Royal experts say Prince Harry may still be grappling with the role he sought to leave behind when he stepped away from royal life, warning that six years after his exit, the Duke of Sussex risks repeating familiar patterns in Hollywood. As Harry continues to face the fallout from his 2023 memoir Spare and remains estranged from his family, public attention has increasingly shifted toward Meghan Markle and her expanding business ambitions in California.
‘Vulnerable’ Prince Harry could ‘fade into’ Meghan Markle’s background, says expert
Royal commentator Kinsey Schofield suggested that Harry has swapped one hierarchy for another. Speaking to Fox News Digital, she argued that the prince once lived in the shadow of his older brother and now risks doing the same alongside his wife. “In the royal family, he was the spare to Prince William,” Schofield said. “In Hollywood, he risks becoming the supporting character to Meghan Markle’s ambitions.”
Schofield noted that Markle has shown a sharper understanding of the entertainment and branding ecosystem. “Meghan has consistently demonstrated a clearer strategy and stronger command of that ecosystem,” she explained. “Harry, by contrast, has struggled to define a role beyond being ‘Prince Harry,’ which leaves him vulnerable to fading into the background.”
Schofield said Prince Harry moved to California seeking freedom and reinvention but has struggled to establish an identity beyond public grievances, arguing, “California seems to have left Harry unmoored.” “He is far from his family, his military community and the institutional structure that once gave him direction. While he enjoys the privileges of wealth and privacy, there is a visible lack of grounding. To the public, he appears less settled than solid,” she said.
Those remarks followed reports that Harry moved quickly from an emotional appearance at London’s High Court, where he fought alleged privacy violations, to mingling with Hollywood insiders at the Sundance Film Festival days later. One industry insider described the shift as jarring, especially after Harry testified that British tabloids made Markle’s life “absolute misery.”
