Prince Harry and Meghan’s UK Move Is ‘Kiss of Death’ for TV Careers - Newsweek

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's decision to return to the United Kingdom spells the end of their chances of making it in Hollywood, a PR expert told Newsweek.

Eric Schiffer, the chair of Reputation Management Consultants, told Newsweek: "This is the kiss of death to stardom in America for both of them. They got beaten like a rented mule during this process."

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex returned to Britain at the end of August but have not sold their home in Montecito, California, and some reports suggested the move might be temporary.

Harry and Meghan still have several Netflix TV projects in the pipeline, including adaptations of Carley Fortune's romance novel Meet Me at the Lake and British military officer Major Adam Jowett's Afghanistan War memoir, No Way Out.

It remains unclear whether the couple wants to keep pursuing new film and TV projects in America and whether they still need to earn more money to sustain their lifestyle. However, if they plan to keep chasing a hit TV show, the move may affect how Hollywood sees them.

Harry and Meghan began their U.S. lives on a high, signing multi-year Netflix and Spotify deals in their first nine months and launching their Archewell Foundation, now rebranded as Archewell Philanthropies.

However, more recent years have been tougher for them. In 2023, Harry's memoir Spare was met with ridicule, including in relation to passages describing his experience of getting frostbite on his penis.

Their Spotify deal collapsed that June after just one podcast, Meghan's Archetypes series; Spotify executive Bill Simmons called the couple "f****** grifters" on his own show.

Meanwhile, Meghan's lifestyle TV show, With Love, Meghan, got searing reviews, while its second season and festive special failed to make the top 1,000 shows on Netflix for the six-month period in which they were released.

The couple was already under pressure to prove the success of their U.S. endeavors when they relocated to the U.K.

"This was cemented with their retreat back to Britain," Schiffer said. "They became in part the enemy of the people through self-inflicted wounds. There was devastating incompetence in navigating their own march to stardom in the U.S., and the death rattle really began with Harry's book.

"That was the inflection point. The consistent whineyness and this lack of accountability for their own actions. Where they were doing a great job is when they were advocates for causes that young people care about. But it kept veering back to their victimization and their avarice to cash in big, to the point where it was clear what their real goals were.

"Now they've returned to Britain and shame, as outcasts and pariahs to the citizens of Great Britain."

The couple has not said that the move is permanent and hasn't yet sold their house in Santa Barbara despite the cost of maintaining it while it lies empty.

One possible avenue for them in the U.K. is Meghan returning to acting. It was rumored in August that she had been considered for a part in the Netflix series The Gentleman, but the offer was pulled; Page Six reported on September 9 that she had only had a "casual conversation" with the casting director.

If acting doesn't work out, Schiffer suggested their path back to success in America will be even harder.

"She may try to go back to acting, but the chance of stardom in the United States is dead," he said. "There may be a B-list acting career, but there's going to be tremendous friction, and largely because most people don't care."

"Their strength was in giving back, and I think they were the happiest when they did that. Maybe they'll find their way back to that because that's where they can really do good and find deeper meaning," he said.

He suggested the couple should try to "connect with things that are really meaningful for them."

Harry is scheduled to undertake a series of charity-focused engagements during September as he resumes public appearances following his family's return to the U.K., his office confirmed.

The program includes attendance at the inaugural Invictus Spirit Awards, which will celebrate individuals and organizations who embody the values of resilience, service and recovery at the heart of the Invictus movement.

He will also take part in the launch of INSPIRE, an education initiative developed around the stories of Invictus competitors and designed to provide curriculum-linked resources for schools. At the event, Harry is expected to play pickleball with pupils.

The duke will also return to one of his longest-standing charitable commitments, the WellChild Awards in London. Harry has served as patron of WellChild, which supports seriously ill children and their families, since 2007 and is expected to meet award recipients and their families before delivering remarks during the ceremony.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and Sam Wilson.