Duke and Duchess of Sussex hit by brutal TikTok figures as William and Kate come out on top

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been dealt a fresh new blow, with cutting new data proving their estranged in-laws have trounced them.

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There was a time when two princes would have duked it out (cheap pun alert) on some muddy battlefield surrounded by their barons or over a game of dice in some smoke-fugged back room in a London gambling den or had a wobbly go at each other with fireplace pokers after a third postprandial brandy.

Like Wall Street, war and pretty much every industry on earth, the monarchy is now a business that is largely conducted online. And as antithetical as it might seem, the royal family has a proud tradition of embracing the newest of newfangled technology to push, push, push the case for the crown. (The institution has survived for a thousand years for a reason).

And on this new battlefield, a clear and very surprising winner has now emerged.

New data has revealed a most surprising fact, a put-down-your-cup-of-tea-and-squint-to-check-you-read-that-right bit of news: Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are “bombing” on TikTok.

Newsweek has partnered with social media management platform Hootsuite to take a deep dive into how both the Sussexes and William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales are doing on TikTok – and the results are such that a Windsor-based HRH should be reaching for a self-congratulatory oatcake about now.

The Princess of Wales has once again come out on top. Picture: Adrian Dennis/AFP

Despite neither the Sussexes or the Waleses actually being officially on the platform (which may or may not have something to do with the Chinese Communist Party’s sticky fingerprints all over the app), posts about the foursome have collectively garnered 45 billion views.

The data shows that while overall, the volume of chatter about Harry and Meghan is greater than that of the bland Waleses, “the conversation tends quite negative” when it comes to the recusant royals.

It’s quite the turn up for the books given that the causes and issues that Harry and Meghan champion are those that one would assume would play well with the youngster vote, like racial and gender equality, mental health and the perils of the social media cesspit.

(My words not theirs, but I think we can all agree that it really, really is, n’est pas?)

Essentially, what the Newsweek and Hootsuite research shows is that the Waleses have somehow attracted an ardent and engaged TikTok community who get themselves into a bit of an excitable lather whenever the prince or princess steps out in public.

But when it comes to the Sussexes, “anti-fan communities [are using] the platform to mock and criticise the couple”. Or, to think about it another way, people on TikTok seem to be looking to find fault with the duke and duchess.

Hootsuite looked at data for a 30-day period, finding that Kate’s number one video was liked 620,000 times, with her second one coming in at 418,000 likes. For William, those numbers were almost 200,000 likes and 171,000 for a runner-up.

Then we get to the Montecito malcontents, with Harry registering 300,000 and 219,000 likes and Meghan 325,000 and 182,000 likes.

Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan are struggling. Picture: James Whatling/MEGA

What is also interesting is that the most popular videos of the Waleses are from recent events like Wimbledon, their family outing to the Royal International Air Tattoo last month and when William recently tried his hand at slinging burgers and some transparent self-promotion.

Conversely, according to Hootsuite’s Eileen Kwok who spoke to Newsweek, Harry’s top videos “show clips of him and Queen Elizabeth, speculations of divorce with Meghan/various conspiracy theories about their relationship, and clips of him and Princess Diana”.

Meghan’s most popular two were from her gimmicky, dignity-free appearance on Ellen in late 2021.

Anyone else got a bad case of deja vu? Or maybe more accurately in the case of the duke and duchess, deja boo.

It was only days ago that William was being crowned the most popular public figure in the United States, out of a select list of 15 leaders who occupied positions of power or authority. Not only did the 41-year-old take out the top spot, but notably, support for both he and father King Charles (in the number four spot) was bipartisan, reflecting the buoyancy and resilience of Crown Inc in the United States.

(The absence of Harry and Meghan on the Gallup list, given their only remaining official positions are as World’s Best Mom and Dad according to their son Prince Archie’s preschool crafting, is very, very telling).

Where things stand now is that the tide is clearly turning against the Sussexes, who threw off the yoke of royal life so that they could supposedly earn squillions while simultaneously making themselves into the greatest thing to happen to humanitarianism since the polio vaccine.

Except that has not come to pass, with the current scorecard putting them on a so-so public standing in America, at best. The most recent YouGov US polling, from July, has Harry on a net favourability of 24 points with William only two points behind him. Meghan is currently sitting at seven per cent net favourability and Kate is the clear winner on 35 points net.

King Charles once said ‘Polls mean nothing to me. You see, I’m in it for the long term’. Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Fundamentally, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are increasingly looking like dangerously obsolescent goods. The shock and awe of a King’s son rejecting the Palace paradigm has long since sputtered out, the novelty of Megxit having long soured into something just sad in every sense. The cultural resonance of that moment in time, when they went so excitingly and historically rogue, has long since dried up.

Years after setting up shop in California, the couple has failed to establish their legitimacy as thought leaders or activists in any substantive sense.

The Sussexes are now stuck in this indistinct grey area when it comes to their public identity.

Because, what are Harry and Meghan really? They are royal but also not really. They are supposedly content creators, but so far have only managed to make one TV series all about themselves. They launched a charity to much fanfare and yet in their first two years of operation, have only given out about $4.6 million. (Which works out at about just over 5.5 per cent of the $78 million they have reportedly been so far paid by Netflix).

The other side of the coin here is how surprisingly well the monarchy has held up in the US even after the regular TV raiding parties of Harry and Meghan. In the same time period, while the Sussexes were doing their now signature prime time railing, William and Kate have plodded on with dogged dedication, doing their good works and letting the public get their fill looking at their three cutesy kids.

What would be interesting to know is to what degree this surprisingly muscular American and TikTok support for the Waleses reflects the enduring thrall and wonder of royalty, or whether it is more about the values the couple themselves embody.

‘While the Sussexes were doing their now signature prime time railing, William and Kate have plodded on with dogged dedication’. Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Fascinatingly, this fanbase in the States is young. According to Newsweek and Hootsuite, when it comes to the Sussexes and the Waleses, “more than half the audience were 18 to 24-year-olds … and this figure was highest for William at 66 per cent”.

Who knew the kids were so into balding dad-types who look like they are way too into Strava?

And who would have thought that the House of Windsor would be flying high on both sides of the Atlantic after the Sussexes’ attempts at establishing something of a separatist movement?

If Harry and Meghan are looking for a comforting bit of wisdom here, then they should just remind themselves of what King Charles once told long-established royal biographer Robert Jobson: “Polls mean nothing to me. You see, I’m in it for the long term”.

Given the Sussexes have not so much burned their bridges but assumed a Napoleon-worthy scorched earth policy of their own, they are now in this – and in the US – for the long term.

Like it or not.

Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.