When Prince William knew the ‘wheels are going to fall off with Harry’ ahead of ‘Megxit’ – and why he feared the ‘precedent’ set by the Sussexes would affect his children
Daily Mail
Mark Borkowski, one of the UK’s leading PR gurus and crisis managers, told the Daily Mail that the loss of Mr Holt and Ms Maines tops off a disastrous end to 2025 for the Sussexes’ ‘celebrity-led brand’.
They are firmly in ‘survival’ mode because of scandals and their own missteps, he said. He claims that in the modern world ‘reputation doesn’t unravel slowly. It buckles at speed’ – and this very much applies to them.
Sussex staff exodus is a sign Prince Harry and Meghan are ‘unravelling at speed’ – as couple lose 12th top aide
Daily Mail
Mark Borkowski, one of the UK’s leading PR gurus and crisis managers, says the loss of Holt and Maines tops off a disastrous end to 2025 for the Sussexes’ ‘celebrity-led brand’.
They are firmly in ‘survival’ mode because of scandals and their own missteps, he said. He claims that in the modern world ‘reputation doesn’t unravel slowly. It buckles at speed’ – and this very much applies to them.
On the recent PR blunders, Mr Borkowski said: ‘One viral misfire, one poorly timed quote, one tone-deaf lifestyle pivot, and suddenly the narrative outruns the strategy.
‘In celebrity-led brands, especially ones fuelled by moral narrative, the biggest danger isn’t hostility — it’s inconsistency.
‘Too many messages, too many intermediaries, too many half-thought-through gestures. Centralisation is less about ego and more about survival’.
The family feud tearing apart the Peaty-Ramsay wedding
The Telegraph
“It shows the toxicity of fame,” says PR expert Mark Borkowski. “With double the fame factor, as you’ve got here with Adam Peaty and the Ramsays, it’s double the pain. Dealing with a family feud on the eve of a wedding is bad enough, but it’s so much more wounding when it’s in the public domain. The fact that this has leaked shows a complete breakdown in trust.”
Perhaps Peaty’s moving from one very different social circle to another is a contributing factor to the current wedding rift. But whatever the cause, “the drama won’t just die down,” predicts Borkowski, “especially with so much attention on the big Christmas wedding and constant posts on social media. For any member of the family unused to this level of attention, or who doesn’t have the same resilience as Adam, it’s going to be hell.”
How Danny Dyer went from ‘broke and desperate’ to national treasure: 10 years ago his movie career was ‘straight-to-DVD’ – now he’s TV gold, earning millions and women love him despite his cheating past
Daily Mail
How Danny Dyer went from ‘broke and desperate’ to national treasure: 10 years ago his movie career was ‘straight-to-DVD’ – now he’s TV gold, earning millions and women love him despite his cheating past
And companies such as Sky, Paddy Power and Walkers are queuing up for him to represent their companies in their crucial Christmas and Black Friday campaigns – and have made him a millionaire.
PR guru Mark Borkowski says he is now a ‘national guilty pleasure’ and loved because he is too ‘authentic to be airbrushed’. Danny’s role as Jilly Cooper’s moral romantic Freddie Jones has also acted as an ‘aphrodisiac’, sex experts have said.
Rivals has won him another bumper payday and a legion of new fans including Queen Camilla, who with the King has enjoyed his company several times.
How Strictly’s Tess and Claudia became the nation’s sweethearts
The Telegraph
“It is about chemistry and they have it in buckets,” says PR expert Mark Borkowski. “At the time, we all thought Strictly was about Bruce – but as soon as Claudia arrived, she showed what a talented double act they were.” It worked because Winkleman tended to play for laughs and allowed the more autocue-dependent Daly to flourish as her “straight man” – but also because there was genuine affection between them, and neither was trying to steal the limelight. “They just didn’t project ego in the way men do and the audience warmed to that,” says Borkowski.
“It really was a radical move,” says Borkowski. “The BBC was under pressure to elevate more women to powerful roles and there was a strong female audience for Strictly, but still, it would have taken some institutional nerve to actually do it. I think the reason that they could pull it off was that there was the feeling that we had had enough of laddish chaos and it was absolutely true: they brought feminine serenity to the format – and pairing funny, clever Claudia with the smoothness of Tess was a brilliant move.”
