Prince Harry and Meghan Markle recently debuted their podcast on Spotify, which was met with mixed reviews from critics and royal fans alike.
WATCH: Prince Harry’s ‘podcast voice’ leaves fans baffled
And while some people focused on the ‘lacklustre’ content of the show, several others pointed out the prince has seemingly adopted an unusual way of speaking.
According to behaviour expert Judi James, Harry has traded his ‘Queen’s English’ way of speaking for a more slurred ‘mid-Estuary’ – or lower-middle class accent.
Speaking to FEMAIL after the premiere, Judi sensationally labelled Harry’s podcast voice as mid-everything – mid-Atlantic, mid-London and mid-Estuary English.
The behaviour expert went on to describe how the prince highlighted the change in accent by the way he enunciated certain words and phrases.
“Describing the podcast as ‘Our tweny-tweny holiday special’, Harry drops the second ‘t’ in ‘twenty’ in a verbal slurring that sounds either American or South London, although the ‘holiday special’ wording probably places it in the US,” Judi said.
“He says they ‘wanna’ honour rather than ‘want to’ and he pronounces the word ‘look’ more like ‘luck’, both of which would probably sound right in the Queen Vic in EastEnders.”
She also pointed out Harry’s delivery was somewhat “newly seductive”, highlighted by his apparent flirtatious banter with wife Meghan.
“His ‘I’m Harry’ is full of naïve bounce and enthusiasm, but after Meghan purrs ‘And I’m Meghan’ in a deeper, richer tone, Harry responds by saying ‘We’re glad you’re here’ in a much more of a low purr himself.”
Toni said while Harry has seemingly upped his game to deliver a more succinct and seamless message, in doing so, he appears to have lost much of his authenticity.
What’s more, steering away from his usual leisurely style of delivery, Harry’s performance appeared scripted and rehearsed like a professional podcast pro, she added.
Following the expert’s comments, several fans took to Twitter to share similar criticisms of the Duke’s podcast performance, with one person writing: “Twenny twenny! No, just no.”
Another stated: “Harry’s gone common! Since moving to the USA, Prince Harry has dropped many features of Received Pronunciation for a more laid-back, slurring, ‘of the people’ feel.”
Meanwhile a third person added: “Beyond embarrassing. Give it up Harry, you sound like a fool with your faux accent.”
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