‘Whiff of the dud’: New Sussex move proves ‘desperate’ couple now out of ideas

The Sussexes made a return to the spotlight this week with a new video, but their latest play might not be enough to save their sinking ship.

COMMENT

Mark Twain once wrote that “all ideas are second hand”, a concept that Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been busy proving this week.

On Thursday, the duo put out a video showing them calling the 26 recipients of the inaugural funding round from the Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund, of which their Archewell Foundation is a founding member.

It would be noteworthy given this video marks a high-gloss return to the spotlight for the beleaguered couple, who have just slogged their way through several very messy months that have reportedly seen them lose out on millions.

But this is not the first video we’ve had this week featuring a British prince handing out attractive things to surprised and delighted strangers.

So too has Prince William been at it, having on Monday also put out a new video of his own, showing him trying his hand at making burgers cooked up using ingredients, products and packaging supported by his $97 million (£50 million) Earthshot prize.

To return to old mate Mark’s line, there really are no new ideas – or camera angles.

Finally, the long-mooted Sussex relaunch seems to be here, with this video looking like the starting gun firing on weeks of globe-hopping events that will see the duke, and possibly the duchess, appear at a summit in Tokyo, a charity event in Singapore and at the Invictus Games in Germany.

This is not the first video we’ve had this week featuring a British prince handing out attractive things to surprised and delighted strangers. Picture: Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund/Vimeo

However, if you look closely – go on, squint a bit – you will notice something quite peculiar about this upcoming roster of events. It all looks decidedly … royal.

Some sitting around a table earnestly talking about making the world a better place? Check.

A charity outing? Of course.

Presiding over an official event involving dignitaries, a lord mayor and maybe a brass band? Naturellement.

The last three years have seen Harry and Meghan have a tilt a podcasting, doco-making, “executive producing” a series that was already at least part made, a biography, a children’s book, a job with a title that sounds like satire (Chief Impact Officer) and hitching their wagon to a Wall Street firm, a relationship the world has heard nothing about since – projects which have ranged from the record-bustingly successful to disappearing without a trace.

To put it politely, it has all been hit and miss, with far more of the later than the former.

The bigger issue is that the duke and duchess’ brand has taken a resounding battering, with “Sussex” now predominantly associated with family drama juicy enough to sustain an entire season of Jerry Springer.

The only front on which they have established themselves as irrefutable world leaders is not climate change or the fight for gender equality but as the public face of the biggest dynastic implosion since the Yorks and the Lancastrians had at it in the War of the Roses.

After interviews, deals, podcasts, hours of painful TV, hundreds of pages and a few magazine cover stories, the Sussexes are far from anything resembling a straight-up success story. (More like a so-so story).

The whiff of the dud has now firmly attached itself to the Sussexes, like a sort of entertainment industry BO which they very badly need to get rid of, and sharp-like.

Clearly what they need is some sort of bang-up success, a nice healthy stretch of glowing coverage where Harry looks happy for a change, Meghan, if she goes too, can demonstrate her sublime fashion sense and ability to spend five figures on a lewk, and they can do some of their trademark beaming at one another like two Dolphin torches with fresh batteries.

Thus, down from the shelf would seem to have come that royal playbook they borrowed from Prince Andrew’s abandoned Buckingham Palace office on their way out the door; that list of go-to manoeuvres and outings guaranteed to get one a healthy chunk of enthusiastic press and a whole lot of photo opportunities.

Harry and Meghan very badly need a few runs on the board. Picture: Danny Lawson/Pool/AFP

The motto here is looking a lot like: WWAHRHD? What would an HRH do?

The next few weeks will present Harry, and perhaps the couple, with the chance to revert to the safety of well-trodden, established territory; where no one is going to expect them to come up with ideas, pitch TV shows off the cuff or do so much darn thinking.

Rather, all they will need to do is shake, grin, pose for a selfie, laugh, lather and repeat.

I think we can all agree, Harry and Meghan very badly need a few runs on the board, a few clear-cut wins after the last little while that has seen their brand go off a bit of a cliff.

In fact, things had been getting perilously close to “desperate” territory, with us now coming up on the three-month mark of a succession of knocks and disasters.

Their paying gigs, with Spotify and Netflix, have either gone or are reportedly set to go when they run out, which would leave them with only one content deal left with Penguin Random House.

Some reports have suggested that Harry will be required to dig out his big ideas notebook and pen another book – but what the dickens could he write about that would also sell?

He’s not exactly qualified to give anyone advice on family, career or money. When it comes to subjects that he can speak on with authority, the list of possible options starts with his thoughts on Jaeger bombs and ends with his current go-to chia seed pudding recipe, with diversions via best polo mallets, the relative merits of the linen shirt and a beginner’s guide to juggling.

Maybe he could do something on leadership or courage, having done two tours on the frontline in Afghanistan, but that would only appeal to a limited audience.

The Sussex name is now predominantly associated with family drama juicy enough to sustain an entire season of Jerry Springer. Picture: CBS

With no obvious path forward, what this week’s video (with its veritable buffet of new material for the “body language experts” of Instagram to pore over like Talmudic scholars) and the upcoming mini-tour tells us is that Harry and Meghan are returning to safe, well-trodden royal ground.

Their own way, their own style, their new approach has only garnered the most mixed of mixed results, at best. But “Harry And Meghan Do Charity And Charm People” is generally a winning recipe, an easy and fast win that can perhaps do some damage control.

A caveat here: I’d guess this return to Protocol: Palace is only a temporary measure with the duchess’ new super agent Ari Emanuel surely hard at work on the Megnaissance.

But while this week marks a way point for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with no guarantee they will fare any better with whatever comes next, the same cannot be said for sustainable California clothing brand Bleusalt.

In the space of the 2.5-minute new video, the company has gotten an immeasurable boost after Meghan wore a sleeveless turtleneck and skirt from the label for her return to the spotlight.

Given she can buy or access any and every designer on the planet, the duchess’ choice to support a local brand is a sweet note in all of this.

Maybe there aren’t any new ideas, but there are always new labels, I suppose.

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.