Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Rocky 2023—Five Key Takeaways

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's year saw their star fall despite record-breaking sales, but their standing in America is far more complicated than initial perceptions may suggest.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex closed out 2022 on the cusp of a new era as media producers, with their Netflix show hitting screens in December and Harry's book due for release in January.

Warning signs emerged even before the start of 2023, however, when the show drew criticism from unlikely sources, such as Variety.

Since then, it has been a rollercoaster for the couple, though the trajectory has not only been down and they look set to enter the fall with new energy behind them.

Prince Harry's Book Sends Their Reputations Spiraling

Perhaps the biggest story of 2023 so far for the couple was how the release of Harry's memoir backfired, sending both his and Meghan's U.S. net approval rating into freefall and earning the ridicule of comedians.

Spare was commercially hugely successful, becoming the fastest selling book since records began, shifting 1.43 million copies in Britain, Canada and America alone on its first day, January 10, 2023.

And it was highly anticipated with the expectation it would contain new bombshells about his family, which it did, though in time a more bizarre anecdote appeared to catch the public imagination.

Alongside serious subject matter—a physical fight with Prince William, the breakdown of relations in Kensington Palace, Queen Camilla leaking secrets about him—Harry chose to tell the world about getting frostbite on his penis.

Not only that, but he described applying Princess Diana's favorite Elizabeth Arden lip cream to his tender "todger" in an effort to sooth his pain.

"My penis was oscillating between extremely sensitive and borderline traumatized. The last place I wanted to be was Frostnipistan," he wrote, adding: "I found a tube, and the minute I opened it, the smell transported me through time. I felt as if my mother was right there in the room.

"Then I took a smidge and applied it...down there. 'Weird' doesn't really do the feeling justice."

Exclusive polling by Redfield & Wilton for Newsweek mapped just how big an impact the whole saga had on the couple's standing in America and the results were not good.

Prince Harry dropped 45 points in his net approval rating from +38 to -7 between December 5, days before Netflix, and January 16, almost a week after Spare.

Meghan was also affected, dropping 36 points over the same time frame from +23 to -13, bringing her down below Queen Camilla in the eyes of American adults.

And the country's comedians wasted no time getting stuck into them, with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Chris Rock, South Park and even Trevor Noah, a former guest on Meghan's Archetypes podcast, just a few of those to roast the book.

Harry and Meghan's Paparazzi 'Chase' Reveals U.S. Media Woes

Harry and Meghan did, however, have a chance to get back on the horse by attending the Ms. Foundation's Women of Vision gala in New York in May.

Meghan wore a stunning gold Johanna Ortiz gown to collect her award alongside Harry and her mother Doria Ragland, but the following day they released a statement describing a "near catastrophic" two-hour car chase with the paparazzi.

The announcement triggered a frenzy of reporting, while the NYPD, New York's mayor and a taxi driver who briefly drove them all appeared to tone down their version of events.

Alongside the fevered debate about whether their account was reliable, however, was another significant revelation.

Both U.S. and U.K. tabloids ran paparazzi images from the night, however, the British outlets pulled the photos after the statement was released while TMZ ignored requests from the Sussex camp.

Page Six took a similar stance after Princess Lilibet, Harry and Meghan's daughter, was photographed at a July 4 parade. By contrast, U.K. newspapers did run the pictures but blurred Lili's face.

In other words, having spent years telling the world about the horrors of the U.K. press, Harry is now facing the reality there may actually be times Britain's tabloids behave better than America's.

The Collapse of Spotify—and the 'F****** Grifters' Label

The release of Spare may have been reputationally bruising for Harry but he did have its huge commercial success to fall back on—they were making money, even if at the expense of their own reputations.

That silver lining narrative was somewhat undermined, however, when their Spotify deal fell apart, with both sides going their separate ways.

Any hint the split may have been harmonious was blown out of the water when executive Bill Simmons called Harry and Meghan "grifters" on his own self-titled podcast.

He said: "I wish I had been involved in the Meghan and Harry leave Spotify negotiation. 'The F****** Grifters,' that's the podcast we should have launched with them.

"I gotta get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry, trying to help him with a podcast idea. It's one of my best stories." He added: "Drunk Simmons. Save that idea. F*** the grifters."

Netflix is, according to the Wall Street Journal, also not likely to renew their deal when it reaches its natural conclusion, meaning the couple are now in need of new energy to carry them out of their slump and into a new future.

America Warms to Harry and Meghan Again

However, the news has not all been bad and it appears the American public may even be quicker to forget its ill will towards them than the media.

Harry and Meghan have bounced back in the eyes of U.S. adults, with the prince back up to +18 while Meghan was on +6 in a Redfield & Wilton poll conducted for Newsweek in June.

YouGov had them doing even better in July with Harry on +24 and Meghan back up to +17.

The speed of their recovery suggests America may still be open to new Harry and Meghan projects in the future, though it may be time for the couple to heed past warnings about not trying to build an empire around repeatedly flagellating the royals for the same alleged misdemeanors.

Harry and Meghan's Have New Projects to See Out 2023

Harry and Meghan have more in store for fans in 2023 as the prince snaps back to projects from his time as a working royal.

The duke's Invictus Games tournament for wounded veterans will be held in Düsseldorf, Germany, in September, and he will release a Netflix documentary about it in the summer.

The couple have also bought the rights to best selling novel Meet Me at the Lake, which has a plot that echoes their lives.

It is set in Toronto, where Meghan lived while filming Suits, and features a character who loses a parent in a car crash. Harry's mother, Princess Diana, died in a Paris car crash in 1997.

Before that though, Harry has a polo match to raise money for his Sentebale charity, in Singapore, on August 12, and on the way he will attend a summit in Japan on August 9.

Meghan had fewer existing projects to fall back on but has signed with power house talent agency WME who will no doubt be searching feverishly for new opportunities.

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.

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