Hollywood is a brutal place for anyone who sets foot in it, and there’s no second-guessing that. And it has been particularly brutal towards its newest returning guests, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Meghan, who isn’t new to Hollywood, made her big comeback recently, along with her beau. The couple that officially resigned from their royal duties were initially well-received by the states, but lately, the couple seems to be growing in unpopularity.
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And when you’re in Hollywood, it comes as no surprise that you’re being watched all the time. With paps flocking around huge stars, Meghan and Harry have been at the forefront of the limelight this year, but not in a fitting sense.
This year, The Hollywood Reporter took it upon themselves to put together all of Hollywood's biggest success stories, and, well, dreadful failures. And making the list was none other than the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Here’s what the list said about the royals.
The list
Harry and Meghan found themselves placed on the unfavourable side of this savage list, and the publication backed it up with reason. The list that was divided into two sections - won and lost, saw Taylor Swift, Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, and Jenna Ortega on the former side. The latter featured Disney, who has been consistently plummeting, along with Elon Musk, Marvel/DC, and the royal couple of course.
Fromlosing their royal residence in the UK to losing their taxpayer-funded security detail, this year has been a year of very many losses for the royal couple. But making it to the unfavourable side of this list itself is, unfortunately, the cherry on top of the cake. Rewinding and looking at what 2023 has been about for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex might give clarity on why they made this list in the first place.
2023 for the Sussexes
The year 2023 started with a lot of hope for Harry and Meghan, with Harry’s tell-all autobiography Spare hitting the stores. The book that hit the bookshelves on Jan 10th explored Harry and his strained relationships with his family members. And with this began the downfall of the relationship between Harry and William, to an irrecoverable state. This set the tone for a series of unfortunate events that followed for the royal couple. Not long after this, the royal couple's podcast titled Archtypes was dropped by Spotify. Thus, reducing their popularity further into a plummeting state.
The media was filled with other news about the Sussexes' that made headlines, but not positive ones. Froman alleged feud and fallout with the Beckhams to divorce rumours, there were so many unflattering headlines made about the couple every single day.
Prince Harry’s legal hurdles
Prince Harry seems to be neck-deep in lawsuits and legal hurdles lately. Harry, who has been fighting an ongoing libel case against The Mail, was in the process of suing the newspaper for publishing a story about his legal battle with the Home Office. The article that came out in February 2022 dived deep into the government’s decision to strip Prince Harry of taxpayer-funded security, as per The Independent.
But, unfortunately, this one slipped out of the hands of the young royal. As per the recent turn of events, Prince Harry has lost the first battle and has been ordered to pay £48,000 in legal costs. Now, as per the judge’s orders, Prince Harry must cough up the money to the newspaper in question, by December 29th. It’s safe to say that the year ending does not look good for the Prince, with all this legal debacle in play.
Read more:
⋙ Prince Harry and Meghan Markle banned from using ‘royal’ for their website name
⋙ Prince Harry and Meghan may be in a bigger career crisis than we think, here’s what’s happening
⋙ Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: Conflicting reactions sparked by royals’ trip
Sources:
The Independent: Prince Harry challenges UK government’s decision to strip him of security when he moved to US
Daily Mail: Prince Harry abandons libel case against the Mail on Sunday - on the day he was due to hand over list of documents - leaving him facing a £750,000 legal bill
