Prince Harry, Meghan Markle 'Aren't Selling When On Magazine Covers,' Royal Expert Says

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's popularity appears to have plummeted since they stepped down as senior members of the royal family and no longer sell as many magazines when they are on the cover, a royal expert has suggested.

Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, discussed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during a recent appearance on the "Royally Obsessed" podcast, where she revealed that magazines featuring the royal couple on the cover don't really sell anymore.

Seward said that she stopped having Prince Harry and Markle on the cover of Majesty "a while ago" and that Hello! magazine had informed her it noticed the same decrease in popularity for the royal couple.

"It just wasn't selling, the magazine wasn't selling when they were on the cover," the royal author said on the Thursday episode of the podcast. "I would like to have them on the cover, but it just doesn't seem to work. I find that weird and interesting."

Seward referenced a recent YouGov poll on royal popularity whose results revealed that Prince Harry and Markle's positive impression among U.K. adults has decreased significantly. The royal biographer described the poll's results as "extraordinary."

Seward then suggested that British citizens do not approve of Prince Harry abandoning his royal duties but continuing to use his status as a royal family member to score gigs and earn money.

"I think it's because the British people feel that Harry's deserted us, and Meghan is probably the reason he's done so. Rather than saying wasn't he clever, wasn't he great, he got out," Seward explained.

"The perception is that he was pretty lucky to be where he was in the first place," she continued. "There aren't too many royal princes around so why did he have to give it all up? Yet he still seems to be living off his name, that's the reason that all these things have come to them. He wants to take advantage of all that but not put in the hard work on the other side. I think that is the perception, though I think it's very different in the U.S."

Podcast co-host, Roberta Fiorito, however, noted that the opposite was true for Prince Harry and Markle in the U.S., where the duke and duchess have now settled down with their son, Archie.

"It is interesting because I feel like their popularity here skyrocketed. So it's interesting to see the perception over in the U.K," Fiorito said.

On YouGov's latest "Royal Favorability Tracker," Prince Harry received 48% positive ratings and 47% negative among adult respondents in the U.K., giving him a net score of 1.

Meanwhile, 33% of adult respondents had a good impression of Markle, while nearly 59% had a negative opinion of her, resulting in a favorability score of -26 for the duchess.