Are Meghan and Harry’s thirteen new businesses just a money grab?

Harry and Meghan’s latest move appears to go completely against what their charitable mission was when they left the royal family.

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What do Apple, Coca-Cola and Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have in common? Global one-word name recognition? That they’ve all attracted ardent devotees and detractors?

Or the fact that all three have companies registered in the US tax haven of the state of Delaware?

Despite being home to less than one million people, the tiny state boasts 1.6 million incorporated legal entities, including more than 67 per cent of all Fortune 500 companies - thanks to its highly favourable legislation,. Now it’s also hosts a slew of companies belonging to two of the Queen’s most vexatious relatives.

Over the weekend, news broke that royal expats Harry and Meghan have now registered a total of 13 companies in Delaware with meaningful and cutesy names including Peca Publishing LLC (‘peca’ meaning freckle in Spanish) and Hampshire LLC (named after the English county where they reportedly enjoyed a babymoon in 2019).

Meghan and Harry have registered 13 new companies in Delaware. Picture: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images.

Touching? Sure. But what really interests us here are the categories under which this new tranche of files fall - seven of these new companies are in the entertainment industry, three are investment firms and two are designated as publishing companies.

And what of their charity work? What of the fact that in February last year they put out a statement saying, “service is universal”?

Well, they have … one non-profit, their Archewell Foundation.

This company registration news is the clearest indication yet of where the Sussexes’ US ambitions and plans lie, more than two years after they stunningly exited royal life. With these newly listed companies, they could have their sights set on serious mogul status.

If these latest Delaware filings constitute a “blueprint” for where the Sussexes’ future lies, as the Telegraph has reported, then that road map seems a long way from what was originally on the cards.

At the time of Megxit in January 2020, the assumption was that they would transition from being palace-bound figures constrained by the hidebound auspices of The Firm and would promptly be off to make their mark on the philanthropic world stage with all their natural verve, chutzpah and hashtagging.

When Harry and Meghan left the royal family in March 2020 it appeared they would go on to do amazing charity work. Picture: Tolga AKMEN / AFP.

In the days after the ‘Sandringham Summit’ which saw the ‘soft Megxit’ the Duke and Duchess had fancied firmly kiboshed by the Queen, Harry gave a speech at a charity dinner saying, “It has been our privilege to serve you, and we will continue to lead a life of service.”

Three months later it was revealed that their new non-profit would be called Archewell, with the by-then California-based Sussexes saying they wanted the foundation “to do something of meaning, to do something that matters.”

And yet it was in February 2020, a month to day exactly after their Megxit announcement, that they picked up what has been alleged to be their first big business gig, with the couple appearing at a JP Morgan event in Miami. It was estimated at the time they could have earned up to $1.3 million for the outing.

When, the following year, Harry and Meghan sat down with Oprah Winfrey for two hours of prime time truth-telling, they characterised their commercial dealings as being born out of necessity and “during Covid, the suggestion by a friend was, ‘What about streamers?’”

On Oprah, Harry and Meghan implied their commercial endeavours were born out of necessity. Picture: CBS

And yet, within the first year of their new ‘free’ lives (and the pandemic) they had inked deals worth an estimated combined $180 million with Netflix and Spotify.

Then, in 2021, Harry signed on as a Chief Impact Officer for a billion-dollar mental health coaching company, both of them joined an investment fund as ‘Impact Partners’. Then Meghan published her first book, and news broke that Harry was hard at work on his own memoir.

It has subsequently been reported by the Telegraph that Meghan had been in discussions with Netflix in regards to Pearl, the animated children’s series she is currently making for the streaming giant, back in 2018 and that the duo had a meeting with the now-shuttered platform Quibi starting in early 2019 back when they were still working members of the royal family and which “reached advanced stages.”

So, Hollywood? Check. Silicon Valley? Check. Wall Street? Check.

In less time than it has taken Buckingham Palace to get around to updating their website, the Sussexes have managed to involve themselves in the three biggest industries in the United States. (The official royal website still claims that the couple are “balancing their time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour their duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and their patronages. Frogmore Cottage in the UK remains their family home.” Not exactly au courant.)

Meghan and Harry have involved themselves in the three biggest industries in the US. Picture: Gotham/GC Images.

The consequence of all this is that today, their brand is not defined by significant charitable successes or their bold, creative moves to affect change but by their business nous and the bevy of big cheques coming their way.

Harry and Meghan’s shared commitment to altruism is reportedly one of the things that drew them to one another. During their engagement interview in 2017, Meghan said that the first time they met, “one of the first things we started talking about was just the different things that we wanted to do in the world and how passionate we were about seeing change.”

Rather than building their post-royal identities on an unswerving and unwavering commitment to the causes close to their hearts with a dash of business thrown in to pay their bodyguards, we have watched them try to awkwardly juggle the twin goals of business and philanthropy.

Their successes on one side of this coin are much easier to point to than on the other.

As of the time of writing, the most recent update on the Archwell website is now more than two months old. And, can you name one of the non-profit’s projects or initiatives?

Harry and Meghan’s charity Archewell appears to having a somewhat muted impact. Picture: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images.

While their commitment and passion to help others might be unimpeachable, the Sussexes have yet to make any real lasting or powerful impact on this front.

The question now is, where and how will they build out their brand? Where, in the coming months and years, will they focus their time? At the end of the day, even former frontline members of the royal family with a small aries of staff, 5G and unlimited cold brew can only get so much in a day.

It really comes down to priorities.

What these Delaware filings lay out is the potential scope and breadth of their business ambitions. But could they – or really, could anyone – manage a burgeoning entertainment empire encompassing TV, documentaries, podcasts and books while simultaneously establishing themselves as power players on the global charity stage? Can anyone change the world while also earning squillions of dollars at the same time?

Harry and Meghan might now be the proud owners of a home with 16 toilets, a coop full of the world’s most famous chickens and companies galore but one thing that could be in very short supply? Free time.

Daniela Elser is a royal expert and a writer with more than 15 years experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.