Harry and Meghan's American dream in tatters? How the Sussexes 'ran out of steam' in the US amid doomed Netflix deal - and now face having to swallow 'large slices of humble pie'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's American dream is in tatters after they 'ran out of steam' amid their doomed deals with Netflix and Spotify, PR experts said today.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex face having to swallow 'large slices of humble pie' as they plan to move back to Britain this month, six years after relocating to the US.The couple will make their new home in a non-royal residence outside of London and they have already enrolled Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in British schools.Harry and Meghan's dramatic announcement comes despite them having established a comfortable American life with the children at their home in Montecito, California.The duke appears to have enjoyed spending quality time with Archie and Lilibet in his Californian bubble while surfing and taking his dogs for walks on the beach.He has also made comedy sketch appearances on US chat shows, while Meghan has built up a business with her As Ever brand selling jam, wine and flower sprinkles.Despite them having decided to move back to Britain, there will be no change to their role and status as private individuals and non-working members of the royal family.And PR guru Mark Borkowski told the Daily Mail that Harry and Meghan will both have to eat 'large slices of humble pie' if they are to make a success of their UK return.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in their Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan in 2022 Harry and Meghan with their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in December 2025He said: 'It's clear they've run out of steam in the United States, so they now have to be very cautious in how they reintegrate themselves back into British society.'The public relations and crisis expert said that the Sussexes had to determine what exactly their 'brand' is and take 'small cautious steps' toward establishing it.Mr Borkowski, who has worked for Joan Rivers, Sir Cliff Richard and Graham Norton, believes Harry's return is due in part to his 'deep conditioning' as a life-long royal.He continued: 'This guy has been brought up to be part of the establishment, born into the royal family, then gone to the Army, with the values of church, state and whatever. It's been embedded in him from an early age, and no amount of Californian sun could remove that.'I know loads of people who have gone off to the States, then returned for the sake of their children's education, but in this case, it's a bit more complex, because their particular version of the American dream seemed to have run out of steam after their Netflix deal was cancelled.'Harry still has a lot going for him and there will be a lot of interest from charities and others to get him on board, but that's where he will have to be careful about choosing only stuff that won't put noses out of joint over at Clarence House.'Meghan and Harry set up their Archewell Foundation in the US focused on supporting humanitarian relief, campaigning for child online safety and supporting community projects, and later rebranded it as Archewell Philanthropies.The couple have also focused on their philanthropic charity work, and secured a lucrative $100million contract with Netflix in 2020 after quitting as senior royals.But they signed a watered-down first look deal with the streaming giant in August last year after Meghan's lifestyle show With Love, Meghan was panned by critics.The couple's lucrative media deal with Spotify in 2023 also ended after one season of Meghan's podcast Archetypes, with the firm's executives branding them 'grifters'. The media deal with Spotify in 2023 ended after one season of Meghan's podcast Archetypes Meghan and Harry at an Archewell Foundation event on mental health in New York in 2023 Mr Borkowski said that apart from their business strategy, the return of the Sussexes will also require broken bridges to be mended.'First and foremost, Harry will have to try and mend his relationship with his brother and that will require eating an enormous amount of humble pie, both for him and Meghan,' he said. 'He's got to win back William and his father.'Meghan's staggering 'churn' rate of key aides and PR advisors while she was in the US suggests that she is unwilling to listen to those around her, he added, claiming that 'she always thought she knew best, and that was clearly not the case'.Mr Borkowski said: 'Coming back here she's a fish out of water. So the one thing she needs above all else is a trusted advisor who can be a critical friend, whose advice she actually takes on board as she navigates the British landscape.'What is next for Meghan is the biggest question out of all of this. She still has huge value as a 'brand', but she has to be careful how she pitches that.'She will now be under huge media scrutiny, even if she should choose to go down the shops, and this move will be expensive for them in terms of maintaining their security and their privacy.'He also branded Harry and Meghan's news 'extraordinary', and suggested the royal family will not want them 'back in the camp'.Mr Borkowski continued: 'If we're going to see the typical Harry and Meghan three-ring circus, then we know what happens when that is played out.'That leads to massive disruption, and ultimately if they're going to use the same tools in the same way – they've got to come up with a different play and a different script – that's just repeating the sins of the past.'He added: 'The royal family will push against this big time. They will not want them back in the camp. They've got to do this by themselves. I don't believe this is reconciliation with the royal household at all.'Dominic Patten, executive editor of Hollywood publication Deadline.com, said he believed the couple 'didn't achieve the superstar status they wanted' in the US. Prince Harry speaks at a roundtable event about support for veterans in Washington last night He added that they did however keep the public interested in their story in an area full of big-name celebrities.'He and Meghan have kept that flame aflutter,' Mr Patten said. 'If you look at how quickly Hollywood careers can burn out, on that level, by that metric, they've been successful.'But in the UK, the Sussexes have faced falling approval ratings ever since they left in acrimonious circumstances - amid a series of barbs directed towards the royal family.A YouGov poll found last month that just 22 per cent of Britons see Meghan in a positive light, compared with 65 per cent who hold an unfavourable opinion of the former actress, with 33 per cent seeing Harry positively and 58 per cent negatively. The King, who is still living with cancer, was first made aware of their move on Sunday, only three days before it was made public, but is understood to welcome the opportunity to see more of the family both in a private and personal capacity.But their status will remain the same, with the couple not being offered a 'half-in-half-out' option when it comes to their roles.The Sussexes' decision raises the question of how the news will be met by the Prince and Princess of Wales.William – a future king – is estranged from his brother after Harry levelled a barrage of accusations against the prince, Kate, the King and Queen Camilla in the years since the Megxit crisis of 2020.The move is also likely to spark debate as to how the British public will react to the U-turn, after the criticism the Sussexes have made about the royal family and the institution of the monarchy.The Sussexes will retain their homes in Montecito and Portugal, while the duchess will continue to run As Ever from their new base. Harry and former Suits star Meghan, who married at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle in May 2018, were once dubbed part of the 'Fab Four' with the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. But in March 2019, Buckingham Palace announced Harry and Meghan would set up their own household, breaking from the joint operation they had with William and Kate, amid media reports of rifts between the two couples.In January 2020, the duke and duchess announced they intended to step back as 'senior' members of the royal family, become financially independent, still support Elizabeth II, but split their time between the UK and North America.The late Queen ruled at the Sandringham Summit, which was convened to resolve the crisis, that the couple could not be half in and half out.By March 2020, they had set up a permanent home in California, officially stepped down as senior royals and stopped using their HRH styles.The shock announcement comes less than two months after the duke was trying to find a way to safely bring his wife and children to the UK to mark the one-year countdown to the Invictus Games in Birmingham.At the end of June, he was still waiting for a review by the Risk Management Board (RMB), part of the process by which the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) rules on his security requirements – and he and his security detail were working behind the scenes to try to ensure the visit could take place safely.Meghan was able to travel to the UK in July with Archie and Lilibet to join Harry when he came to the end of a week-long series of events promoting the games.During the visit, the duke and duchess took their children to see the King for the first time in four years at his Highgrove home, but are not thought to have raised the prospect of a return to the UK at that meeting.The Invictus Games take place from July 10 to 17 next year, with Birmingham expected to welcome around 550 wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans, and their families, from 25 nations.A spokesman for the duke and duchess has been contacted for comment today.