“With time, Claudia and Tess started to really grow and develop the show,” adds Borkowski. “Their skill lies in the fact they are not omnipresent and aren’t irritating, and as a result, let the show evolve. Tess is very human and calm, is never flustered, and Claudia is her perfect foil: she has the humour and the insight and is incredibly authentic, and they have nurtured the sort of relationship that is rare in television.”
Even so, knowing she would be fronting the Scottish whodunnit didn’t stop the nation from mourning when the two women announced that this would be their last season on Strictly. “Claudia and Tess knew the format was struggling and had been wracked with the sort of scandals which would ultimately affect their brand, so nobody was surprised,” says Borkowski. “Claudia is the most successful star on television at the moment – The Traitors is a hell of a thing – and Tess couldn’t stay if Claudia went, so it had to end. But it has been delightful to watch and will be a very hard act to follow.” That it certainly will be.
How Strictly’s Tess and Claudia became the nation’s sweethearts
‘The craziest Elvis scandal yet’: John Travolta fathering his great-grandson
The Telegraph
“This is the craziest Elvis scandal yet,” says public relations consultant Mark Borkowski. “It has extreme soap opera value. Elvis was the first real pop icon, and there’s still a continuing fascination about him and his family. Add in another famous and eccentric figure like Travolta, and it’s a total three-ring circus. The more celebrity ingredients, the richer the cake.”
Yet bizarre stories related to Elvis do often take root in the public imagination, observes Borkowski. “He was ‘Elvis the myth’ back in his day, too – he had [promoter] Colonel Tom Parker, his Svengali, burnishing his legend. It was pure showmanship. Then there was the tragic way that Elvis’s life ended, with the weight gain, the drug-taking and his grim death on the toilet. It tainted his legacy, sadly.”
‘The craziest Elvis scandal yet’: John Travolta fathering his great-grandson
Oxfam row – how should comms handle difficult leadership departures?
PR Week
The departure of a chief executive has gone from being a “private” HR matter to “public theatre,” says Mark Borkowski, founder of Borkowski. “The golden rule is this: if the exit is sudden, the public will assume something has gone wrong.”
He adds: “The smartest organisations do three things quickly: they acknowledge the reality of the departure, explain why in plain English, and set out what happens next.”
Borkowski warns against confusing legal safety with reputational safety. “Lawyers will always favour silence. The public interprets it as guilt or chaos. Comms exists to bridge that gap.”
In his view, the departure of a chief executive is a “stress test for organisational values” and those organisations that get it right “project competence and integrity”. “Get it wrong, and you look like you’re hiding behind a statement, hoping the news cycle moves on. It usually doesn’t.”
Oxfam row – how should comms handle difficult leadership departures? | PR Week UK
Harry and Meghan announce they are producing a film about ‘Girl Scouts baking cookies’ – as Duchess shares rarely seen childhood photo with her mother Doria
Daily Mail
Mark Borkowski, one of Britain’s leading PR gurus, said the timing of her appearance on set was intriguing given William was in Brazil promoting and celebrating his Earthshot Prize.
‘It’s not just dusting off her craft. It is trying to seize control’, Mr Borkowski said.
‘Andrew has been stripped of all his titles, palace in a mess trying to sanitise it all, and meanwhile Harry and Meghan have faded. When silence sets in someone like Meghan knows when it is time to make a move.
‘She is a magnet for attention, whether people like or loath her. It’s a reminder she can make headlines without lifting a finger’.
Strictly’s Tess Daly close to tears in heartbreakingly emotional moment on It Takes Two
The Mirror
PR expert Mark Borkowski told the Mirror that this made sense, because Tess is a “blank canvas” after Strictly. He said: “Tess has the advantage of a blank canvas. Her exit timing feels deliberate – just when Strictly starts to show its age. If she plays it right, this is her Madonna reinvention phase: same warmth, new edge. The US rumours make sense – she has the polish and credibility to slip into glossy network formats or daytime franchises without breaking stride.”
Strictly’s Tess Daly close to tears in heartbreakingly emotional moment on It Takes Two – The Mirror
‘He should hang his head in shame!’ Watch moment GB News guest erupts over Huw Edwards as disgraced presenter poses for new headshot
GB News
PR expert Mark Borkowski warned that Edwards’ photographic display risked appearing insensitive and deliberately provocative.
He said: “A picture like this tells you he wants to be seen again. But one stylish photograph can’t rewrite the past. It risks looking tone-deaf, even provocative.”
