Prince Harry has said he wants to reconcile with the royal family — but he and Meghan Markle are dashing their chances by going from one blunder to another. 

And now it’s not only affecting relations with their estranged family back in England,
in the space of a few weeks, they’ve managed to annoy some of the most influential people in Hollywood too.

Royal watchers warn they keep getting tripped up by chasing relevance in Hollywood while insisting on royal protocol, despite “finding freedom,” from King Charles, Prince William and royal life.

In the latest example, this week, Markle appeared in a $1,700 designer gown in promo pics for her “With Love, Meghan,” Netflix holiday special. She had previously worn the same emerald green Galvan “Ushuaia” dress for a 2022 Variety photo shoot, prompting reports she had kept the gown without approval.

Meanwhile, Page Six can reveal Markle, 44, also re-wore a Chanel dress she got from a 2022 shoot with ‘The Cut’ while on a date with Harry, 41, in NYC in October.

A spokesperson told Page Six it was “categorically false” Meghan took the Galvan gown without asking, while a Sussex source added it was “standard for talent to retain select items from photo shoots — sometimes for security reasons. 

Explaining further, they added: “Clothing worn by members of the royal family and other public figures has been targeted for resale in the past.”

That statement irked palace insiders, who were quick to point out members of the official royal family are not allowed to accept free clothing at all.

“I resent the use of the world ‘royal family’ because they’re meant to be non-working royals,” said Hugo Vickers, author and friend of the family. 

“To use the family as an excuse for such protocol is ridiculous and very stupid. They are a member of a family, but they are not working royals and if they cared at all, they should not be writing nasty books and giving interviews.

“This is not going to help their cause with reconciliation at all, it’s all being done for publicity.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, titles they insist on using, have been at the center of a number of similar needless PR mistakes throughout the year.

Markle continues to flaunt her royal ties to publicize her brand — despite the couple making an agreement not to trade on their family links.

When her Netflix lifestyle show, “With Love, Meghan,” debuted, she told guest Mindy Kaling, “It’s so funny, too, that you keep saying Meghan Markle. You know I’m Sussex now… this is our family name.”

A recent cover story for Harper’s Bazaar magazine reported how before she made an entrance to a room at a private NYC townhouse, a staffer first announced her as “Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,” despite the fact the only other person in the house was the journalist.   

Still, royal watchers have been quick to point out how trading off the UK royal family is viewed incredibly dimly and pointed to the recent stripping of Andrew of Mountbatten’s royal titles, including Prince, for his indiscretions.

Although Harry has said he’s desperate to reconcile with his family, adding he did “not know how much longer my father has,” since Charles is battling cancer, he’s also managed to annoy them. 

Harry touched down in Canada at the beginning of November for events to commemorate Remembrance Day — known as Veteran’s Day in the US. The trip coincided with his estranged brother flying to Rio De Janeiro to promote his Earthshot prize. This put Buckingham Palace’s noses out of joint, as they said Harry hadn’t informed them of this clash. 

To this, Sussex reps claimed Harry’s trip had been the diary for months and could not be moved due to security issues.

By the time actual remembrance day rolled around on Nov. 11, the royal family appeared at a somber ceremony in London, as is tradition. 

Meghan and Harry were back in Los Angeles, where they had just joined the cream of Tinseltown at Kris Jenner’s 70th birthday bash on Nov. 9, thrown by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez at their $165 million Beverly Hills estate.

However, even there, they managed to infuriate the powerful Kardashian matriarch by insisting photos of them taken at the party were deleted from Instagram. People magazine initially claimed they never signed a waiver to be pictured, later backtracking as multiple sources told Page Six that such a waiver never existed.

Others far more rich and powerful, meanwhile, from Beyoncé to Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg were more than happy to be pictured. 

Such behavior gets noticed by Hollywood movers and shakers, and could end up being a large miscalculation on Harry and Meghan’s part in notoriously fickle Hollywood.

As we reported, those inside the Kardashian camp were upset the Sussexes were taking attention away from Jenner and her birthday celebrations — and accused their staffers of lying.

An insider close to the famous brood told us they got “annoyed with the Sussex camp” for “overshadowing” what was intended to be “a celebration of Kris.”

“There was no consent form. That just makes Kris look ridiculous,” added the insider.

Harry and Markle both needed to be on show at the party in order to network — after their exclusive Spotify and Netflix deals came to an end, they need to find new ways of getting their name out there. 

However, Sussex sources insist the couple are firmly focused on their philanthropy efforts, making a $1.3m donation to the Children in Need charity, alongside a $150,000 donation to the Centre for Blast Injury Studies to support research into blast injuries of children in Ukraine and Gaza.

They also made a $200,000 donation to the World Health Organisation to support medical evacuees from Gaza, an $150,000 donation to Save the Children and $50,000 donation to Masaka Kids Afrikana to support reconstruction efforts in Jamaica following the hurricane. Their charity efforts, the sources said are in excess of $2.5 million.

Meghan recently admitted to them having made mishaps in the five years since leaving the royal family, saying the main thing she has learned is “not to do it again,” although she also added: “If it all goes swimmingly, you don’t learn from it,” to Harper’s Bazaar.

However, she and Harry can’t have it both ways. Although they want to be seen as a royals, the fact the former “Suits” actress is taking items from photoshoots is pure celebrity behavior, according to Bethan Holt, the UK Daily Telegraph fashion director and royal fashion expert.

“It sounds like Meghan had a more celebrity-style agreement than a royal one,” Holt explained, adding, “Royals generally keep things above board, celebrities are renowned for taking items from shoots, even if that is with the agreement of the magazine, stylists and brands.”

The Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, always pays for her clothes, although they may be discounted, according to Holt. She is also collecting items she has worn in an archive because one day she will be Queen.

Asked about the idea that the royal family has to be careful about their items going up for auction is true, Holt revealed, saying, “Maybe now royals are much more careful, but Princess Diana used to give her clothes to friends and staff all the time, some pieces ended up in [thrift stores]. I think Fergie [Sarah Ferguson] might have been gifted some of them too.”

Diana’s clothes have sold at a myriad auctions; one famous ‘black sheep’ sweater, bought for $50, sold for $1.14 million at Sothebys New York in September 2023. 

Items belonging to Princess Catherine have been sold too. The famous see-through dress she wore to model in a fashion show at St. Andrew’s University when she caught William’s eye sold at auction in 2011 for over $125,000.

Multiple sources also told Page Six Markle has a habit of keeping clothes from shoots. One Variety source told us, “Meghan took every single thing from that shoot that she wore.”

Another industry insider said the mom-of-two also took items from her 2022 interview with ‘The Cut’ for which she wore a black-and-white Tory Burch tulle dress teamed with Lanvin ‘Melodie’ earrings in green for the cover.

Indeed, we can reveal she actually re-wore a Chanel grey tweed bandeau dress she got at that shoot to dinner with Harry at Soho House in NYC in October.

After weeks of hiccups, Harry and Markle were in PR mode when they took their kids, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, to prepare meals for Thanksgiving this week, as their charity Archewell Foundation teamed up with Our Big Kitchen Los Angeles.

Photos show Archie and Lili with their parents rolling up balls of dough. Meghan showed off the finished product on her Instagram Stories along with the caption, “Show up, do good.”

“Even that is quite desperate,” sniffed one palace source, “If the kids weren’t in the photos, would anyone be interested?”