PRINCE Harry has suffered yet another PR gaffe at a Z-list awards ceremony.
The former Army officer accepted the Living Legend of Aviation award, in recognition of his time flying Apache helicopters during a five month tour of Afghanistan in 2013, at the glitzy bash in Beverly Hills on Friday.
But the Duke was mocked after a selfie emerged of him posing with a renowned 'fake prince', Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe.
The German national claims he has royal linage through his adoptive mother, who married Prince Waldemar zu Schaumburg-Lippe, but he's been accused of cashing in on the title.
PR guru Jack Izzard, CEO of Rhizome Media Group, tells The Sun: "Taking this photo is a real clanger for Harry. This guy has as much claim to royalty as the fake princes who email to ask you to send them £10,000.
"His connection to the royal family is getting weaker and weaker. Allowing himself to be photographed with a fake prince suggests he's clinging to his royal connections by his fingertips. It's not a great look.
“His PR team should have had a list of attendees and made sure he'd been told to give this 'fake prince' a wide berth.
“As his Uncle Andrew knows, a photo with the wrong person can follow you around forever. This may not be on the same level, but it is still embarrassing.”
Jack says the Sussexes have "lost their stardust", especially compared to Prince William and Kate Middleton, who is currently recovering from abdominal surgery in hospital, and seem "out of touch" in their "warm, sunny, comfortable Californian bubble".
“Even though this award ceremony was held in Hollywood, it was a notch down on the Oscars and the Golden Globes. Basically a kind of trade award for pilots," Jack explains.
“For me, the biggest gaffe Harry made at this awards ceremony was to not mention the serious medical conditions announced by his father, the King, who is due to undergo treatment for an enlarged prostate, and his sister-in-law the Princess of Wales, last week.
“While he may not be in the family group chat, a quick glance at the UK headlines would have told him about these announcements.
“To make no mention at all beggars belief. While it may not have been a deliberate snub, to give him the benefit of the doubt, it does reinforce how cut off he is from British opinion.”
Jack says this latest PR gaffe follows a series of unfortunate blunders, dating back to when the couple first announced their departure from Royal Family duties.
Meghan and Harry chose to do so with a statement on their now-defunct Sussex Royal Instagram page - reportedly before anything had been agreed with the late Queen.
Traditionally senior royals don't make big announcements without her blessing, and Jack says the method and the tone felt off-key.
“This announcement was a real low point for the couple," he says. "Whether it was down to them or their PR team we will never know, but it certainly made a mess of things.
“They tried to 'take control' of the narrative and get their side of the story across, but the tone was very off. They talked about still 'collaborating' with the Queen after leaving the UK, which was bizarre.
“It's the kind of thing you'd expect an influencer to say about a brand they've had loads of free stuff from - not what you'd expect from someone leaving the monarchy and their family.
“It made Harry seem presumptuous at best, and at worst, arrogant.
"The couple were clearly going through a difficult time and things were very emotional, but this was a disaster for them PR-wise. It made sure that any sympathy they may have got from the British public evaporated.”
Another row erupted over the couple's use of private jets - despite their preaching about the environment and Harry founding the sustainable travel company Travalyst.
The pair used private planes for Meghan to fly back to London after her baby shower in 2019, to go on holiday in 2023, and more recently to fly to a Katy Perry concert in Las Vegas.
Jack says: “Flying on private jets is one of the most tone-deaf things they've done in recent years.
“If you are campaigning about sustainable travel and then using private jets, it's absolutely disastrous. It makes you look hypocritical, and they're worse for the environment than a normal flight.
“It's just an example of them being out of touch, especially with the one to the Katy Perry concert. They could have got there some other way with ease.
“It destroys their authenticity and credibility, and that is one of the worst things that can happen to someone in their position.
“And the timing of it looked even worse because Prince William was seen flying on a BA jet to Singapore at around the same time.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were also mocked for "shamelessly" touting themselves for work on the red carpet at a Disney premiere in 2019.
While chatting to The Lion King director Jon Favreau they were overheard saying they would “make ourselves available” for a role.
Meghan even joked: “That's really why we're here - to pitch”. In a video of the exchange, Beyoncé was seen in the background covering her face before uncomfortably looking away.
Harry even took the chance to tell the Disney chief: “You do know she does voice-overs?”
After leaving the Firm, as part of their plan to become financially independent the couple signed a reported $20million deal with Spotify, spanning several years.
But despite the hefty figure, the couple only produced one series of Meghan's podcast, Archetypes, and they were let go from the streaming giant last year.
It was later reported that Spotify's head of podcast innovation and monetisation labelled them "f*****g grifters".
Jack says: “This deal with Spotify falling apart is where we really start to see the American media turning against the couple.
“Americans expect their celebs to be hard-working and committed to projects, but the feedback on Harry and Meghan from Spotify was that they were rather lazy.
“There were suggestions that they were getting others to do the work for them and not coming up with their own good ideas. That didn't go down well at all in the US.”
Last year the couple made headlines when they alleged to have been involved in a terrifying car chase in New York.
In a statement, their spokesperson said: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms Ragland [Meghan's mother] were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi.
“This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians, and two NYPD officers."
Embarrassingly for the couple, the NYPD and a cab driver dismissed their claims.
Julian Phillips, NYPD deputy commissioner for public information, said: “The NYPD assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging.
"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard.”
While the cab driver admitted the couple were followed, he said he "would not call it a chase".
Jack says: "This extraordinary claim is on the PR advisers as much as the couple. The idea of a high speed car chase in grid-locked Manhattan is clearly nonsense - anyone who has been to New York knows that.
"You don't need to be a psychologist to know that Harry will have a lot of emotional baggage when it comes to paparazzi given what happened to his mother Princess Diana.
"So while you can cut him some slack for that, the statement from their spokesperson was totally overdone and the shrill suggestions of things that could not happen shred any sympathy or credibility that might have been there."
Meghan's biggest acting role was in the legal drama Suits, which she left when she joined the Royal Family.
Since returning to America many have wondered whether the Duchess will return to performing, but she has yet to land any notable parts in Hollywood.
However, last year she made a cameo in an advert for a coffee brand she's endorsed.
Jack says while he suspects her injecting 'Markle Sparkle' into the ad was a favour to a friend, it doesn't change that nothing has restarted for her in Hollywood.
"While her connection to Hollywood is getting slimmer and slimmer, Harry's connection to the royal family is getting weaker," he says.
"It's not great for them."
