Until recently, Americans seemed largely divided: While Harry and Meghan’s “wokeness and political correctness” have long been a thorn in the side of most Republicans, many Democrats showed the couple great understanding. But now the tide is also turning in the USA.
Prince Harry’s much-anticipated autobiography, Spare, is due out on Tuesday. It is well known that Harry and Meghan lost the sympathies of many Britons years ago. But with Harry’s book, the Sussexes are now scaring away their former fans in their new home.
Until recently, Americans seemed largely divided: While Harry and Meghan’s “wokeness and political correctness” have long been a thorn in the side of most Republicans, many Democrats showed the couple great understanding.
This was reflected above all in the reporting of the US media: Conservative newspapers have hardly left a good hair on the Sussexes since the scandalous Oprah interview at the latest. Liberal media, on the other hand, continued to report with compassion and concern for Meghan’s experiences with the royals and Harry’s new life in California.
After all, even Michelle Obama personally defended Meghan’s racism allegations against the NBC TV channel. A spokeswoman for President Joe Biden also praised Meghan for her “courage and openness about mental health” after Oprah’s interview.
That seems to be over now – a different wind is blowing: the liberal magazine “Vanity Fair” once complained about the “smear campaign of the royals” as a “war against Meghan”. Today, the magazine speaks of “Sussexes fatigue” and criticizes: Harry’s comments about his brother William’s hair loss would go below the belt. The conclusion of the formerly Sussexes-friendly magazine: Harry’s book is “probably the greatest betrayal of his family”.
The more left-leaning US broadcaster “CNN” also seems to be moving away from the earlier “Team Sussexes” attitude. While the TV channel once praised her “courage to be honest,” CNN anchor Don Lemon recently called Harry’s book “awkward and awkward.” Referring to Harry’s reported arguments with his brother, the moderator asked, clearly indignant: “What does he hope to gain from washing his family’s dirty laundry in public? Everyone has arguments in their family. With the best will in the world I don’t understand why he had to tell the whole world.”
Prince Harry was also heavily criticized in the weekend edition of the influential New York Times. His reports of killing 25 Taliban members in military operations in Afghanistan are concerning and could endanger others.
The daughter of the late President Ronald Reagan also warns the Duke of Sussex in an editorial in the renowned daily newspaper with the words: “Be quiet”. Patti Davis says she deeply regrets her own tell-all book, Family Secrets, about the Reagan. “Naive as I was, I thought at the time: I want to tell the truth. When the world reads about my feelings, my family will understand me better too.”
“But people don’t take it well when you embarrass them in public,” writes the 70-year-old in The Times. She also learned that there is not just one truth. “The truth is a lot more complicated than you think when you’re young. Because the other people in our story also have their truths.”
“Years ago someone asked me what advice I would have given my younger self if it had been possible,” Reagan’s daughter said. Without hesitation, she replied, “It’s easy. I would have said ‘shut up’. Not forever. But at least until you can see things through a broader lens. Until I understood that words have consequences that can last really long.”
The tenor of the “Chicago Tribune” is similar: “Stop it, Harry”, is the headline here with the warning: “You will regret this”. Prince Harry dragged his family through the mud for money, the daily comments. It is downright ironic that the Sussexes, of all people, refer to people like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu as their role models, it goes on to say – when Harry and Meghan themselves would not appear to be conciliatory at all.
Meghan and Harry have long been a thorn in the side of Rupert Murdoch’s conservative media group. For years, “Fox News” and the “New York Post” have hardly given a good hair to them. The Duke of Sussex has been dubbed the “Prince of Jammers” in headlines – the tabloid “Post” is now quoting TV star Bethany Frankel: “What’s next? Shall we accompany Meghan to her pap test? Harry on his colonoscopy?”
The left-leaning competition exceptionally agreed. “Harry had frostbite on his penis before William’s wedding,” writes the liberal New York Magazine – “just in case anyone had any doubts about Harry’s oversharing.”
The original of this post “You’ll regret it”: Even Harry’s biggest fans are fed up now” comes from Bunte.de.
