Meghan Markle, Prince Harry Time Magazine Cover 'A Clever Ploy,' Royal Expert Claims

Royal expert Lady Colin Campbell recently weighed in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Time magazine cover in a new video on her YouTube channel.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex posed for their first magazine cover together for Time's annual 100 most influential people list, which was unveiled last week. However, their cover received criticism on social media, with some calling their portrait "fake" and photoshopped.

Campbell, author of several books on the British royal family including "Meghan and Harry: The Real Story," was among those who did not like the cover. In a Q&A video, she agreed with one social media user who claimed that Time chose to put Prince Harry and Markle on the cover because it "will get the publication talked about" and accused Time of deliberately choosing "awful" photos "for the added talking points."

Campbell claimed that the comment has "merits," explaining, "I mean, who buys Time? I certainly don't. I remember when I was a teenager my father bought Time and Newsweek every single week. Time was so respected in those days. But now, it's seen better days."

"I think it was a very clever ploy," the royal author further claimed of Prince Harry and Markle's cover. "I also think that the awful photographs would have been created to enhance the profile of not only the magazine, but [also] the people in the magazine."

Campbell also claimed in the description of the video that "Harry and Meghan's photographs in the Time piece were photoshopped into paeans to artificiality."

Amid the backlash, a number of experts and royal fans have also praised Prince Harry and Markle's cover. Atima Omara, a political strategist for the Democrats who spent 15 years on youth engagement, wrote on Twitter, "Great photo. Harry and Meghan are a couple from the British Royal Family that will find a way to make a unique contribution more than they would have actually staying a member of 'the firm,' as they call it."

Eric Schiffer, chairman of Reputation Management Consultants, told Newsweek that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Time cover "will be seen as a stab in the heart of the Monarchy's reputation" following the couple's accusations of racism against the firm.

According to the expert, Prince Harry and Markle being named one of the most influential people in the world gives them and their claims against the royal family a "greater implicit credibility."

Prince Harry and Markle's image was just one of the seven worldwide covers shot for the special 2021 Time100 edition. The others featured Simone Biles, Kate Winslet, Billie Eilish, writer Cathy Park Hong, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization.

In the Time issue, José Andrés, who has collaborated with the Sussexes through his World Central Kitchen, wrote of the couple, "In a world where everyone has an opinion about people they don't know, the duke and duchess have compassion for the people they don't know. They don't just opine. They run toward the struggle."