Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could take a leaf out of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s book when it comes to the way they handle publicity – and there’s one particular error they keep making
A PR expert has suggested Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could take a leaf out of Prince William and the Princess of Wales’ book when it comes to handling their public image, as the Sussexes keep making an ‘exhausting’ error.
Despite Kensington Palace confirming in January that Kate would be stepping back from royal duties until Easter while she recovers from abdominal surgery, speculation has been rife about where she is. The royals have been plagued by countless conspiracy theories and wild speculation, including baffling claims that the Princess has been cloned.
The Mirror revealed earlier in the week that the mum-of-three’s closest aides have been working around the clock to draw up a ‘PR plan’ for a seamless return to public life. Anf now a PR and crisis management expert has said that Kate has been treading extremely carefully over the last few weeks – and it could be deemed as a ‘masterclass’ for her brother-in-law Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle.
Edward Coram-James, chief executive of Go Up, told The Mirror that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex tend to “exhaust themselves” by doing too much, and get “very little positive press in return”. This is in stark contrast to William and Kate, who manage to get “huge media attention, often with very little effort”.
He explained: “One of the stunning differences between the Wales’ PR strategy versus the Sussexes is that Kate and William have worked out the importance of proper expectation management. By combining good, clear expectation setting that neither over nor underpromises, and then living out and adhering to the timeline that they have clearly laid out with no further fuss or comment, they get huge media attention, often with very little effort.
“Whereas the Sussexes, by not properly setting expectations, instead so often make a lot of noise and then over promise, and arguably not deliver. They exhaust themselves, and, arguably, the readers/viewers, and get very little positive press in return. In this case, Kate tells the world that she’s going off grid for three/four months, and that they won’t hear from her in that time.
“She then goes off-grid and people don’t hear from her. People decide that, actually, they quite want to hear from her and start to panic. The Princess of Wales, as usual, remains above the fray and stays true to her word. Then, by April, in all likelihood she’ll return to the public eye with no great fanfare, and with nothing more than a ‘well that was a whole load of fuss over nothing’ glimmer in her eye.”
Edward added that William is “nailing” his PR strategy, which is in line with the Royal Family’s ‘Never complain. Never explain,” mantra. The Waleses don’t give “credibility to conspiracy theories”, which is “one of the great lessons that should be taken from the PR problems faced by the Sussexes in the past few years,” he added, nodding to, among other scandals, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s bombshell chat with Oprah Winfrey.
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