Prince Harry and Meghan Markle bet everything on Hollywood accepting them as A-list power players.
That gamble just blew up in their faces.
And Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got bad news from Hollywood they're going to hate.
Royal experts deliver brutal verdict on Sussex brand
Five years after Harry and Meghan walked away from the British monarchy to chase Hollywood glory, royal experts dropped the hammer with a simple diagnosis: their influence is collapsing.
"Their star power is fading," Kinsey Schofield, host of YouTube's "Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered," told Fox News Digital.¹
The couple's confidence in abandoning royal duties was rooted in their perceived popularity with the public.
Now that popularity is evaporating before their eyes.
"That will frustrate them because they've experienced the dopamine hit of adoration," Schofield explained.¹
For two people who spent years soaking up praise and media attention, watching Hollywood lose interest has to sting.
The warning gets worse.
"They'll keep putting themselves out there because they need to make money," Schofield added.¹
Translation: the Sussexes are desperate.
British royal expert Hilary Fordwich didn't pull any punches.
"Either they really are oblivious to their fading star power or are just doing their utmost to manage their waning popularity," Fordwich stated.²
The couple is either clueless about how badly things are going or frantically trying to hide the truth.
Netflix special bombs with critics and audiences
Meghan's latest attempt to establish herself as a lifestyle guru just crashed and burned spectacularly.
Her Netflix holiday special "With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration" premiered December 3 to absolutely savage reviews.
The show made history in the worst possible way, earning a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.³
Zero percent. That's a complete disaster.
Critics couldn't contain their contempt for Meghan's latest vanity project.
The Daily Mail's Annabel Fenwick Elliot gave it zero stars and called out "the syrupy hypocrisy and our hostesses' deep lack of self-awareness."⁴
The Times described it as "unfathomable," while The Standard dismissed it as "word salads of platitudes."⁴
Even Harry looked uncomfortable during his cameo appearance in Meghan's kitchen.
The Irish Times noted that "Harry's good cheer evaporates faster than his uncle Andrew's sweat in a London nightclub" when confronted with his wife's cooking.⁵
Royal commentator Esther Krakue from Sky News Australia called the episode "unwatchable" and said Meghan is "devoid of a personality."⁶
Audiences gave the special only a 13% rating.³
"Boring" and "very inauthentic" were the common complaints.
This follows the dismal performance of Meghan's main Netflix series "With Love, Meghan," which holds a 38% rating.³
Commercial ventures crashing one after another
The Netflix debacle is just the latest in a long string of business failures for the Sussexes.
Their multi-million dollar Spotify deal collapsed in spectacular fashion after Meghan's podcast "Archetypes" failed to gain traction.
Spotify canceled the deal after Meghan's podcast flopped.
When Harry's polo documentary dropped in December 2024, audiences gave it a 27% score.⁷
Meghan's "As Ever" brand? Turns out the whole thing is built on marketing tricks.
She'd post photos on Instagram showing her jam, honey, and rosé had sold out.
But insiders revealed the "sold out" labels are pure marketing manipulation.
"It's simply a marketing ploy," one former staffer told Radar Online. "A small batch is released, it goes quickly, and then Meghan claims it's a runaway success."⁸
There's zero evidence of a sustainable business.
Royal watcher Hugo Vickers summed up Meghan's situation bluntly: "She wants to be the next Gwyneth Paltrow, but instead of Goop, she's left with gimmicks."⁸
Marketing expert Nick Ede noted that Meghan "can't really say that she's a particularly great female founder" given how little her brand has accomplished.⁸
The couple's five-year, $100 million Netflix deal is winding down and getting downgraded to a "first-look" deal.
After investing heavily in the Sussexes, Netflix is cutting its losses.
Meghan's ambitions destroying Harry's royal reconciliation hopes
The root cause of their Hollywood collapse traces back to a fundamental conflict between what Harry wants and what Meghan demands.
"Meghan's commercial ambitions conflict with Harry's desire to rebuild royal bridges," Schofield warned.¹
Harry knows his value comes from his royal connection.
Meghan refuses to stop exploiting her duchess title for commercial gain.
"As long as she uses her title for business, the royal family will keep their distance," Schofield explained. "And as long as the family keeps that distance, Harry's popularity will continue to suffer."¹
The British royal family wants nothing to do with relatives who turned the monarchy into a profit center.
Every time Meghan promotes herself as "Duchess of Sussex" while hawking jam or filming lifestyle shows, she drives the wedge deeper.
King Charles stopped responding to Harry's calls and letters after being diagnosed with cancer in 2024.¹⁰
But that hope evaporated when Harry made a surprise appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" the same day Meghan's holiday special premiered.
Harry used the platform to take shots at President Donald Trump, months after King Charles hosted Trump for a state visit.¹¹
The timing couldn't have been worse.
Prince William shows "no interest in extending an olive branch" to his brother.¹⁰
Queen Camilla, whom Harry savagely attacked in his memoir "Spare," wisely "stays out of it."¹⁰
British royal expert Helena Chard noted that Meghan "does not live a life of service" and her holiday show highlights "her own estrangement" from the royal family at a time meant for togetherness.¹²
The couple is trapped.
They alienated the royal family to chase Hollywood dreams.
Now Hollywood is rejecting them because they burned their bridges to the only thing that made them interesting in the first place.
Schofield predicts Meghan will "keep aligning herself with the Kardashians and other power players" in 2026.¹
After demanding photos from Kris Jenner's 70th birthday party be removed from social media, Meghan is doubling down on celebrity friendships.
A source told Page Six that Harry and Meghan "wore through any goodwill they had" in Los Angeles.¹³
"There is not only no appetite left for them in L.A., but they've also worn through any goodwill they had," the insider stated. "People are sick of them, the act has gotten stale."¹³
Five years after walking away from the monarchy, Harry and Meghan are learning a harsh lesson: Hollywood doesn't care about people who destroy their own families for profit.
¹ Stephanie Nolasco and Ashley Papa, "Harry and Meghan Markle's Hollywood star power rapidly fading 5 years after royal break: experts," Fox News, December 6, 2025.
² Hilary Fordwich quoted in Nolasco and Papa, Fox News, December 6, 2025.
³ "Meghan Markle's Netflix Series 'With Love' Debuts with 0% Rotten Tomatoes Score," Screen Rant, December 7, 2025.
⁴ "Royal News: Meghan Markle suffers fresh Netflix blow as her Christmas special is panned," GB News, December 3, 2025.
⁵ Ed Power, "Meghan Markle's holiday special review: The reek of forced fun is ever-present. Even Harry looks embarrassed," The Irish Times, December 3, 2025.
⁶ "Even International Critics Are Calling Out Meghan Markle's 'Tacky' Netflix Show," The Royal Observer, December 5, 2025.
⁷ "Prince Harry and Meghan Close Out 2024 at Major Turning Point," Newsweek, December 30, 2024.
⁸ "EXCLUSIVE: Meghan Markle 'Will Remember 2025 as Her Annus Horribilis,'" Radar Online, September 19, 2025.
⁹ Power, The Irish Times, December 3, 2025.
¹⁰ Nolasco and Papa, Fox News, December 6, 2025.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² "Expert Calls Out Meghan Markle for Trying to Be 'American Royalty' With Her Netflix Special," The Royal Observer, December 4, 2025.
¹³ "Has Hollywood Soured on Prince Harry & Meghan Markle?," Extra TV, November 5, 2025.