Prince Harry’s crusade against Britain’s tabloid press has hit a fever pitch—and this time, the backlash might bury him. Fresh off his latest ITV documentary Tabloids on Trial, where he doubled down on blaming newspapers for his royal rift and personal woes, the Duke of Sussex is facing a swelling tide of outrage. Fans and critics alike are howling: “Stop blaming! You and your wife are the ones at fault!” Could this spark a boycott wave that finally sinks the Sussex brand?
In the documentary, originally aired in July 2024 but reignited in online debates this week, Harry, 40, framed his legal battles—winning £140,600 against Mirror Group Newspapers in 2023—as a noble fight against media intrusion. “It’s a central piece to the rift with my family,” he told ITV’s Rebecca Barry, lamenting that the royals didn’t join his war on Fleet Street. He tied the tabloids to everything from his mother Diana’s 1997 death to his and Meghan’s 2020 exit from royal duties. But the public’s patience seems to be snapping.
On X, the mood is venomous. “Harry’s whining about tabloids again—meanwhile, he and Meghan spill tea on Netflix and Oprah. Hypocrite much?” one user raged. Another jabbed, “Boycott their projects! They trash the royals, then cry victim when the press bites back.” The hashtag #BoycottHarry has trended sporadically since last summer, with some vowing to shun Meghan’s imminent With Love, Meghan cooking show, set to drop this month. “They’re the architects of their own mess,” a commenter sneered, echoing a growing sentiment that the Sussexes’ finger-pointing has worn thin.
Harry’s ITV sit-down wasn’t new—rebroadcasts and clips have kept it alive—but its timing feels like a match to dry grass. With Meghan’s Netflix debut looming, critics see his “tabloid blame game” as a PR misstep. “He’s flogging a dead horse,” a royal watcher posted. “The world loved him once—now he’s just the guy who won’t shut up.” Data backs the shift: Tabloids on Trial drew a modest 1.1 million viewers, trounced by a turbulence doc at 1.2 million, hinting his soapbox isn’t resonating.
The boycott buzz isn’t just chatter. Some X users are organizing—calling for a snub of Sussex-linked brands like BetterUp or Archewell projects. “They’ve burned every bridge,” one wrote. “No one’s buying their victim act anymore.” Yet, Harry’s defenders push back: “He’s exposing corruption—why blame him for fighting?” The divide is stark, but the louder chorus seems fed up, pinning the couple’s woes on their own choices—Megxit, Spare, the endless interviews—not the press they love to hate.
Is this the tipping point? Harry’s mission once rallied sympathy; now, it’s breeding scorn. As Meghan’s Netflix gamble nears, the boycott wave—real or rhetoric—looms like a shadow. Did the Sussexes overplay their hand, or are tabloids still the puppeteers? The answer might lie in the silence of their next move.
