The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are on different coasts today for various events. Prince Harry will appear at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit, and then this evening, he’ll attend an art exhibition opening to benefit Sentebale in New York. Meghan will be in LA this evening at the Paley Center’s tribute ceremony for Tyler Perry. In September and October, a similar “separation” played out, as Harry went solo in New York, London, Lesotho and South Africa while Meghan was in Montecito and LA. Instead of just shrugging and admitting that Harry and Meghan are booked, busy, important and successful, the royalist/Deranger commentary has been screaming “professional SEPARATION” for months. Well, because of today’s events, Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast wrote yet another piece about it.

Representatives in the Sussex camp declined to comment on whether the couple’s plans for the day represented a broader strategic realignment. However, it has been widely reported that the couple are splitting their professional lives, with Harry concentrating on more “serious” aspects of philanthropic life with his wife focusing on more celebrity-driven commercial opportunities. Wednesday’s very different outings seem clear evidence of that intent. Whether or not it will work is another question.

Paula Froelich, entertainment correspondent and senior story editor for US cable channel NewsNation, whose previous gigs have included editing Page Six, and special correspondent for Entertainment Tonight and The Insider told The Daily Beast: “The current reset is: Harry focuses on charity ad Meghan focuses on commercial projects. They are trying to show they are individual powerhouses. It’s working for Harry but not so much for Meghan. It’s going to be interesting to see how she handles being constantly upstaged by her husband.”

Tony Case, a marketing expert and writer, told The Daily Beast that the overwhelmingly negative comments posted under the Polo trailer on YouTube are symptomatic of a broader problem—“The general apathy the public has for this pair”— adding: “This clearly is not a country that is rooting for Harry and Meghan.”

Warren Johnson, a veteran PR and marketing consultant who has worked with global consumer brands including Sony, Disney, Adidas, Tinder and Nobu, and is the eponymous boss of W Communications, told The Daily Beast: “I fear they may have drunk too much of their own Kool-Aid. 2+2=5 when it comes to creating celebrity couples from lesser individuals, and ‘Harry and Meghan’ is a classic example of that. Sadly, the maths the other way is less attractive; when the couple is divided by two you are left with an estranged royal and a jam making actress.”

Crisis prevention expert Drew Kerr of The Four Corners Group told The Daily Beast: “One or two appearances apart is nothing. Adults are allowed to be independent in 2024. But if it is consistent, over a period of time, let’s say three or four weeks, with no explanation, then people might be entitled to speculate that something else is going on. ‘Bennifer’ is the cautionary example here. Contrary to popular belief, facts don’t speak for themselves. If they are not communicating about the joint brand and where they stand, the silence is doing the talking. That means they’ve ceded control of their story to the press and social media.”

Ultimately, together or apart, many believe the couple have fatally damaged their brand by making bank out of selling royal secrets. Without a meaningful reconciliation, the conflict with Harry’s family will always remain far more interesting than the latest impact report from Archewell highlighting all the good things they have done. As Froelich says: “The only story the world wants to see from them now is if they ever got their head out of their asses, hired a non-sycophantic shrink who pointed out all the inconsistencies in their ‘truths’ and did what the rest of the world does on a regular basis: Make nice with their families, who may be imperfect, but love them.”

[From The Daily Beast]

All of this performative pearl-clutching over a couple who have repeatedly shown that they’re popular, busy and successful is actually hilarious. “What happens if Meghan and Harry continue to appear at public events on separate coasts?!?!” Well, the last time it happened, the Mail spent two weeks writing hysterical commentary about Meghan’s red dress, all while the same paper actively avoided the larger commentary about Harry’s meetings at the United Nations, not to mention his speech at the Clinton Global Initiative. That’s what will happen this week too – Harry will make a great appearance at the DealBook Summit and the art exhibit, and the British papers will obsess about Meghan’s appearance at the Paley Center. Also: this is a case of “pick of struggle” because the Sussexes made four international trips together this year (Canada, Jamaica, Nigeria and Colombia) and each and every one of those trips broke royalists’ brains and created a great deal of hysteria in the British media.

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Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.