British public may not be big fans of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle given their recent car chase claims which was followed by Harry’s lawsuits.
According to Edward Coram James, chief executive of PR agency Go Up, who spoke to Newsweek, The Duke of Sussex’s ongoing legal cases may backfire against in his home country given his unpopular status.
He explained that the Harry’s phone hacking case may garner ‘sympathy for the press’ because he is “deeply, deeply unpopular in the U.K.”
The royal is disliked by 63 percent of Brits and liked by 29 percent, giving him a net approval rating of minus 34, according to data collected by YouGov in April. disliked by 63 percent of Brits and liked by 29 percent, giving him a net approval rating of minus 34, according to data collected by YouGov in April.
“If there is a massive nuclear backlash against the U.K. press from the British public then that will have an effect and U.K. politicians will feel like they have to get involved,” he said.
“The problem is Harry and Meghan, or specifically Harry, is not the person to achieve change in the media landscape. The reason for that is quite simple, he is deeply, deeply unpopular in the U.K.”
He added that by “attacking the press” now there’s just so many people “who want to see Harry and Meghan lose these days.”
He continued, “He is taking a really important message and a really important cause, which is to prevent these tremendous invasions of privacy and try to define a better balance between what is the public’s right to know and what is an individual’s right to have a private life, and he’s potentially causing that message real damage.”
James went on to explain that in order to change the way he is viewed, he had to “carry the British public” with him and “he’s lost them.”
“If anything, his actions are more likely to curry a bit of sympathy with the U.K. press. This isn’t necessarily right, it’s an unfortunate reality and it’s morally pretty wrong but the reality is there’s a significant amount of people in the U.K. who will see Harry doing something and take the other side.”