PR expert dishes on the rumours and scandals plaguing the royals

A few months ago, the world was besotted with Meghan Markle. But now, she’s hounded by vicious daily rumours. So what went wrong?

Kate Middleton and Prince William’s fairytale wedding in 2011 marked the beginning of a new age for England’s royal family.

For most of the ’90s, the family had been engulfed by scandal after scandal, culminating in Princess Diana’s death in 1997 just a year after her bitter divorce from Prince Charles following years of illicit affairs.

But that all changed with William and Kate’s wedding. Suddenly the world was gripped by royal fever again, which only increased when news of Meghan Markle’s relationship with Prince Harry broke.

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As a divorced American mixed-race actor in her mid-30s, the Suits star was seen by many to be a breath of fresh air and a welcome addition to the somewhat stuffy house of Windsor.

For months, article after gushing article was published about the glamorous, charitable and outspoken TV star in the lead-up to the couple’s May wedding, with public sympathy towards Meghan only seeming to grow as her family smeared her in the press.

The world swooned over Harry and Meghan’s wedding. Picture: Ben Stansall/Pool/AFP

By the time Harry and Meghan touched down in Australia in October, it seemed the latest royal bride could do no wrong, especially after the announcement of her pregnancy.

But now, just months after officially joining the royal family, the shine has started to come off the woman the world was once besotted with.

THE RUMOURS

First it was Meghan’s siblings trashing her in the press, with half-brother Thomas Markle Jr labelling her a “phony” while half-sister Samantha accused her of neglecting their ailing father.

Then, last month, the rumour mill went into overdrive with “palace sources” slamming Harry and Meghan’s alleged “dictatorial behaviour” towards staff, outrageous demands in the lead-up to their wedding, and a teary dust-up between Kate and Meghan.

The palace has denied the Duchesses are feuding. Picture: Supplied

There have also been murmurs Meghan has driven a wedge between the famously close royal brothers — which seemed to be confirmed by news Meghan and Harry were preparing to move out of Kensington Palace and into Frogmore Cottage — and away from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

THE RESPONSE

The constant speculation surrounding Meghan and her relationships with other members of the royal family has seen her reputation take a serious hit — regardless of the truth.

And the way the current public relations nightmare is handled could be the difference between the scandal simply blowing over, or spiralling out of control and dragging the family’s reputation back to a ’90s-era low.

So far, the palace has remained tight-lipped apart from its denial of a feud between Kate and Meghan over the treatment of staff.

But according to Aussie public relations expert Catriona Pollard, ignoring a scandal can either be a genius move — or add more fuel to the fire.

THE MISTAKES

Ms Pollard said the palace possibly made some missteps when it came to handling the unfolding Markle debacle.

The first was not adequately reaching out to “loose cannon” members of the family and “bringing them into the fold”.

She said while it was a smart move to exclude them from the wedding and to maintain a dignified silence in the wake of the Markles’ media attacks, the scandal may have been prevented if more of an effort had been made early on.

A second potential mistake was not cracking down on possible leaks about the Duchess of Sussex.

She said while it was impossible to know whether the rumours stemmed from actual leaks or were simply fiction, it was essential to quash them before they came to light.

The rumours could tarnish the entire royal brand. Picture: Chris Jackson/Clarence House via Getty Images

“They need to look at their internal communications and staff access to information, but also look at why someone would be doing that as well — is there a situation within the royal family or staff that’s causing discontent?” Ms Pollard said.

Finally, Ms Pollard said the so-called Fab Four needed to publicly put on a united front to prove there was no royal rift.

“The public needs to be able to see them together to quell those rumours,” she said.

“It’s important to actively manage those rumours and make sure they don’t let them turn into anything more damaging to the brand.

“The first thing to do to prove to people they are just simply rumours is to do things publicly together — even just a casual Sunday spent together will imply a rift hasn’t happened.”

THE OUTCOME

According to Ms Pollard, Harry and Meghan will likely “bounce back” to popularity as they have consistently proved both their warmth and their commitment to charitable causes.

“In 2018, the people and organisations that really bounce back from negative situations are the ones who are diligent about how they want people to respond to them and think about them,” she said.

“Meghan has done that pretty effectively and while we are seeing negative reports in the media, I think she’s likely to bounce back fairly quickly.

Harry and Meghan should ‘bounce back’ thanks to their charity work and personal warmth. Picture: Julian Smith/Pool/AFP

“One of the reasons they were first attracted to each other was because they both have that charitable aspect to their lives and they actually demonstrate it, they don’t just say it. So when negative things arise they will be able to fall back on the fact they have already demonstrated (their charitable work) as part of their personal brand — it’s not something they’ve made up.”

Ms Pollard said their recent trip to Australia had been great PR as they were able to publicly demonstrate their affection for each other and for the public.

“They treated the public well, they were friendly and they did walk-arounds which was a really strong and probably deliberate display of their personal branding to enhance that and counteract any negative coverage,” she said.

She said Meghan would probably continue building her personal brand by charming the public and stepping up her charitable work — tactics which would likely see this crisis averted.

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