Prince Harry left the royal family in 2020, and since his controversial exit, he's profited off of sharing intimate details about his relatives, but will his approach to celebrity status change in the new year?
The palace announced Kate Middleton and King Charles would take a break from public engagements after experiencing health challenges, and experts think the news forced the Duke of Sussex to have a change of heart.
"It's likely that Harry is now in the mindset of trying to build bridges," Duncan Larcombe said in an interview.
Days after the palace updated fans about Kate and Charles' well-being, Harry joked about his father's flying skills at the Living Legends of Aviation Awards, but an insider shared that Harry and Meghan Markle contacted their British loved ones to voice their concerns.
"A new year could hopefully provide a time of healing," Larcombe noted.
In 2020, Meghan and Harry signed a deal with Penguin Random House, and critics assumed the Duchess of Sussex would publish a tell-all book, but the timing of it would worsen things between her and her in-laws.
"Another account would be a considerable spanner in the works during a time that he is said to hope to heal the rift with his family," the commentator predicted.
"In particular, the clash between Meghan and Kate is still live and is a thorny issue," he added. "There’s bad blood on both sides, so [a memoir from Meghan] would only fuel it."
Aside from their issues with the Windsors, the Sussexes attended the Bob Marley: One Lovepremiere in Kingston, Jamaica. OK! previously reported royalists saw the outing as inappropriate due to the Princess of Wales and His Majesty's recent health scares.
"There has not been evidence of people reaching out to them," Richard Fitzwilliams said on GB News. "They have made money by trashing the royal family."
"But you can do that for so long and you can only have public support in doing that for so long," the expert added.
The royal rebels' docuseries Harry & Meghan broke records for Netflix, but their creative endeavors such as Live to Lead and Heart of Invictus failed to have comparable traffic.
"The only thing they are doing as far as I can see with Invictus, Prince Harry already had that," he explained. "So they have not done anything, they lost Spotify. Will they lose Netflix? The contract runs out in 2025."
"It is rather bewildering their silence," he added.
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Despite Fitzwilliams' thoughts, public relations professional Ryan McCormick believes the duo's time in the Caribbean would only help the Sussexes' reputation.
"If they attended the premiere just to have facetime with [President of Nickelodeon] Brian Robbins, I would consider that a smart move. It's good for their image to be seen in the company of other high-profile and successful people," he said in an interview.
"As CEO of Paramount, Robbins is powerful and this photo op signals that the Duke & Duchess are still on the A-list. I would advise Harry and Meghan to do this more often," the professional continued.
Larcombe spoke to OK! U.K.
