‘Drumbeat of negativity’: How Harry and Meghan’s careers crumbled in just 1000 days

Harry and Meghan have just passed a bleak milestone, as they struggle to sustain their fame without proximity to royalty.

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The Roman Empire lasted for more than 500 years, the Persian one for centuries on end, even after Alexander the Great came calling, and Andy Cohen’s Real Housewives kingdom is still going strong after the better part of two decades.

And yet, having passed the 1000-day mark of Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s American commercial empire-in-the-making, the question is more and more, is it already crumbling?

In those 1000-plus days, they have gone from being some of the most exciting, thrilling hires on the planet to being openly derided by Hollywood powerhouses and facing losing tens and tens of millions of dollars.

How have things gone so sour, so fast?

Join me now in news.com.au’s official royal time machine as we journey back to September 2020, a time when Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were ensconced in HMS Bubble, so bored they were rearranging their Van Eycks and playing Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe with loose rubies.

Back then, both the regular world and the royal world were still in the midst of epic, once-in-a-century upheavals. Covid had swept the globe like the malign viral equivalent of BTS, forcing billions of people inside for lengthy stretches, and the Sussexes had shoved off from London, forcing billions of people to look anew – and askance – at Buckingham Palace.

Is the Sussex empire crumbling already?

Fundamental to this entire story is money, something that it would seem Harry and Meghan had not quite realised they would need so much of once they left the tender embrace of his dear Pa’s bank account.

Despite announcing to the world they would “work to become financially independent”, that was a declaration that did not take into account the Sussexes’ status being downgraded from official representatives of the crown to potential Dancing with the Stars cast members and thus losing their official protection.

Suddenly, the Sussexes found themselves with the prospect of security bills running into the millions.

They needed dosh. Bread. Lolly.

Enter the deep-pocketed powerhouse companies willing to pay up to have two of the most famous people on the planet on their books.

On September 2, 2020, the New York Times took a break from reporting on egomaniacal, Cheezel-hued president and “short fingered vulgarian” Donald Trump and were the first to break the news that the freshly emancipated couple had signed a “megawatt” deal with Netflix.

The couple’s Netflix series was a hit. Picture: Netflix

The Sussexes held all the cards, putting them in a powerful position – they were unspeakably famous, they represented a generational and cultural shift that was willing to push back against the long-established edifices of power, and nearly every brand and company to the left of the Republican Party must have wanted them.

After Netflix, three months later it was Spotify’s turn to crow about having secured the duke and duchess for their podcasting roster. The following year, in late July 2021, Penguin Random House would get their go at putting out a triumphant press release contracting Harry.

The world seemed a bit drunk on the promise and potential of Harry and Meghan.

So, it’s early 2021 and everything seems rosy and greenback-tinted for the duke and duchess. So far, so good.

Then came the fork in the road that was their decision to sit down with on-camera confessor Oprah Winfrey to do some soul-baring and family secret-sharing.

What it seems like, from the distance of two years, is that the interview was not the first step in their carefully plotted master plan. Rather, this prime time special constituted the Sussexes largely squandering and giving away their greatest asset – their story. And for free no less.

Besides how peeved various executives at Netflix and Spotify might have been at this move, what the Sussexes’ interview meant was that by the time their tell-all doco and his book came out, the world would already know the major plot points and already be totally au fait their most thunderous and sensational claims.

Another problem: Oprah would also set the timbre for what was to follow, which was outing after outing that traversed similar territory – the Armchair Expert podcast, The Me You Can’t See, Harry & Meghan, and Spare.

The Sussex brand was fast becoming one associated with a certain drumbeat of negativity and a proclivity to gripe.

Their Oprah Winfrey interview marked a turning point. Picture: CBS

All of this meant that by the time their actual paid content started to be rolled out in 2022, their story – of royal indifference to their pain, of unconscious bias, of leaking and of preferential treatment for Team Heir – was one that the entire world already knew, nearly word perfect.

Still, despite being trapped 20,000 leagues under all that me, me, me, the Sussexes clearly had some juice left in the tank and records soon fell – Harry & Meghan was the most watched documentary debut in its first week and Spare was the fastest-selling nonfiction book in history.

And yet here we are, only 1058 days on from the announcement of their Netflix deal, and already we are discussing the very survival of the Sussex dream factory. (Bet this was how the Romans felt when they heard the Vandals were on their way to do some sacking.)

Now that we are on the other side of Harry & Meghan and Spare, what is coming into view is that the duke and duchess are looking like the 21st century equivalent of Steven Bradbury sans skates. That is to say, their successes are not something they likely can replicate or repeat.

Right now, they are looking wanting. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty

The existential question is, take away their titles and what do they have to offer?

Take away the Sussexes’ proximity to the throne, take away their formerly elevated, nearly magical status as royalty, and what we are left with are two people who, for the very first time, are being asked to stand on their own two feet creatively and intellectually.

And right now, they are looking wanting.

Maybe if the streaming industry were in a better place financially, Harry and Meghan would be enjoying greater latitude and space to come up with workable ideas, except the reality is that budgets are contracting faster than the waist of an Ozempic-fuelled Idol star.

In hindsight, September 2020 was the Sussexes’ career high water mark (so far anyway) and the production and audio arms of Archewell have sprung some very serious leaks.

Maybe the duke and duchess are cleverly duct-taping over the holes in their enterprise and things might turn around. Maybe.

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