Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been mocked in a stinging column in Britain's liberal newspaper—even as the duke vows to transform the country's media landscape.
Harry has said that changing the British press is his "life's work," and The Guardian, more than any other British newspaper, is the home of the campaign for reform.
The left-leaning broadsheet's investigation into phone-hacking humiliated media mogul Rupert Murdoch; led to the closure of his U.K. newspaper the News of the World; and triggered the criminal prosecution of Harry's media nemesis, Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive officer of News UK, on phone-hacking charges, though she was ultimately acquitted.
One of its top columnists, however, roasted the couple in a piece headlined: "The curse of the Harry and Meghan media empire: so much content, but we only care about the Windsors."
Marina Hyde is the kind of star writer whose articles ripple through the WhatsApp groups of middle-class progressives in British cities like London and Oxford, where the newspaper is most popular.
And Hyde took aim at the couple after their Spotify podcast deal disintegrated, having delivered only one 12-part show, Archetypes.
"If you enjoy podcasts in the victimless-crime genre, do take a few minutes to catch Spotify's head of podcast innovation and monetisation calling Prince Harry and his wife Meghan 'f****** grifters,'" Hyde wrote.
"Should you have yet to download it, [Archetypes] is a 12-parter—though feels longer—presented by Meghan, and centred on a series of stereotypical labels that are attached to women to hold them back.
"'Diva,' 'singleton,' 'ambitious' ... that sort of thing. Incredible to break things off here, just when the perfect season two opener presents itself in the form of the label 'f****** grifter.'"
Hyde also questioned whether Harry and Meghan chose the title "Archetypes because it started with the same five letters" as their foundation Archewell: "The series could easily have been about archery or arch-enemies.
"Of course, if it had been about the couple's arch-enemies—the royal family and the media—it would have done infinitely better," Hyde added.
"This is because, as predicted at the time of their departure as working royals, it was absolutely clear that Meghan and Harry are one-trick ponies. But don't get me wrong—what a trick it is," she wrote.
Hyde added that "no one really cares" about Meghan's children's book The Bench, or the couple's Netflix documentary on world leaders, Live to Lead. Hyde wrote that complaining about the royals "is the sole genre in which Meghan and Harry truly pull in the eyeballs."
The roast is particularly awkward for Harry because The Guardian is the antithesis of a U.K. tabloid, sometimes referred to in the industry as the newspaper that hates newspapers.
If ever there were an audience for the prince's lawsuits against the British press, of which he has four ongoing, then The Guardian newspaper's readership would be it.
Edward Coram James, chief executive of PR agency Go Up, recently told Newsweek that Harry is simply too unpopular in Britain to achieve his stated aim of transforming the U.K. media landscape.
"If there is a massive nuclear backlash against the U.K. press from the British public, then that will have an effect, and U.K. politicians will feel like they have to get involved," Coram James said.
"The problem is Harry and Meghan, or specifically Harry, is not the person to achieve change in the media landscape. The reason for that is quite simple, he is deeply, deeply unpopular in the U.K.
"In order to effect change on that scale and, against that level of opponent, you need to carry the British public with you, and he's lost them," Coram James added.
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more
