Is Prince Harry losing his star power? Experts say Prince ‘brings negative PR’ as he is airbrushed from Travalyst relaunch – and warn Duke taking a step back will ‘frustrate passion projects’ who rely on his name
Prince Harry has ‘begun to lose his star power’ and has become a ‘lightning rod for negative PR’, experts said today after he was overlooked by the Travalyst relaunch.
The Duke of Sussex‘s sustainable tourism project announced that it has entered an ‘incredibly exciting’ era with a new board of directors – with no mention of the royal.
The independent non-profit organisation based in London was launched by the Duke of Sussex in 2019, when he was still a working royal, with wife Meghan Markle.
Harry spent three years as the public face of the initiative to encourage the tourism industry to become more sustainable – despite a furore over his use of private jets.
But he was left out of a major announcement by the group in May about its transition from a ‘pilot phase’ to a new board of five people with ‘world-class expertise’.
PR experts said today that Harry had become a ‘polarising figure’ and business would ‘second think their association’ with him amid the ‘negativity’ after his book Spare.
Brand and culture expert Nick Ede told MailOnline: ‘There is a problem with brand Harry and that’s that in the space of only a few years he has begun to lose his star power, authenticity and ability to elevate brands and good causes he believes in.
September 2019 – Prince Harry launches his Travalyst initiative at A’dam Tower in Amsterdam
September 2019 – Harry addresses an audience as he launches Travalyst in Amsterdam
September 2019 – The announcement of Travalyst on the ‘Sussex Royal’ Instagram account
May 2022 – Harry plays a role in a sketch for a new initiative in New Zealand for Travalyst
‘Businesses rely on spokespeople who engage their audience, elevate by association and generally benefit from the relationship. The tide of negativity towards the Prince post the book Spare has made businesses second think their association.
‘Whilst Harry can be perceived as a man on a mission to right many wrongs and take institutions to task, this one-man crusade may not fit in to the narrative of the businesses he put his name to on leaving the UK.’
Mr Ede added: ‘Harry has become a polarising figure and when businesses have spent big money on their star spokespeople they don’t want to deal with negativity from the media, shareholders and stakeholders.
‘This is going to be an issue for Harry for a while as South Park made a mockery of him and this satirical opinion of him has stayed glued into many people’s minds and has damaged his brand terribly.’
Travalyst’s statement about its changes was made eight days after Harry and Meghan’s spokesman said the couple had been involved in a ‘near-catastrophic’ car chase while being followed by paparazzi in New York after the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards.
The NYPD later seemed to soften the couple’s dramatic account, saying ‘there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries or arrests’ related to the incident.
Harry, 38, is still in regular contact with the Travalyst chief executive and board behind the scenes and remains committed to it, according to a report in Newsweek. In addition, the Duke is still listed on the Travalyst website as its ‘founder and patron’.
But it is notable that he was not used as a promotional tool for the revamp – given how prominently he has previously been involved in conferences and marketing.
BETTERUP – Prince Harry is also involved with professional coaching and mental health firm BetterUp, after taking up a role as chief impact officer in March 2021
ETHIC – Harry and Meghan joined US ethical money manager Ethic as ‘impact partners’ in October 2021. Ethic was founded in 2015 by (from left) Jay Lipman, Doug Scott and Johny Mair
ASPEN INSTITUTE — Harry joined the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder in 2021 to look at the state of US media. It is based in this building in Washington DC
PR expert Sean O’Meara, managing director of Manchester-based agency Essential Content, said the change of approach at Travalyst could be due to the marketing difficulties presented by the negative publicity often faced by Harry.
He told MailOnline today: ‘This move to lower Harry’s prominence as Travalyst enters a new phase of growth looks and feels strategic. It’s not an oversight. And it very well could be at Harry’s request or at the request of his advisors.
‘Many in the PR industry, myself included, were speculating in the press earlier this year about how he might rehabilitate and refresh his media profile and one of the most common recommendations was for Harry to step away from centre stage and give himself and the organisations he’s associated with some breathing room.
‘Harry had become something of a lightning rod for negative PR which was harming perceptions of the organisations he was trying to support.’
Mr O’Meara said that the downside to a ‘brand ambassador’ approach to PR is that when the ‘halo effect’ of endorsement or association with a public figure wears off, it is ‘significantly more difficult to attract attention and generate the required media coverage to build awareness’.
He added: ‘This is by far the biggest risk facing brands that partner with public figures to build awareness; their perceptions are tied to, and become a function of, perceptions of the celebrity.
‘When things are going well for the celebrity the organisation benefits too. It’s easy to get attention. When things become challenging and the celebrity’s appetite for seeing themselves in the press wanes, that has a downstream effect on their partners and affiliates.’
And another PR expert Andy Barr, co-founder of Gloucester-based agency 10 Yetis Digital, told MailOnline: ‘Harry has really stepped back from the glare of the media in recent months and this is to be expected given the negativity and public outcry that came from him washing his dirty linen in public.
‘He won’t want the causes that he is most passionate about to become embroiled in rows about his own decision making so he has clearly decided to reduce the amount of mentions of his own name.
‘You can expect his name to be used far more when his brand starts to improve, which it most certainly will given the army of image and PR advisors he has access too.
‘For now though, it’s low profile time and this is undoubtably going to frustrate some of the passion projects companies that he has signed up to as they rely on his name to make their stories travel further.’
