is received.”

Early indications are that though her public popularity may not be sky-high, this is not necessarily translating into lack of business success.

Some critics, though, tell another story. Tina Brown, the former Vanity Fair editor, put her own review somewhat harshly, concluding that Meghan has an “unerring instinct for getting it wrong”.

On the Netflix series, which was released on 4 March, she added: “Meghan has come out with a show about fake perfection just when the zeitgeist has turned raucously against it.”

Other criticism has also focused on a perceived lack of relatability, in a show that was designed to revolve around the duchess casually sharing hosting tips with friends.

“High on gloss, low on human connection,” said British Vogue. “Toe-curlingly unlovable TV,” said The Guardian, while The Telegraph, somewhat cruelly, called the series an “exercise in narcissism”.

Royal author Sally Beddell Smith, meanwhile, feels that the approach itself was a misstep. “What mystifies me is why not relaunch The Tig,” she says, referring to the lifestyle website that Meghan once ran.

“It had brand loyalty and was easily identifiable. She did it well. It was snappy, it had a reason to exist. It could have really given her a leg up. Why not reignite it?”

And yet negative responses will not have surprised Prince Harry and Meghan, according to people who work with the couple. They were, I’m told, braced for criticism.

And there were positive responses too, particularly outside the UK. “Some international press praised the show’s warm, feel-good tone and visual polish, seeing it as a natural return to Meghan’s pre-royal lifestyle roots,” points out Mr Crawford.

“Likewise, her brand has been well received in some quarters for its positioning and premium aesthetic.”

With Love, Meghan was far from a disaster in the ratings, with 2.6 million views in its first week. Though this was well behind the launch of a sci-fi drama, Halo: Season One, which had 4.2 million views in the same period, experts point out that such comparisons are perhaps unfair.

“I would never have predicted it to be right at the top of charts,” argues Adam Miller, TV editor of Metro. “A lifestyle show is never going to be at the top against a drama or a thriller… For Netflix, I reckon it’s about as expected.”

What’s more, With Love, Meghan was never going to change opinions of those who are already, for whatever reason, predisposed against her – just as her new podcast series is unlikely to.

Existing Meghan fans will likely enjoy the programme. For those who don’t like Meghan, the series is likely to irritate. And according to some experts, a Marmite effect is no bad thing.

“In today’s polarised media landscape, divisiveness isn’t always a disadvantage,” argues PR guru Mr Crawford.

The wider question is how to respond to it. And Meghan’s recent approach has become more direct. After podcaster Amanda Hirsch posted a picture of the Netflix series trailer with the caption: “You guys I’m scared for Meghan,” the duchess allegedly responded with a handwritten note.

“Dear Amanda, I heard you are feeling scared,” the note reads. “Don’t be. This is the fun part — let’s enjoy it.”

Likewise, she responded with humour to rumours of a potential feud with actress and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow.

In an Instagram video, Ms Paltrow remarked: “I genuinely do not understand this at all, whatsoever.” She then turned her head to ask someone off screen: “Do you understand this?” The actress revealed Meghan sitting beside her, who shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, while eating a piece of pie.

It was a marketing triumph – a sign that, while she’s taking notice, she knows what is really needed. That is, a fresh approach – and that’s what Meghan the businesswoman is all about.

Away from business, life for the couple in California is largely a private one. Their multi-million dollar home in Montecito, around two hours drive up the coast from Los Angeles, is secluded and well-guarded and they have kept their circle of loyal friends tight – among them, tennis star Serena Williams, as well as actress Abigail Spencer.

Meghan has talked about bonding with parents of her children’s friends too, describing nights out, Pilates classes and sharing children’s parties.

When the couple go out for dinner, however, they are mostly left to themselves. Chef Vikram Vij has a restaurant in Vancouver where he says the couple have dined on several occasions. “Everybody knew they were there but they weren’t disturbed,” says Mr Vij.

“They were both aware and so respectful of every person that came in contact with them,” he adds. “They took the time to say hello to us as a kitchen [and] paid the whole bill for themselves and their security, which I thought was very respectful.”

Yet for every positive story comes a negative one – with contradictory claims of less positive experiences from those who have worked with and known the couple.

“The atmosphere around Harry and Meghan is so febrile,” says Vanity Fair contributing editor, Anna Peele, who spent months working on a piece about the couple.

More recently, a row around the running of Sentebale, the charity that Prince Harry co-founded in honour of his late mother, has escalated into a bitter dispute, which will now be investigated by the Charity Commission.

Insiders and those who have worked at Sentebale have been robust in their defence of Prince Harry and Meghan, and critical of accusations.

But though this is largely a story about Prince Harry and his charity work, there is a Meghan element to it too, suggesting she is still not able to disentangle herself and her brand from interest in the Royal Family.

The question of where Meghan and Prince Harry go from here is up for debate. “They keep trying new things,” argues Ms Peele. “Harry and Meghan have the best of intentions but intentions doesn’t always mean impact.”

Mr Niemar, meanwhile, believes that the best way to address this is to shake off the past and keep doing what they are already doing.

“They got what they were after – global fame exposed what they felt they needed to do,” he says. “But you can only ride that train for so long… She’s doing the right thing trying to carve out something new.”

However their next steps require careful consideration. For royal author Sally Bedell Smith, it’s no longer just about where Meghan pivots next, but how Prince Harry fits into that. “Do they scale back and live in a more modest way? Does Harry throw himself into the cause of helping veterans and do things in a quiet way and at a lower key?”

With a pause she adds: “He’s now a spare to his wife.”

And yet many royal watchers are optimistic that, despite some negative reviews of late, their path ahead will be a success. “It’s never too late to turn things around,” says Katie Nicholl, journalist and author of The New Royals.

“But there’s a sense that these two need to listen to their advisers, focus on the next five years and really have a concrete plan… Hollywood is a hard town to crack and they’ve proved that royal titles alone aren’t enough to guarantee success.”

What that success could look like is a bigger question still. Some have mooted a return to acting for Meghan, who previously starred in the legal drama, Suits, though no one I spoke to recently felt this was realistic. (Although a cameo on the reboot of Suits, which will be set in Los Angeles, would cause a stir.)

“She’s not the same person she was on Suits. She’s not the American girl at the Palace,” argues Ms Peele. “She has evolved.” So far, this involves being a business mogul, lifestyle entrepreneur and content creator.

But Katie Nicholl believes that much of their potential now lies away from lifestyle programming and media deals.

“While they need to be commercially successful, I think much of their success depends on their philanthropy, on really developing their Archewell Foundation and using their global spotlight for good.

“That’s where they really have impact and stand out.”

Top picture credit: Getty Images. Additional reporting: Adele Tobe

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