Exclusive
‘GET A SENSE CHECK'
Harry & Meghan need to be authentic & not make the same mistakes again & again – it’s lunacy, claims expert
Watch our video above for PR expert Mark Borkowski's chat on our Royal Exclusive show
MEGHAN Markle and Prince Harry have been criticised by a PR expert for repeatedly making the same mistakes.
Mark Borkowski appeared on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show and hailed their pattern of ‘errors’ as “lunacy”.
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The PR commentator claimed the Sussexes don’t have a staff member to guide them objectively in their new role in California - and they should employ one immediately.
Mark advised: “If you haven’t got a team, haven’t got a central person who’s sense-checking you, you’re just gonna make the same mistakes all over again.
“It’s a definition of, sort of, lunacy, really.
“So, I think the first thing is a robust team and actually turning to that team and recognising, ’We’ve made mistakes.’
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“They’ve got to find themselves a critical friend who is actually going to make some tough decisions on their behalf.”
The PR expert advised: “They’ve got to step out of that deep ghetto they’re in and recognize that everything they’ve done to date is going to be torn up, and they can start again.”
He stressed that “you can rebuild yourself with authenticity”, particularly as the general public tend to have “short-term memory loss and long-term amnesia.”
Mark added the couple should “focus on the things that really matter”, and used the Harry’s Invictus Games for injured servicemen as an example.
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He continued: “You know, the Invictus Games is a fantastic and real thing that Harry has put effort into.
“I mean, create some sort of distance between the two, and then start gradually to look at the various circles of people, influencers, close to the royal family.
Harry & Meghan's Oprah interview was a disaster for key reason - they didn't learn from Diana & Andrew, says expert
“You can do it, and somehow, he’s got to make peace with his brother.”
AUTHENTICITY IS KEY
The PR commentator claimed that it is key for the couple to be authentic, and said: “What I've discovered over the year is that authenticity is absolutely the most important thing.
“What you are is—you can't sort of re-engineer something if the soul of you is actually opposed to how you project yourself in public.
“You've got an ultra-defensive stance: it’s them against the world, against one of the most powerful families in the world, with all the attributes they have to hurt them.”
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SUSSEX SLAMS
This follows Prince Harry criticising his family in his bombshell Oprah Winfrey chat in 2021, where he opened up about feeling trapped within the institution.
He also claimed he and Meghan weren’t given the support they needed within the royal family.
The Duke of Sussex also ruffled feathers releasing his tell-all memoir Spare and doing his Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, which also revealed information about his family.
A timeline of Prince Harry's family feud
IN 2018, the Sun told how "simmering tension
The first hints of friction reportedly came after William was introduced to Meghan when she was staying at Kensington Palace.
Once she'd returned home to Canada, William and Harry sat down for a brother-to-brother chat.
He knew Harry was already head-over-heels for her but it has been claimed he advised him to take it slowly.
The younger prince reportedly didn't take too kindly to the advice, with one royal source saying he "went mental".
Then in June 2019 Harry and Meghan officially split off from the charity they shared with William and Kate.
The Royal Foundation will be divided between the Sussexes and Cambridges as the couples focus on their own separate charitable endeavours.
Prince William and Prince Harry first established the Royal Foundation in 2009 before Kate joined two years later shortly after their engagement was announced.
The trio would often appear together at events and the Foundation had huge successes with projects like the Invictus Games for injured veterans and the mental health Heads Together campaign.
The Royal Foundation said the decision was made following the conclusion of a review into its structure - but added both couples will continue to work together in the future.
Harry and Meg were living in close proximity to Kate and Wills within the Kensington Palace estate, but they switched to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor before baby Archie was born.
The move further increased rumours of a fallout.
Harry also hinted in his ITV documentary "Harry and Meghan, An African Journey" that he and his brother had grown apart.
In 2021, Harry and Meghan give their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey where Harry accused his dad of cutting him off financially.
Harry then jetted back to UK to join William in unveiling a statue to their mother Princess Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But sources claimed William didn’t want to attend the memorial amid their ongoing rift.
In 2022, just before their grandmother the Queen died, sources claimed Kate acts as a "peacemaker" between the brothers.
Harry claimed his brother "knocked him to the floor" during an argument about Meghan, in his memoir.
In Spare, Harry said William branded Meghan "rude" and "difficult" during a row.
Harry alleged William "grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor".
He said he was left with a visible injury to his back following the argument in 2019 at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he was living at the time.
In January this year, Harry flew in to be with Charles after the monarch's shock cancer diagnosis.
Harry flew back to the US the following day - without seeing Wills.
In May he visited the UK for a three-day visit without seeing King Charles or Prince William.
PALACE POLLING
Harry’s family attacks since stepping down as a senior royal in 2020 could have affected how the public see him.
In two new YouGov polls commissioned by on either side of the Atlantic, it was discovered that just 26 per cent of the British public have a positive view of Prince Harry, compared to 62 per cent having a negative view.
However, the study found Prince Harry is far more popular Stateside than in the UK.
Over in the States, 49 per cent of US citizens had a positive view of Harry, 24 per cent reported a negative view.
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Prince William was the most popular royal on both sides of the pond, with a 75 per cent positive rate in the UK and 54 per cent in the US.
Meanwhile, Princess Kate had a 74 per cent positive view in the UK, compared to 43 per cent in the US.
Buy tickets for The Sun's Royal Exclusive Live special
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Tickets are £5 and include a free drink.
Guests can get the lowdown on the Royal Family including all-things Harry, Meghan, William and Kate.
Our expert panel will be The Sun's Royal Editor Matt Wilkinson, The Sun's Royal Photographer Arthur Edwards and ex-BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond.
The trio will share some of their favourite stories about the Firm, lifting the lid on what it's like to work with them, and some of their biggest scoops to date.
Guests will also get the opportunity to ask questions about what really goes on behind the doors of the palace.
So come prepped to quiz the panel in front of a live audience at our London Bridge offices on October 4, from 7pm until 9pm.
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