Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reportedly changing tactics regarding their professional life as their brand image as a couple has dwindled, one PR expert believes.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been leading increasingly separate professional lives lately, with the married couple seen at plenty of events without each other since the duke’s 40th birthday last month.

While the prince went off on a solo tour in New York, the UK and Africa, Meghan stayed home with the couple’s children in their large Montecito mansion, and even spent one night out on a red carpet without her husband by her side.

Although rumours of a personal divide between the pair were squashed, the decision to separate work could have been for commercial reasons.

PR expert Ed Coram James told The Mirror: “Since their marriage, Harry and Meghan have had a distinct brand. That brand is based on a duo. Call it ‘Harry and Meghan’, call it ‘the Sussexes’, call it whatever you like. The fact is that for years they have become synonymous with one another.

“And, since the famous Oprah interview, in which they took a simmering disagreement between themselves and the rest of the Royal Family and essentially declared all-out-war, that brand has been steadily becoming more toxic and thus commercially untenable to the point where not that many major brands are going to be rushing to write them a large cheque based on their brand value.

“When combined, the Sussexes brand is, from a PR perspective, toxic. But, when separate, they have a genuine chance of creating an entirely separate brand, with completely different labels.”