Meghan Markle and Prince Harry recently enjoyed a tour of Nigeria, and experts think their trip will make it difficult for them to reconcile with the royal family after years of tension.
"The fact is that Harry and Meghan are cocking a snook at their relatives back in the U.K. and this will further damage relations with Williamand Kate, and King Charles," Tom Quinn told an outlet.
"When Meghan and Harry were told they could not be part-time working royals it was assumed at Kensington Palace and Clarence House that they would go quietly," the biographer continued. "The Nigeria trip was Meghan and Harry's way of saying, 'We don't need your permission. We will organize our own royal tours.'"
The commentator later claimed that Charles and William aren't able to interfere with the Sussexes' opportunities.
"King Charles and William know there's nothing they can do in the short term, but it will harden attitudes and make it far less likely the wayward couple will ever be forgiven," he noted.
When Meghan and Harry were in the royal fold, the duo was expected to advocate for Queen Elizabeth within the British Commonwealth, and the Duke of Sussex previously shared that his wife's African American heritage should've been recognized as a valuable asset to the institution.
"It's ironic that the late Queen wanted Harry and Meghan to very much be her ambassadors throughout the Commonwealth and spread goodwill among its fifty or so nations, but they didn't want to do it as royals," Phil Dampier told an outlet. "Now they are happy to pick and choose invitations they receive from these countries."
He later suggested the American-based royals are trying "to set up a rival court, their own royal roadshow."
OK! previously reported American royal commentator Kinsey Schofield noticed the difference in how Harry and Meghan navigated attending events in the West African nation.
"I do think that Meghan is the skilled, trained actress, and Prince Harry has a bit of a problem hiding some of his anxiety sometimes," Schofield told GB News. "Meghan being by his side certainly calms him down and helps him out throughout that process."
"I mean, I understand that their objective is to court Nigeria for a future Invictus Games," the American royal commentator noted. "I think that they probably did a great job doing that."
The podcaster noted that Meghan's outfits and style choices became a trending topic online.
"This was great PR for them because if you just Google Meghan Markle today, 90 percent of the headlines are about how glamorous her wardrobe was, how beautiful she was," the journalist explained.
"I lost count of how many times I saw the word 'glam,' and obviously they wanted positive press out of this and they wanted people to start saying some nicer things about them," she noted.
Quinn spoke to The Mirror.
Dampier spoke to the Daily Mail.