It's hard to believe that it has been two years since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided that they wanted to quit their roles as senior royals and move to America. After giving up their positions, the couple have signed quite a few big-money deals to become financially independent.
One of these has seen Harry become chief impact officer and mental health app start-up BetterUp, writes The Mirror. And in the promotion clip, his accent sounds slightly different to his royal relatives, some of whom have a frosty relationship with the Duke of Sussex.
And according to speech and accent expert Emma Serlin, founder of the London Speech Workshop, the changes in Harry's accent show how he is more "of the people" than royal.
She told the Mirror: "Harry’s accent now sounds much more rounded and middle rather than upper class. In a classic Harry way, he’s doing what we know him to be - he’s the friendly prince, he’s charming, he connects with people. He is his mother’s son.
"He is now ‘of the people’ in a much more overt way. He has always toned the classic royal accent down and softened it, but previously he was much more aligned with the Royal Family.
"Now that Harry hardly ever sees the Royal Family - not only is he no longer aligned with them in the same way, but he also doesn’t spend time with them in the same way. So, he has adapted his accent to connect more with the people he is meeting and seeing every day, and the people around him.
"Ultimately, I’m sure he would heighten his accent if he was around the Royal Family again, but it's really about adapting to build connections."
So could it be that his accent sounds more American - given that his wife Meghan is American and they now live in California? Well, according to Emma, she does not believe this is the case.
She added: "In my opinion, Prince Harry doesn’t sound any more American. He does, however, sound as though he has taken the edge off the received pronunciation that was very much part of his previously somewhat ‘posh’ accent.
"There was one word - ‘critical’ - where he dropped the crisp ‘t’ and replaced it with a glottal stop [when you don’t fully make the ‘t’ sound]. In short, there were only a few instances in this video where he started to sound Americanised. It's much more that he’s softened and taken the edge off the poshness of his accent."
Harry's video comes as he and Meghan plan to travel to New York City next week for a special event in what will be their first public outing since the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The pair are set to attend the UN, where Harry will deliver a speech to mark Nelson Mandela Day, which is taking place on Monday (July 18).
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