The Duke and Duchess of Sussex hire all-star PR for a makeover
Enrique of England and Meghan Markle, who already have palace staff for these tasks, will use the services of Sunshine Sachs, who have helped Harvey Weinstein, Justin Timberlake or Naomi Campbell
The public image of the Dukes of Sussex is going through a difficult time. Their luxurious vacations aboard polluting and overpriced private jets are taking its toll on what is probably one of the most popular couples on the planet. Although Meghan Markle has tried to breathe renewal into the British royal family, there are those who are criticizing her for precisely that. She is considered a complicated woman with her equipment, given the various departures of her palace staff, as well as capricious, wasteful, and excessively jealous of privacy.
That image needs a change, the dukes must have thought, and that is why they have hired a company that knows how to renew it. Specifically, the couple has opted for a public relations company expert in crisis management called Sunshine Sachs, which is among the most powerful and well-known in the United States. This is reported by the British newspaper Daily Mail, which explains that it was Markle herself who has decided to bet on them. According to this medium, the firm is one of the most prominent when it comes to cleaning up the image of characters who have gone wrong, but it is often accused of using bad arts to achieve it.
Buckingham Palace does not welcome the arrival of an external consultancy - and its reputation is not entirely clean - for such a delicate matter, according to the Mail. In addition, the Windsors already have Sara Latham, who has helped , among others, to the Clintons when the Monica Lewinsky case came to light. "Hiring a Hollywood company to represent you on a public relations issue when you are a member of the royal family is unorthodox, to put it mildly," palace sources explain to the publication. The information confirmed by Buckingham is that the Dukes of Sussex have hired Sunshine Sachs, but as an extra help for the launch of their new foundation in the United States.
From now on, this company will be in charge of giving a turn to the damaged image of the dukes. It will be a challenge, but they have faced others of great importance. In 2015 they were in charge of representing Harvey Weinstein after the complaint of rape of the Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez. A scandal that, then, went relatively unnoticed. In fact, that complaint was then shelved, and the dozens of accusations of harassment against the mogul did not come to light until two years later.
This summer the criticisms have been even stronger against the Sussexes and have gone beyond their move to Frogmore House, the house in Windsor that they have completely renovated; of her babyshower in New York, where the Duchess stayed in an expensive hotel surrounded by stars and to which she traveled in the Clooney's private plane; or their luxurious weekend getaways (in April almost 40,000 euros were spent on three hotel nights). Now, the problem has come from the four private planes that they have used for their 11 days of vacation, between trips to the Balearic Islands and the French Riviera. They, who always show off their environmentalism, were criticized for using a jet that to do just under 1,400 kilometers (from England to Ibiza) has emitted six times more carbon than a commercial flight. Later, to go to Nice, they used a 12-seater plane whose rent is around 20,000 euros and which generates up to seven times more emissions than a commercial flight.
To alleviate these criticisms and to put on record his genuine concern for the environment, Prince Henry on Tuesday launched the Travalyst platform "a global initiative that will strive to change the impact of travel and for the better." For this, it has partnered with large companies in the sector such as Booking, Tripadvisor, Skyscanner and Ctrip, as well as with the payment company Visa. "Our goal is to ignite the spark of a movement that transforms the future of travel, placing communities at the heart of the solutions," they say from the platform led by the Duke of Sussex.
For her part, the Duchess is aware of the controversies generated by each and every one of her decisions. Despite her efforts and her attempts to arouse a different media attention, everything generates a stir. She herself confessed it a little over a month ago. During the premiere of The Lion King in London, surrounded by famous faces such as Beyoncé or Pharrell Williams and former colleagues who praised the dukes for their established relationship and their public infatuation, she said: "They do not make it easy at all." Hence, they seek help so that, at least, they do not make it so difficult for them.
It was also in 2015 when the founder of Sunshine Sachs admitted that, among other tactics, they hired people to edit Wikipedia pages to remove negative comments against their clients, something that the virtual encyclopedia itself prohibits. Something that caused a certain scandal, because the previous year the brand - founded in 1991 and employing about 185 people - had been named the best public relations company by The Observer.
In addition to Weinstein, the company has also handled other complex cases, with clients such as Justin Timberlake (who was helped when he showed Janet Jackson's nipple in the 2004 SuperBowl), Naomi Campbell (whose Wikipedia profile was deleted failed musical career and his problems with justice), Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bon Jovi or Aerosmith, in addition to advising companies such as Microsoft or eBay. Apparently, those who were the representatives of the Duchess when she worked on the series Suits, and who are now good friends and even attended her wedding, are those who have been recommended to her.
One of the issues that most worries the Duchess, according to the British media, is how her relationship with her brothers-in-law, William of England and Kate Middleton, the next heirs and future kings of the country, is seen from the outside. Enrique and Guillermo's relationship has always been very close, even when he was already married to Middleton and the three of them performed a multitude of acts together and attended events. However, the arrival of Markle seems to have destabilized that strong union, at least as the gestures and publications of the newspapers suggest. In fact, each of the couples already has their own foundation to carry out their acts and works of charity; a step, on the other hand, logical in her personal and professional evolution, given that Guillermo will one day inherit the throne and Enrique will have a more secondary role.
