To begin with a disclaimer, I don’t strongly dislike Prince Harry or James Corden. I support and admire Meghan and Harry’s decision to step away from the Royal Family and its institutional prejudices. I’m also a fan of Gavin and Stacey, the comedy show written by and starring James Corden. However, none of this negates the fact that I’ve found them both equally tiresome recently.
In 2015, James Corden moved to America to begin hosting The Late Late Show as a successor to Craig Ferguson. It’s been a highly successful gig for him (in particular the Carpool Karaoke skits) and made him millions of dollars, but along with this fame has come reports of his arrogance and advocating for lower pay for writers at a labour union meeting. This, combined with performances in high-profile but cringy films such as Into the Woods (2015) and Cats (2019), has made him pretty unpopular here in Britain and abroad.
We all know the ins and outs of Prince Harry and Meghan’s story by now, but Harry’s Americanisation in particular has happened within the past year, and echoes that of Corden’s. Again, I don’t want to add to the trashy tabloid voices that have condemned him for speaking out against the Royal Family. His advocacy for mental health is of course a worthwhile endeavour, but the deals with Spotify and Apple TV, and joining a $1 billion Silicon Valley startup as a senior executive feels cringy, desperate, and somehow very un-British.
The potential issue stems from the jump of being established in the British public eye to building a brand in America. It seems that in doing this, Corden and Prince Harry are both everywhere at once, and feel more like walking marketing projects than likeable human beings. I may also have united them in my mind because of Prince Harry’s appearance on Corden’s The Late Late Show, which sums up my feelings towards both of them. It seems as though they’re both trying to capitalise on their Britishness to stand out in America – while rejecting it to commercialise themselves. I can just see them joining forces to host a show together.
If I had to sum them up in a term, it would be ‘cringe-British’. This applies to established British figures who cash in on their Britishness as a selling point abroad before abandoning it completely. Some examples of British people who have made it in America but aren’t cringe-British are Harry Styles, Idris Elba and Adele. They choose their projects in their respective industries wisely and their talents give Britain something to be proud of. Corden and Prince Harry could do with taking some tips from them for all of our sakes.
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