Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's plans for an "American Royal Family" rebrand have been torn apart by a royal expert who claimed there is one thing that's made the Montecito couple cautious of their next moves.

Earlier this month the Duchess of Sussex soft launched her latest business venture - a lifestyle brand called American Riviera Orchard, along with a brand new Instagram page for it and a glitzy video to promote it - just hours before Prince William and later Prince Harry appeared in person and digitally, respectively, at the Diana Legacy Awards.

But the Princess of Wales's emotional video last Friday, when she announced her cancer diagnosis and sent shockwaves around the world - just weeks after King Charles's own cancer diagnosis was announced - could make the Sussexes rethink their strategy in fear of their popularity "plummeting" more.

Veteran royal commentator, Richard Fitzwilliams, claimed following the devastating news, Harry and Meghan can no longer "monetise" their royal connection and are left with little to do.

He told the Sun: "There isn't anything that the Sussexes are going to be able to do to monetise their connections with the Royal Family in the future that I can imagine. I would also think that Harry will be pretty devastated by the news of his father's treatment for cancer, and also what's happened to Catherine. Remember, their popularity is pretty low on both sides of the Atlantic, if anything else happened that was considered tasteless they would plummet."

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