In April 2020, Harry was listed on Companies House under the name of ‘Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex’ as an ‘individual person with significant control’ when the project was incorporated as a company. Documents confirmed the Duke held 75 per cent or more of the shares and voting rights.
At the time there were two company directors listed on Companies House – James Holt, who remains one of the Duke’s most senior aides, and Heather Wong, who worked as Harry’s assistant private secretary at Kensington Palace for three years before he quit the Royal Family. She left Travalyst in March 2021.
Sally Davey, who is now Travalyst’s chief executive, was appointed as a director one day later on Companies House.
Harry officially launched Travalyst in September 2019 at a time when he and Meghan were facing intense criticism after reportedly taking four private jet journeys in 11 days.
The Duke defended himself at the time , saying ‘no one is perfect’ and that what is important is ‘what we do to balance’ out negative effects.
Harry flew to the Netherlands on a commercial plane for the launch event in Amsterdam, having spent three years working on the initiative which was founded along with brands including Booking.com, Skyscanner, Tripadvisor, Trip.com and Visa.
July 25 – The most recent press release for Travalyst mentions Prince Harry towards the bottom
June 8 – The second most recent press release also has Harry mentioned near the bottom
May 24, 2023 – Travalyst’s statement about its ‘next phase of growth’, with no mention of Harry
December 7, 2022 – Harry is mentioned at the top of a Travalyst press release issued last year
October 25, 2022 – In another Travalyst press release last year, Harry is mentioned at the top
Then in February 2020, in one of his last events as a working royal before stepping down and moving to the US with Meghan, he spoke at a Travalyst event in Edinburgh in which he memorably asked to be introduced just as ‘Harry’.
The conference was organised for Harry and his Travalyst team to gain feedback from the travel industry on new ideas for sustainability, with about 100 people from the tourism and travel industries invited to join the working summit.
Months later in July that year, he made an opening speech at a virtual global summit for Travalyst, urging the travel industry to ‘build back better’ after the pandemic.
This appearance was notable because it was his first public appearance since a series of royal revelations were published in Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s book Finding Freedom.
The following year, in February 2021, he wrote the foreword to a report by Travalyst in which he suggested that Covid-19 offered the travel industry the chance to ‘jump-start a wholescale realignment’ towards a sustainable future.
And then in May 2022, Harry played a starring role in a sketch for a new initiative in New Zealand for Travalyst in which he jogged through a forest before being accused of dropping a lolly wrapper four years earlier on a trip to the country.
The Duke delivered several phrases in Te Reo Maori for the clip, which he launched on Maori Television’s current affairs programme Te Ao with Moana.
But fast forward 12 months to May 24 this year, and Travalyst announced it was moving into its ‘next phase of growth’ – with no mention of Harry in the press release.
February 2020 – Harry at a Travalyst summit at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre
July 2020 – Harry gives a speech at a virtual global summit for Travalyst during the pandemic
May 2022 – Harry plays a role in a sketch for a new initiative in New Zealand for Travalyst
A statement by Travalyst chief executive Ms Davey said the ‘original coalition comprising five founding partners has now almost doubled in size to nine partners with a combined market value of nearly $2trillion’.
Among these new partners is Google, which joined in September 2021.
The announcement added: ‘Today we formally mark the end of Travalyst’s pilot phase with the appointment of a new board to govern and guide us on our journey ahead to delivering major positive and system-changing impact.
‘The board is composed of individuals with world-class expertise in impact, systems change, not-for-profit governance, advocacy, and campaigning for a just and sustainable world.’
The new board members were listed as India Gary-Martin, founder and chief executive of Leadership for Execs; Clea Kaske-Kuck, director for policy, advocacy and member mobilisation at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development; Dr Sally Uren, chief executive of Forum for the Future; James Whiting, chief executive of Doughty Street Chambers; and Henrietta Worthington, lawyer with Vedder Price.
Ms Davey also wrote: ‘This is an incredibly exciting moment for Travalyst and, I believe, for the industry as we stride ahead into our next phase of growth and expansion to ensure our work is freely available to all, used by all and catalyses the positive transformation of the sector.’
The announcement has also not been mentioned in the press releases section of Harry and Meghan’s Archewell website.
May 16, 2023 – Harry and Meghan at the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards in New York
May 26, 2023 – Travalyst chair India Gary-Martin mentions Harry in her Instagram statement
Today – Prince Harry is still listed on the Travalyst website as its ‘founder and patron’
But Harry was given a mention by Ms Gary-Martin, chair of the board, in her own personal Instagram announcement on May 26, in which she said: ‘Really exciting to announce that I’ve accepted the role as the Chair of the board of Travalyst.
‘Founded by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, we are conveners and drivers of sustainability in travel and tourism working with the world’s biggest corporations to drive standards and make sure we aren’t taking out more than we put in – particularly in the places that are most impacted.’
There have been two further press releases posted on the Travalyst website in 2023, which both simply mention in the ‘about Travalyst’ section at the bottom that the project was ‘founded by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex in 2019’.
According to Companies House documents, prior to the May 2023 announcement of the five-person board, Mr Holt and Ms Davey were the two directors of Travalyst.
MailOnline has contacted representatives for Travalyst and the Sussexes for comment today. Both declined to comment when contacted by Newsweek.
