Harry and Meghan Markle "risk losing America" if they continue royal attacks after Queen Elizabeth II's death, a top PR guru has today warned.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, shelved her Archetypes podcast for six weeks and cancelled a planned appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in the wake of the tragedy.
She and Harry will attend the monarch's family vigil tonight at Westminster Hall, alongside Prince William and Princess Kate, as it is claimed the four have "a current truce".
But Martin Townsend, former editor of the Sunday Express and senior adviser partner at PR firm Pagefield, said sympathy for the royal family is at all-time high so has stressed Harry and Meghan must avoid any criticism of an institution in mourning.
He told Telegraph : "Charles is the King and therefore automatically commands much more support than he used to. That support has only increased because of the remarkable way he has led a nation in mourning.
"So if Harry and Meghan choose to attack all that now - they are going to look completely out of step. The trouble for the couple, however, is that they only seem to be able to gain publicity for their salvos against the royals. Once that stops - what have they got left?"
Reports suggest Harry's autobiography, ghost-written by Pulitzer Prize winning author J. R. Moehringer, has been canned entirely after the death of his grandmother.
But the book, containing "intimate" memoirs, has already been submitted and approved by lawyers.
The Duke and Duchess' interview with Oprah Winfrey, broadcast around 18 months ago, is believed to have upset Prince William and Princess Kate.
A source close to William and Kate said: “They feel that Oprah crossed a line and that someone should acknowledge the motives behind it and the pain it caused. They feel they’ve had to be steely to send a message that you cannot just say this hugely upsetting stuff without there being consequences.”
Awkward scenes played out in Windsor this week, with the once-close quartet appearing cool and uncertain in each other’s company.
Another insider, though, also told Telegraph: “It’s really hard to spend time with someone, or even to speak openly, when you know they’re writing a book about you and giving interviews. The trust is gone right now.”
The royal brothers will stand at the head and the foot of the catafalque tonight, joining their cousins Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn to pay their respects to their grandmother.
