Prince Harry's 'own goal' memoir will boost Royal popularity, analyst says

Gardiner further contended that the couple's Netflix documentary and public activities have driven the fall in their popularity.
Prince Harry, Meghan, London, England, June 9, 2018

Following the release of Prince Harry's memoir "Spare," his popularity in the United Kingdom has plunged deeply into the negative, in what one analyst has described as a "spectacular own goal."

Speaking on the "Just the News, No Noise" television show, Director of the Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom Niles Gardiner opined that the prince's tell-all book "really has burned all remaining bridges he has with the royal family."

"His memoir, 'Spare,' certainly sold very well. I believe it's sold like 400,000 copies. But the damage that it has done to Harry's reputation is absolutely immense," he said. "Prince Harry today is the most unpopular figure in Great Britain at the moment as his latest approval rating I see in the British media is minus 37 points."

"So Harry, I think is a deeply deeply unpopular figure. Meghan [Markle] is close behind in terms of unpopularity," Gardiner went on. "And I think Harry's scorched earth approach here, really fundamentally attacking his own family, his father, his brother, and practically everybody in the royal family comes under fire. Harry has done, I think, tremendous damage to his own standing, his own image. And this book is a real bridge burner in every respect."

He further contended that the couple's Netflix documentary and public activities have driven the fall in their popularity. "[T]he British public's turned hugely against it, also in America as well. I think they're increasingly unpopular here in the United States... And they are increasingly, I think, viewed as incredibly self-centered individuals, actually, who only care about their own fame and fortune. But their reputation is going down in flames as we speak."

Gardiner ultimately contended that the public attacks from Harry and his wife have actually served to boost the popularity of the rest of the royal family.

"I think the popularity of the British Royal Family has increased even further, actually, following all of these revelations and all of these attacks from from Prince Harry. And so the British people really have rallied around King Charles III and also around the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate. And I think what you are seeing is even stronger support for the royal family across the Atlantic and also here in the United States," Gardiner said.

"I think there's a great deal of sympathy for King Charles, for Camilla and also for for William and Kate as well, the Prince and Princess of Wales. While of course the publics on both sides of the Atlantic are turning against Harry and Meghan," he went on. "So a spectacular own goal really for Meghan and Harry."