Huw Edwards: GB News guest erupts as disgraced presenter poses for new headshot
Huw Edwards branded ‘shameless’ by victim’s family after sharing ‘sickening picture’ in ‘comeback attempt’
GB News
PR expert Mark Borkowski warned that Mr Edwards’ photographic display risked appearing insensitive and deliberately provocative.
He said: “A picture like this tells you he wants to be seen again. But one stylish photograph can’t rewrite the past. It risks looking tone-deaf, even provocative.”
Prince Harry ‘cut off’ Meghan Markle’s mock curtsey after her ‘disrespectful’ joke about meeting the late Queen – as body language expert revisits awkward Netflix moment
Daily Mail
PR expert Mark Borkowski described the new deal as a ‘downgrade’, claiming it falls a long way from the jackpot figure of Harry and Meghan’s original contract in 2020.
At the time, Mr Borkowski told the Daily Mail that he believes the pair will be paid for each production selected by Netflix rather than receiving an overall fee, such as the reported $100million of their first deal.
‘I would be surprised if it’s not pay-as-you-go and it’s well, well below that first mark,’ he said.
Prince Harry’s spiral into irrelevance is becoming painful to watch
The Standard
There was no traditional interview and viewers were left cringing at Harry’s lame jokes, leading PR expert Mark Borkowski to brand the appearance an ‘embarrassment’.
‘What we’re seeing is the classic identity vacuum of a man who walked out of the royal machine without building a new one to stand in,’ Borkowski said.
‘Every skit, every podcast cameo, every crowd-pleasing wisecrack is an attempt to reverse-engineer a persona the public never actually asked for.’
Prince Harry’s cringeworthy Late Show appearance is an ’embarrassment’ and another sign that the novelty of a British prince has ‘worn off’ in the US, PR expert claims
Daily Mail
The Duke of Sussex’s ‘painful’ jokes on The Late Show about Donald Trump failed to land and the novelty of a British prince in America has ‘worn off’ some time ago, Mark Borkowski said.
His TV appearance was broadcast as the Daily Mail exclusively revealed that Meghan Markle’s estranged father Thomas is fighting for his life in intensive care in the Philippines after undergoing emergency surgery.
‘Harry’s Colbert skit isn’t “embarrassing” because he’s chasing US celebrity, it’s embarrassing because he’s doing it badly’, Mr Borkowski said.
‘Making fun of your own privilege only works when the audience believes you’ve transcended it. Harry hasn’t. The jokes land like a man reminding you of a punchline that expired three years ago.
‘He keeps leaning on the same tired “I’m a prince but not that kind of prince” shtick, as if self-deprecation can launder the monarchy off him. It can’t. In America, the novelty wore off the minute Netflix lost interest’.
Mr Borkowski says the TV appearance shows that Harry has found himself in an ‘identity vacuum’ since walking away from the Royal Family.
EXCLUSIVE: Meghan Markle ‘plans to re-regalise Princess Lili and have royal reunion on own terms’
The Mirror
Meanwhile, PR crisis expert Mark Borkowski told the Mirror that it’s a sharp change in strategy for Netflix bosses. “I think Netflix has done a very neat job of pivoting away from two very expensive people who didn’t deliver, and they’ve taken that deal off the table, and they’ve given them a modest one,” he said.
He went on to explain that the signing of the new contract shows that the streaming giant still wants to have a solid relationship with the Sussexes, but is also cautious not to spend too much money on content that may not resonate with viewers. Borkowski added: “It’s not like they’re gradually uncoupling. It’s a downgrade. Netflix are not going to expose themselves to those budgets again and it’s Netflix saying ‘Well, look, let’s have a look at your content, but we’ll pick and choose, mate’.”
Meghan Markle ‘plans to re-regalise Princess Lili and have royal reunion on own terms’ – The Mirror
Strictly should take a break after rape accusation, says PR expert
The Times
The BBC should “rest” Strictly Come Dancing after one of the show’s male stars was accused of rape, a public relations expert has said.
Mark Borkowski, an agent who also writes about PR, said the programme would benefit from taking a break to prepare for the departure of the hosts, Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly.
The BBC must also cope with the resignation of its director-general, Tim Davie. “Strictly is performing really well on screen,” Borkowski said. “But off screen it threatens to provide more chaos for the new director-general.
