It was meant to be their great reinvention — a sun-drenched Californian life built on authenticity, purpose and a carefully curated brand. But as Meghan Markle watches her popularity ratings slide and her website traffic crater, sources close to the Duchess say she has a very clear idea of who deserves some of the blame: her husband.
New data from YouGov America paints an uncomfortable picture for the Duchess of Sussex. The polling found that Meghan's favourability in the United States has dropped from 37% in 2025 to just 29% at the start of this year — a near ten-point fall in a matter of months. Meanwhile, Newsweek reports that traffic to her lifestyle brand As Ever fell by 89,000 visits in the US in January alone. For someone who has staked so much of her post-royal identity on building a successful consumer brand, those are sobering numbers.
'Beyond Demoralising'
Friends and insiders say that even Meghan — famously steely under pressure, and reportedly nicknamed Tungsten by King Charles after the metal with the highest melting point — is struggling to absorb the scale of it. One source close to the couple is candid about the toll it is taking.
"Meghan can ignore a lot of criticism; she's usually extremely resilient, but this is coming from a pretty legitimate source. It's beyond demoralising. She's put so much effort into her brand over the last couple of years — to get this kind of lacklustre response is a very painful reality."
What has been unkindly labelled the Sussexes' 'flop era' by commentators online shows little sign of ending, with one royal watcher brutally summarising the polling data as a 'memo from the global public at large: please go away.' It is, by any measure, a long way from the couple's defiant 2020 exit from royal life — and from the multi-million pound deals with Netflix and Spotify that followed.
Harry Steps Back While Meghan Pushes Forward
The financial pressure appears to be sharpening tensions within the marriage itself. With Harry, 41, increasingly gravitating towards charitable endeavours and seemingly distancing himself from the Hollywood scene — he was photographed looking visibly flat at Kris Jenner's birthday party in November — reports suggest Meghan, 44, has effectively become the household's primary earner as their finances run 'tight.'
Sources say that dynamic has begun to breed resentment. Insiders claim Meghan has been urging Harry to engage more actively in promoting the Sussex brand, frustrated by what she sees as his passive reluctance to get involved.
"She's complained that he acts as though he's above it all, when in reality they can't afford to be above it. She wants Harry to pull his head out of the sand and start taking this seriously."
The insider adds that if the couple were hitting their financial targets, Harry's more measured approach to the spotlight would be far easier to tolerate. But with revenue falling short of expectations, his reluctance to champion their shared ventures has become a flash point.
An 'Unfortunate Crossroads'
Royal biographer Tom Bower, never one to soften his analysis of the Sussexes, recently described the couple as having reached an 'unfortunate crossroads.' Speaking to Talk TV, Bower argued that Harry was never truly driven by the kind of material ambition that now defines so much of Meghan's professional outlook. 'He had all the fame he needed,' Bower said. 'The problem is she can't earn money anymore and now finds herself needing to find a new way for the rest of her life.'
Whether or not that assessment is entirely fair, the numbers do suggest that the Sussex brand is losing altitude on both sides of the Atlantic. The question now is whether Meghan can reverse that trajectory — and whether Harry is willing to get on board to help her try.
