Prince Harry has a ‘narrow corridor’ to win back Britain

Prince Harry has “an obstacle course” to navigate if he wants to rebuild his relationship with Britain, but it is still possible, a PR expert has said. News week.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been deeply unpopular in the UK for years, but Harry chose to take his Invictus Games tournament for wounded veterans to Birmingham, England, rather than Washington DC.

The decision may seem surprising after all the work Harry has done to create a new life in the US, but Edward Coram James, a public relations expert and chief executive of media agency Go Up, believes the move could help Harry restore his reputation in Britain.

He said News week: “Through Invictus it is definitely possible. He has an obstacle course. He has a tightrope he has to walk and there is a very narrow path to his reputation, but that path is Invictus.

“His narrow route back into the good books of the British public is Invictus. I think having him in the UK is actually very sensible for that.”

Harry was hugely popular in Britain before he left the country to start a new life in America, and at his peak was liked by 81% of UK adults in November 2018, when he got engaged to Meghan Markle.

A poll conducted by YouGov in September 2024 showed that he was liked by 31% and disliked by 63%, giving him a net approval rating of minus 32.

In the same poll, Meghan was liked by 24% and disliked by 68%, giving her a net approval rating of minus 44.

“He stopped being popular because his name started being associated with attacks on the royal family,” Coram James said. “The way to alleviate that is to have his name re-associated with the things that made him popular in the first place, like Invictus.

“From a reputational point of view, this will have been taken into consideration by him.

“‘Let’s change the narrative here, let’s remind the British people what made me popular in the first place, let’s re-associate my name with military veterans and duty and honour and all the things that I’m basically being accused of not having any more, and let’s see if that makes a difference.’ And my best bet is that it does.”

There may also be other reasons not to choose Washington DC at a time when it is unclear who will be the next president.

Harry and Meghan would likely welcome Kamala Harris, who Meghan has been positive about in the past, but who strongly oppose Donald Trump.

“Of course, when deciding the location of a major match, you have to take into account the prevailing political trends,” said Coram James.

“And then, of course, they took Trump into consideration and the uncertainty that a Trump presidency would bring is probably something he will have considered.

“I would say that from Trump’s point of view, as much as he clearly dislikes Harry and Meghan and as much as they are very, very unpopular in conservative circles in the US, even they wouldn’t get involved in something like the Invictus Games.

“The fact that it serves wounded veterans far outweighs the connotations that Harry and Meghan’s involvement would have.

“Trump probably wouldn’t have meddled anyway because reputationally it would have been a very bad move for him to do so, but that said, he’s very unpredictable and he constantly does things that reputationally you would advise him not to do.”

Jack Royston is the chief royal correspondent for News weekbased in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jack_royston and read their stories at News week‘s The Royals Facebook Page.

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