Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, made a surprise appearance at Thursday night’s ESPY Awards to support husband Prince Harry as he received the Pat Tillman Award for Service. It was a prestigious honour for the former soldier, and founder of The Invictus Games, a sporting event for serving military and veterans which he founded in 2104, but also a controversial one, as Harry’s various critics deemed him an undeserving recipient of the award, launched in honour of the notable soldier who lost his life in Afghanistan, which is said to be typically reserved for ‘unsung heroes’. In fact, even Pat Tillman’s mother Mary Tillman said last month that she was ‘shocked’ it would go to ‘such a controversial and divisive figure’, adding: ‘There are recipients that are far more fitting. These individuals do not have the money, resources, connections or privilege that Prince Harry has’.

Harry is said to be ‘saddened’ by the backlash, but it was perhaps not entirely unexpected given the couple’s already waning popularity in the US, the home they adopted post-Megxit in 2020. Indeed some commentators have suggested that Meghan had entered the event privately, skipping the red carpet and waiting reporters, in order to avoid being asked to comment on any controversy. The Duchess was, however, seen ‘beaming with pride’ as Harry accepted the award, and spoke of his ‘respect’ for how Mary Tillman was preserving her son’s bravery and memory, as he also applauded the sacrifice of wounded veterans and praised the Invictus Games in his victory speech. ‘Her advocacy for Pat’s legacy is deeply personal and one that I respect,’ he said. ‘The bond between a mother and son is eternal and transcends even the greatest losses.’

He added, ‘The truth is I stand here not as Prince Harry, Pat Tillman Award recipient but rather a voice on behalf of the Invictus Games Foundation and the thousands of veterans and service personnel from over 20 nations who have made the Invictus Games a reality. This award belongs to them, not to me.’
The couple’s friend, tennis champion Serena Williams, who hosted the event, hinted at the air of unease that surrounded the former royal couple that evening when she joked to the audience during one of her monologues, ‘Please, Harry and Meghan, try not to breathe too much tonight. Because this is my night, and I don’t want to be overshadowed by the accusations that you guys are taking up too much oxygen, okay?’

It felt when they first moved to the US that Meghan and Harry couldn’t put a foot wrong, and this episode feels like a shift. It, infamously, has not been an easy ride, particularly in the court of public opinion, for Harry and Meghan since they stepped back from their official royal roles four years ago amidst a sea of controversy. And yet the negativity that the pair have seemed to incite in the UK, from press and the general public, always seemed to be less virulent in the US, where former Suits star Meghan was born and grew up. Following their move to California, more specifically the wealthy coastal enclave of Montecito, Harry and Meghan have been courted by some of Los Angeles’s most influential people including Oprah Winfrey, Ari Emmanuel (one of the most powerful entertainment agents in the industry who is said to have been orchestrating some of their professional manoeuvres), Ellen DeGeneres, Brian Robbins, the head of Paramount Studios, and Beyoncé.

And while it once seemed like the couple’s fame trajectory could only go up and up, the past year has proven that they need to fight for their places in the A-list as much, if not more, than any of the stars that surround them. Indeed there was speculation at the end of last year that their $80 million Netflix deal was hanging in the balance, although it was confirmed in April that the streaming service is working with Harry and Meghan’s production leg of their Archewell company to produce two new non-fiction shows, plus they are still said to be working on an adaptation of Meet Me At The Lake, the best-selling romance novel by Carley Fortune.

They did, however, find themselves dropped by Spotify last summer, with Meghan’s Archetypes podcast left unrenewed. And many of the key players from their Archewell production team have now left for pastures new. This includes Bennett Levine, a senior manager who announced his departure earlier this year, following the likes of Ben Browning, the internal content head and former Oscar-nominated producer, Rebecca Sananes, head of audio and responsible for Meghan’s now-cancelled podcast, and Mandana Dayani who left as president of Archewell last year, with Harry and Meghan taking on full control. It was reported at the start of the year that donations by Archewell Foundation had fallen by a staggering $11 million in one year.

Meghan has now also turned her attention to her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, which was hard launched via its new Instagram page in March. At the time it was confirmed that Meghan had filed trademarks for American Riviera Orchard to market items such as cutlery, cookbooks, and jarred foods, per The United States Patent and Trademark Office. Since then, celebrities such as Chrissy Teigen, Mindy Kaling, Tracee Ellis Ross and Kris Jenner have shared photos on social media of the strawberry jam that the Duchess has sent them.

Although the brand hasn’t officially opened its online doors to the public yet, a source has said that Meghan is pleased with how the brand, which many have likened to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop lifestyle juggernaut, has been rolling out. A source told Us Weekly, ‘The rollout for American Riviera Orchard is already off to a strong start. The website has over 100,000 who have signed up to hear about the first products launched. Meghan is very pleased with the early interest it has gained.’

The gamble for Meghan, however, is huge – at a time when public adoration for the couple, both in the US and here, has been challenged. They were branded ‘insensitive’ for posing on the red carpet with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who wants to ditch the monarchy, earlier this year. They also caused controversy by organising a very royal-looking tour of Nigeria to celebrate ten years of Invictus, one of their first outings like this since they really were royals.

And while Royal supporters have been rallying around King Charles and the Princess of Wales as they both undergo treatment for cancer, Harry and Meghan’s response has been criticised for being ‘insensitive’, particularly when Meghan launched ARO in the week that it emerged Kate had been battling breast cancer.

Harry said in February that King Charles’s cancer diagnosis could have a ‘reunifying effect’ on the family after he made a transatlantic dash to see his father at Clarence House – but they only met for around 45 minutes. There had been reports that Harry was willing to return to a temporary royal role to help out the slimmed down monarchy, with Kate Middleton also recovering from surgery. But palace aides later said there was ‘no way back’ for Harry – his relationship with Prince William has regularly been described as past the point of ‘no return’ from William’s point of view.

Harry and Meghan were also recently demoted on the Buckingham Palace website. Instead of having lengthy individual biographies on the site, which they enjoyed until this week, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex now share only a joint profile topped with a statement about their decision to step down from family duties.
And so, things in the US need to work out – yet the US public are said by some of the couple’s critics to be becoming as exhausted with the UK public by their seemingly at odds wish for privacy, whilst making tell-all documentaries, writing memoirs, attending book signings and red carpet events. Speaking about Harry and Meghan’s time since leaving Britain, royal author Angela Levin said that Americans are getting fed up with the couple’s ‘hypocrisy’. Indeed poll by Newsweek said that Meghan was disliked by 60% of Americans who were polled in February.

This latest episode at the ESPYs will have done them little favours in the popularity stakes, with their critics using it as further proof they will ‘stop at nothing’ to garner more attention. There are undoubtedly many Sussex plates spinning at the moment, with the forthcoming Invictus Games, American Riviera Orchard set to launch, and various audio and TV productions in progress. They need these projects to succeed, says one source, who adds that they need financial stability as much as they personally desire the fame and glory they might bring. ‘Harry and Meghan are carving a highly unusual niche for themselves, straddling royal and celebrity worlds,’ says the source. ‘It’s taking far longer than they thought it would to figure out. They just hope the next year shows they can really succeed in post-royal life – and prove their critics wrong.’