Royal exiles Harry and Meghan plan “big” comeback after collapse of Spotify deal
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reeling from their Spotify deal ending and have instructed their superagent to pull out all stops.
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s post-Megxit empire is crumbling with the crushing loss of their lucrative Spotify deal but the couple are planning “something very big” soon to recoup the hefty loss.
Insiders reveal Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are being groomed for Hollywood success and have instructed their superagent Ari Emanuel, who has previously represented names such as Oprah Winfrey, Martin Scorsese and Donald Trump, to ramp up efforts when the $20 million deal with streaming giant Spotify ended prematurely.
“The people at WME, the big Hollywood talent agency that signed the Duchess in April, are building on the couple’s film and TV production, brand partnerships and overall business,” said royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams.
“They have that going on, plus their agent Ari Emanuel is reportedly going into overdrive to elevate Sussex‘s profile – don’t underestimate Harry and Meghan, we ain’t seen nothing yet.
“Rumours have suggested Harry will not put out any more anti-royal projects but there is no confirmation of that.
“They are not the type to sit back and be beaten, they’re working on something very big and positive, expect an announcement soon,” he said.
“Harry has had a lot of positive publicity recently, with the High Court case against the Mirror and the paparazzi car chase in New York. It’s all about the fight for fame.
“Nothing is by chance with this pair, everything they do is for a reason.”
Meghan Markle has been seen networking the celebrity LA circle striking deals without Prince Harry in the last month.
As working royals, they received 95 per cent of their annual income from Harry‘s father, then Prince of Wales. In the financial year 2018-2019 (the first year of their marriage), Charles’ Duchy of Cornwall estate paid more than £5m to cover the public duties – and some private expenses – of the Sussexes, and of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant made up the other five per cent.
Since quitting the firm as working royals and moving to LA Harry and Meghan have had to carve out a business acumen to keep them in the life to which they have become accustomed.
Having struck a lucrative A$188 million podcast and book deal with Penguin Random House, Netflix and Spotify, the latter pulling the plug on the couple when they failed to produce enough material for their much hyped podcast Archetypes, the couple have been forced to“rethink their deals “to find better homes and partnerships for content,” their Archwell website announced.
The split does not seem to have been amicable.
Spotify’s head of podcast innovation and monetisation Bill Simmons has since labelled Prince Harry and Meghan “grifters” after only 12 episodes were made.
“I wish I had been involved in the ‘Meghan and Harry leave Spotify’ negotiation. ‘The fxxxxxg grifters,” he said, adding, “That’s the podcast we should have launched with them,” he said on his podcast, the Bill Simmons podcast. “I have got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories … F**k them. The grifters.”
Netflix is still surviving and bringing in an estimated $100 million. Harry and Meghan are now believed to be in talks to front their latest documentary with the global streaming titan, which will see them meeting communities in South Africa, sources claim. Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, will be shown helping to build houses in the villages they will visit with the aim of bringing awareness to safe birthing practices.
Meanwhile Harry “still has 400 pages of material he did not publish for a second book on the royals,” said royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams. “No one wants to listen to Harry unless it’s about the royal family, and all he ever does is whinge,” he said.
“It’s the one sure guarantee he has of making money.”
Overseeing the next phase of the Global Privacy Tour is relentlessly ambitious superagent Ari Emanuel, chief executive of Hollywood talent agents Endeavour, who merged with WWE to become WME. In the weeks leading up to singing with Emanuel, Meghan Markle was seen in threads from her new agent Ari Emanuel‘s wife’s brand STAUD.
Yet while there will no doubt be some toasting the news of Archetypes’s demise, talk in the palace corridors is that the more the Sussexes’ earning power recedes, the more dangerous they could become.
As for Meghan she worryingly pointed out to the US magazine The Cut last August: “It takes a lot of effort to forgive. I’ve really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything … I have a lot to say until I don’t. Do you like that? “Sometimes, as they say, the silent part is still part of the song.”
She also said: “It’s interesting, I’ve never had to sign anything that restricts me from talking. I can talk about my whole experience and make a choice not to.”
One should never underestimate the yards the Sussexes will go to achieve the “financial independence” they have always been looking for.
“This is not the end, far from it,” said Mr Fitzwilliams. “Gaining financial independence is a marathon, not a sprint for the Sussexes.”
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