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Meghan is being perceived by many as the sole responsible for the choices made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex over the past 10 months, brand and reputation management expert Eric Schiffer said. The expert told Express.co.uk: “Meghan has become a catalyst for immense pain throughout Britain and what many see is a move by Harry to merchandise and disrespect the Crown. 

“And that has made people barking mad.”

The Duchess of Sussex, Mr Schiffer explained, was “vulnerable” upon arriving in Britain for being an outsider.

Her nationality, as well as her career and lack of royal connections, has contributed to polarising the opinion of the public.

Mr Schiffer continued: “Meghan is someone who was thirsty for Hollywood fame, who started out on the acting side and has proceeded with this Netflix deal on merchandising on behalf of the halo of royalty. 

“That would not have happened to Harry without Meghan.”

Asked whether he believed the Duchess of Sussex was being “blamed” for

Megxit and the moves made after it by her and Harry, Mr Schiffer said: “Meghan is absolutely getting blamed in part for Harry’s choices.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their intention to step down as senior royals in January. 

Explaining what they were hoping for their future, Meghan and Harry said in an Instagram post they wanted to carry on representing the Crown but also wanted financial independence and the freedom to live abroad to protect their privacy.

When senior royals ruled out the possibility to grant them a ‘half-in, half-out’ solution, Meghan and Harry relinquished their ability to carry out royal engagements and the use of their HRH styles.

Similarly, Prince Harry also had to give up his honorary military titles.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have since moved to California and positioned themselves as speakers and advocates of issues close to their hearts.

Over the past few months, Meghan spoke about voter registration ahead of the US vote in November.

She and Harry also touched upon female empowerment and education in a video call with Nobel Peace Prize Malala Yousafzai.

More recently, the pair have led a panel of experts as part of the Time 100 Talks entirely focused on social media and the digital world.

The Sussexes expressed their concerns at the impact the online community is having on real life, with Harry saying it is stoking the crisis of truth, health and hate. 

This event took place a few hours before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex launched the website of their foundation, Archewell.

The Duke and Duchess are yet to speak in-depth about the goals of this charitable platform, set to replace the never-launched Sussex Foundation.

Its website at the moment only presents the meaning of the organisation’s name, a mailing list and the title “Building Better Communities”.

Since moving to California, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have also become TV producers.

The pair announced in September they had struck a multi-year deal with Netflix, which will see Meghan and Harry create content exclusively for this streaming platform.  

This deal sparked outrage among a few royal commentators, who claimed the couple had “exploited” their royal links to get the deal.

Royal biographer Angela Levin said, appearing on True Royalty: “I think that it’s the biggest exploitation of the Royal Family in our lifetime.

“I don’t think this could have been done very quickly that they come out of the Royal Family, they’ve got all their PR and agents set up, they negotiate with Netflix, wham bam here’s £150million for your future.

“I think this was plotted right from the very beginning, before the wedding.

“We know that they set up their website before the wedding and I think that this is using them.”   

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