Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s attempt to "build bridges and move on" has come "far too late," a royal commentator has suggested.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been faced with a series of bruising setbacks amid their apparent "charm offensive".
Meghan recently celebrated her 44th birthday, marking the occasion with a social media post in which she thanked her "husband, friends and family for making it so special.
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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's latest moves have been described as a 'charm offensive' to help 'build bridges'
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"To those of you I don’t know, but who send love every day - thank you so much.
"Please know I feel it and appreciate it," she added alongside an image of her blowing out candles on a cake.
Harry has also seemingly embarked on steps towards rapprochement with King Charles and the Royal Family in recent months.
In July, representatives of the Duke and King Charles held a secret peace summit in London.
It later emerged that Harry had also offered to share his diary dates with the firm, seemingly to avoid engagement overlaps and potentially facilitate a meeting.
These moves have been described as a "charm offensive" by former royal editor Duncan Larcombe.
The Sussexes efforts were deemed 'far too late' amid several bruising setbacks
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"They’re on a charm offensive and have employed people to help improve their image, and show they’re trying to build bridges and move on," he observed.
"It’s very much to make them appear like good guys who are trying to make friends.
However, the commentator felt their efforts came "far too late" to make a difference.
To make matters worse, the Sussexes have been stung by a series of setbacks, not least Harry’s very public falling out with his Sentebale charity.
Harry has faced criticism for the public collapse of his relationship with the charity Sentebale
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The Duke was cleared of any accusations of bullying and other abuses in The Charity Commission's report this week but was criticised, along with rival chair Dr Sophie Chandauka, for allowing the rift to be aired in the public eye.
"It’s embarrassing for him to be told he damaged the charity’s reputation and risked its good work.
"It was a cause he cared about but, by letting it play out so publicly, it backfired. He’ll probably be incredibly angry and hurt that it’s added fuel to an already burning fire," Larcombe told The Mirror.
The former editor felt that the Duchess of Sussex was also taking flak for her social media strategy, observing that: "Everything Meghan does seems to attract negativity, particularly in the UK."
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Meghan has also seen her approval ratings in the UK sink to record low levels
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"She’s a very emotional person and takes things personally, so it probably feels like she can’t do anything right a lot of the time.
"She was heavily criticised for some of her recent videos, and when she goes quiet, she’s criticised for that, too," he said.
The commentator’s suspicions appear to have been confirmed by a recent bombshell poll from YouGov which showed 67 per cent of the British public held a negative view of Meghan and 62 per cent felt similarly about Harry.
YouGov described the results as a "little different" from its previous survey in May, although the Duchess's figure remains the joint-lowest on record.