They were once the ultimate united front, but Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are officially leading separate lives… at least when it comes to their careers.
Following a string of solo appearances by Harry, including spotting him cheering alone at the basketball and rolling up his sleeves to serve food at a charity kitchen, insiders whisper that the couple have reached a breaking point.
“Harry and Meghan have no choice but to split brands and hope that one of them lands,” an insider reveals to Woman’s Day. “In so many ways, they’re like chalk and cheese when they’re branding together. She’s trying to pass off an aspirational picture-perfect lifestyle, while he just looks grumpy all the time.”
After years of trying to conquer Hollywood as a duo, the cracks in their joint image are impossible to ignore. Now, the Duke and Duchess are looking less like a power couple and more like a mismatch, as Meghan tries to desperately keep her lifestyle brand As Ever alive.
Inside Harry and Meghan’s ‘conflicting’ mismatch
Royal expert Alison Boshoff reported on a potential crisis in an article for Daily Mail on June 12, saying Meghan’s lifestyle brand As Ever could face losses of more than $7 million as the expiry dates on her products such as jams, teas and flower sprinkles, inches closer.
Sources told Woman’s Day that there were whispers in Hollywood As Ever could be “bankrupt by the end of the year” if it doesn’t manage to sell its stock.
“Meghan just can’t move enough product and she can’t expect to sell things at full price with shortened expiration dates,” an insider previously shared. “Unless she and Harry have some miracle up their sleeve, there might be no saving this business.”
Now it appears Harry wants to distance himself from his wife’s lifestyle entrepreneurship plans and focus back in on what he does best.
“Meghan’s tired of the conflicting image they’re projecting and he’s tired of playing this game. He wants to get back to doing what he does best – rolling up his sleeves and helping less fortunates,” our insider says.
“He’s desperate to get back to Africa too, but none of that fits in with Meghan’s plans. Harry and Meghan have no choice but to build up their own separate profiles. Their images are just not compatible – she wants to be the ultimate influencer, while he wants to build wells in foreign lands.”
The insider went on to say that while Harry’s had a tough time with his philanthropic work, Meghan’s feeling tense when she’s out with him, worried he’ll ruin their image.
“It goes without saying that Harry’s having a tough run with his philanthropic work,” the insider elaborates. “Being sued by the very charity he set up in his mother’s memory [Sentebale] is humiliating, but even Invictus is having problems. They haven’t had a marketing team for over a year, so the enthusiasm is waning and with Birmingham city council absolutely broke, the support is not there like it’s been in the past.
“Everyone’s wondering if Meghan’s finally accepted that her husband just doesn’t have the acting skills she has. It’s so obvious they’re both sick of pretending and you can tell she’s tense when out with him, afraid he’ll do something to embarrass them.”
