Meghan Markle officially joined the Royal Family on May 19 last year, when she married Prince Harry and became the Duchess of Sussex. The former actress has since struggled with the public and the media, both because she has been subjected to vile attacks from online trolls and because of her and Harry’s privacy demands. But the Duke and Duchess of Sussex must learn how to negotiate their requests with the press and the public, according to PR expert Anthony Burr. The CEO of Burr Media believes Meghan should have known a royal title comes at a price. 

He told Express.co.uk: “There is nothing normal about being part of the Royal Family, and Meghan knew that before she made that commitment.

“On entering public life, normality is never retained.

“She can’t have her cake and eat it. It needs to be shared around.”

However, there is a way for both Meghan and Harry to work around their privacy issues, Mr Burr said. 

By allowing the press to take a peep into their lives on certain issues – such as christenings and royal events, which the media have historically been allowed to report – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would be granted a sort of grace period, the PR expert explained.

He continued: “In my opinion, she needs to engage a new strategy and work with the media and the public by cooperating on access at certain times.

“If Meghan does this correctly, then she will rarely be questioned when she wants privacy during other periods.”

Meghan and Harry seem to have been escalating their attempts to shun the media and public attention in the past months.

The couple have been trying to keep details regarding the birth of their son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor, a secret.

They have also broken from the tradition of a photocall on the steps of the hospital where the royal baby was born started by Princess Diana and introduced little Archie to the world only after hand-picking a handful of press reporters and photographers for an indoor photoshoot.

And Meghan and Harry have refused to reveal who Archie’s godparents are following his christening on July 6, when he was two-month-old.

Mr Burr had previously told Express.co.uk the Sussexes must “repair the damages” done to their public image by some of the choices they have taken.

The PR expert believes the couple, and Meghan in particular as she is transitioning from a completely different world, must take three steps to return in the grace of the public.

He said: “Firstly, Meghan needs to stop acting like a celebrity who starred on TV and begin the process of learning to be a Duchess.

“But she can’t do it alone, she needs help mostly from her husband, who knows how this works better than anyone.

“It just seems that at the moment his priority is to make sure that his new wife is as happy as she can be in her new surroundings and that with a new baby, she is not stressed out. This is understandable.

“Yet, he also needs her to appreciate that Royal Family members are the most public figures in the country, if not the world.

“If you want the splendours of the royal life, you have to make sacrifices… and privacy is top of that list of sacrifices.

“Secondly, Meghan also has to stop doing her friends in the media favours above the British media.

“Her press secretary should be more firm about this.

“You have to build long term relationships with media organisations, where favours are made and repaid over a period of months and years.

“Thirdly, she cannot act as a one-woman band, calling all the shots, as she simply has not the experience to deal with how the complicated but extremely popular brand called ‘The Royal Family’ works.

“It is a publicity machine like no other. 

“Draw on the experience of those within the palace walls who have been there and done it.

“The royals have had hiccups before and overcome them with gusto.

“The Queen changed her strategy following the death of Diana.

“A decade ago, when the financial crisis hit everyone’s pockets, Prince William and his entourage were criticised for spending thousands of tax payers’ money in nightclubs and pictured drunkenly falling out of taxis.

“He quickly changed his lifestyle. It’s now time for Meghan to learn from her mistakes, as the Queen and William did from theirs, and get the public back on side.”    

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