“The sensible thing to do with new presenters starting is to rest it. They need to put all the controversies behind them, make people realise what they are missing out on and start again.”
The latest scandal comes less than three months after another male Strictly member was held over a rape charge.
The arrest this week involves an alleged incident in Hertfordshire last year. The complainant is not a dancer or contestant but the pair are understood to have met through the show.
Hertfordshire police said the man was arrested in London on October 13 on suspicion of rape and released on bail while inquiries continued.
Ten days later, the long-serving hosts Winkleman and Daly announced their departure from the programme.
Hertfordshire police said: “Inquiries by officers from Hertfordshire constabulary’s public protection team will continue.Given the nature of the allegations, it would be inappropriate to make any further comment at this time.”
The BBC’s flagship Saturday-night show has suffered a number of recent scandals. In August another man was arrested on suspicion of rape and nonconsensual intimate image abuse, as well as drug offences.
That month the BBC opened an inquiry into alleged class A drug use by two cast members.
In July last year, Graziano Di Prima, 31, the professional dancer from Sicily, was dismissed after a video emerged showing him kicking Zara McDermott, his celebrity partner.
In response to the controversies, the BBC has introduced safeguarding guidelines. Davie told the culture, media and sport committee in September: “We may see more things coming out because in some ways I’m asking for it and being transparent.”
A source told The Sun: “This is an absolute nightmare for the BBC. Bosses have done their utmost to steady the ship and make the show as scandal free as possible and yet this has happened.”
Inside Sarah Ferguson’s fresh Epstein nightmare and why new book has been ‘pulped’
The Mirror
Many of the charities deemed it “inappropriate” to continue professional ties with Fergie, but thanked her for the work she had done with them over the years. One PR expert, Mark Borkowski, said as she was dropped by the charities that it was clear she was becoming a “toxic” brand with the emails “reputational napalm”.
“This isn’t a PR headache – it’s financial destitution dressed up as disgrace,” the expert said at the time.
Inside Sarah Ferguson’s fresh Epstein nightmare and why new book has been ‘pulped’ – The Mirror
Meghan Markle reveals festive preparations for Archie and Lilibet and kisses Harry in glitzy new Netflix trailer released moments before William and Kate arrive at the Royal Variety Performance
Daily Mail
Leading publicist Mark Borkowski told the Daily Mail: ‘They have shot the golden goose of 2020 – more of a ‘we’ll call you’ than ‘here’s the chequebook’. It’s a first-look deal, which means Netflix gets first dibs but no obligation to bankroll every semi-royal whim.
‘I reckon Netflix is trimming fat industry-wide, so this is less carte blanche, more curated cameo.
‘They’re still in business together – Meghan’s. As ever brand and seasonal specials keep them in the Netflix shop window but make no mistake, this is a slimmed-down sequel to the blockbuster original. So Harry and Meghan’s new Netflix chapter [is] less champagne budget, more Prosecco by the glass.’
Meghan Markle wealthy pal’s bookshop ‘is reported to council for serving her As Ever wine without a licence’ after duchess used it as promotional pop-up
Daily Mail
Branding it another PR power move as part of yet another wider Sussex relaunch, the insider said of her return to acting: ‘It’s fun and gets people talking. There will be lots more [stunts] in the next few months.’
Mark Borkowski, one of Britain’s leading PR gurus, said the timing of her appearance on set is intriguing given William is in Brazil promoting and celebrating his Earthshot Prize.
‘It’s not just dusting off her craft. It is trying to seize control’, Mr Borkowski said.
‘Andrew has been stripped of all his titles, palace in a mess trying to sanitise it all, and meanwhile Harry and Meghan have faded. When silence sets in someone like Meghan knows when it is time to make a move.
‘She is a magnet for attention, whether people like or loath her. It’s a reminder she can make headlines without lifting a finger’.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15269077/Meghan-Markle-bookshop-reported-council-wine.html
Prince Harry goes ‘back to basics’ with ‘Royal Family formula’ as ‘star power’ with Meghan Markle dwindles, says PR pro
The Sun
PR guru Mark Borkowski told Best magazine: “There has been a separation [of their work] for a while.
“Harry is ‘going back to basics’ with a formula that worked well for him as a Royal Family member, but there’s also the realisation that the couple’s ‘star power’ wasn’t as successful as they hoped.
“They had to change the narrative.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/royals/31108565/prince-harry-returns-royal-family-formula-meghan-markle/