Timing is everything. An expert says if With Love, Meghan premiered on the heels of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s relocation to the U.S., her popularity would likely be “very high right now.” Instead, With Love, Meghan is just the beginning of a “reputational recovery.” 

Meghan’s Netflix show is ‘the first step’ to improving her reputation

With Love, Meghan is a start on the Duchess of Sussex’s “road to reputational recovery,” Edward Coram James, a PR expert and chief executive of Go Up, told Newsweek. Although, in his opinion, she should’ve stayed out of the public eye for another year. 

Nevertheless, Meghan’s cooking, entertaining, and crafting series, which has been renewed for a second season, is a “step” in the right direction. “I think it is the first step on the road to reputational recovery,” he said of With Love, Meghan. 

However, he did note there’s “a certain contingent of people who will never give her the chance to recover reputationally. Maybe she’s permanently lost 25 to 30 percent of the population, but people do like to see reputational recovery.” 

By Coram James’ estimation, if Meghan “stays on track”—that means no throwing accusations at the royal family— “then in maybe four years [she] could have recovered her reputation to almost where it was pre-her leaving the U.K.”

Doing ‘With Love, Meghan’ in 2020 would’ve likely made her more popular

Elsewhere, the expert shared that With Love, Meghan would’ve gotten a better public reception had it premiered in 2020 following Harry and Meghan’s relocation to California. Now, after their bombshell Oprah interview, Netflix docuseries, and Spare, they don’t have lots of goodwill. 

“This is exactly what she should have been doing for the last three years from the moment that they left the U.K.,” Coram James said. “If she had been doing this from the very start and not having swipes at the royal family, I think her popularity would be very, very high right now.”

“If you remember that there was a time when the most controversial thing that her and Harry did was leave [the U.K.],” he went on. “At the time, that was considered a real reputational crisis, and that now pales into insignificance next to everything else.”

“If they had done this when they first left the U.K., it would have repaired the reputational damage because it’s her being nice and relatable within a home setting. She’s obviously very good on camera when she’s not taking swipes at people. That’s why she was a successful actress, and she’s being advised well right now.” 

Another option, the expert shared, would’ve been to hold off on releasing With Love, Meghan until 2026. 

Meghan has a ‘long’ way to go in her ‘reputational recovery’ 

So, where does this leave Meghan? Still chipping away at her “reputational recovery,” which, according to Coram James, will take some time. “The road to reputational recovery for her is a long one,” he said. Why? “Because her reputational deficit is so large and there’s not very much good will at all.” 

“When a famous person has a reputational crisis,” he explained, “often there’s enough good will that people think, ‘OK, she’s going to make it right, I want to see how.’” With Meghan, though, that’s not necessarily the case. “A lot of people don’t want to see her make it right.” 

“The overarching sentiment over the past year has been, ‘We just don’t want to see you, we’re bored of it,’” Coram James continued. “Disciplined” Meghan has “recognized” that, and in turn done the “best thing” of “say[ing] nothing and keep[ing] quiet.”

Now that it’s “come to an end,” Meghan’s attempting to “reinvent herself” with her Netflix show and As Ever lifestyle brand.