Explained: Why Harry and Meghan are losing their popularity in US

Meghan and Harry, once the most popular couple in US is losing their popularity. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are facing a barrage of negative energy in the US as per a royal expert who believes the ‘tide has shifted’ and their popularity is steadily taking a hit. So, the big question is with Harry and Meghan losing popularity in US and they not welcomed in UK, where do they go? But not just Meghan, both are responsible for this messy situation.

Talking to Express UK, the host of the Royally US podcast, Christine Ross, suggested that while the Duke and Duchess of Sussex enjoyed good press in the US since breaking away from British royals, US media and people in general must now be ‘tired’ of them.

“Americans used to fall into three camps. They were either passionately pro-Sussex or firmly anti-Sussex, and everyone in between didn’t really care either way,” Ross said, adding that there has now been a ‘shift in attitudes’.

“Now, we’re seeing a real shift towards the negative as Americans have been barraged with Meghan and Harry’s magazine interviews, Netflix series, book, and press tour,” she said. Ross continued: “The tide has shifted as Americans are now growing weary of the drama and the lack of any actual work or philanthropy.” The comments come just weeks after a Newsweek poll revealed that Prince Harry is disliked by 42% of Americans, and has a net approval rating of a dismal -10.

Harry & Meghan’s shaky situation in US

Among all these confusion,  Prince Harry’s US visa is at risk now because of his memoir Spare in which the Duke of Sussex admitted to using recreational drugs before he left the UK after stepping down from the royal duties and shifted to the United States.

The Heritage Foundation, one of the country’s preeminent right-wing think tanks, is arguing that US officials should release the details of the prince’s application so Americans can see whether or not he was properly vetted before being allowed to enter the country. Applicants for US visas are typically asked about their criminal history and drug use.

The Duke of Sussex, 38, wrote that he smoked marijuana while he and his family were staying at US actor Tyler Perry’s house in Los Angeles in 2020, after they left Canada. In the memoir he wrote: “Late at night, with everyone asleep, I would walk the house, checking the doors and windows. Then I would sit on the balcony or the edge of the garden and roll a joint.”

In his memoir, Spare, Harry also reflects on sharing a ‘spliff’ with friends in his Eton days in a tiny washroom. He writes in the memoir, “I knew this was bad behaviour. I knew it was wrong. My mates knew too. We talked about it often, while stoned, how stupid we were to be wasting an Eton education.”

“This request is in the public interest in light of the potential revocation of Prince Harry’s visa for illicit substance use and further questions regarding the Prince’s drug use and whether he was properly vetted before entering the United States,” Mike Howell, director of the foundation’s Oversight Project, told the Daily Mail.

The foundation’s push for information on Harry’s visa application comes after the Prince revealed his use of a range of substances including marijuana, mushrooms, and cocaine during his promotion of his new book Spare.

He revealed that he was offered a line of cocaine during a hunting weekend. Admitting that he lied to the Royal Household staff during his interrogation, Harry mentioned that taking cocaine wasn’t much fun and he did it partly to be different and because he was a seventeen-year-old willing to try almost anything that would upset the established order.

He wrote: ‘It wasn’t much fun, and it didn’t make me feel particularly happy the way the others seemed to, but it did make me feel different, and that was my main goal. To feel. To be different.’

Nevertheless, if Harry failed to disclose his past drug use on his visa application, he could be barred from applying for US citizenship and even deported from the country where he has lived for nearly three full years. Meghan Markle, Harry’s wife, is an American citizen who was born in the Los Angeles area. Their two children were both born in the US as well.

The federal government making the details of Harry’s visa application public would be highly unusual — visa applications are confidential under the terms of the Immigration and Nationality Act — but Harry’s past drug use could also theoretically affect future visa applications.

It is not currently clear what kind of US visa Harry holds, though the Daily Mail reported that he is believed to hold either a spousal visa or an O-1 visa granted to people possessing an “extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics” or a record of extraordinary achievement in film or television.

O-1 visas are initially granted for three years, meaning that if Harry has that type of visa, he may have to re-apply this year with elements of his past drug use now public.

(With added inputs from agencies)

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