Meghan Markle’s new podcast launch ‘pushed back’ to next year

There was plenty of fanfare when it was first announced – but Meghan Markle’s latest audio venture has been quietly delayed until 2025.

The launch of Meghan Markle's highly-publicised new podcast has been quietly “pushed back” amid “concerns” it may be overshadowed by her latest business venture.

The Duchess of Sussex’s new audio deal with female-founded company Lemonada Media generated plenty of attention when it was announced in February, less than a year after her and Prince Harry’s multimillion-dollar Spotify deal collapsed.

However, according to royal journalist Richard Eden, sources close to the matter have revealed the follow-up series to her Archetypes podcast has been delayed until 2025.

“It is understood that Lemonada did not want the podcast’s launch to be overshadowed by the former actress’ television series, which she began filming at a rented house in Montecito last week,” he wrote in the Daily Mail, referencing Meghan’s recently announced Netflix series, which coincides with her new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard.

“ … Lemonada is said to be concerned that there would also be ‘scheduling conflicts’ between the launch of its podcasts and that of Meghan’s lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard.”

Meghan’s next podcast project has reportedly been “pushed back” until next year.

Announcing the Lemonada deal earlier this year, Meghan said she was “proud” to join their “brilliant team”.

“Being able to support a female founded company with a roster of thought provoking and highly entertaining podcasts is a fantastic way to kick off 2024,” she said in a statement.

“Our plan to re-release Archetypes so that more people can now have access to it, as well as launching a dynamic new podcast are well in the works.

“I’m so eager to be able to share it soon, and am overjoyed to be joining the Lemonada family.”

Meghan's new lifestyle brand launched on Instagram last month. Picture: American Riviera Orchard/Instagram

Just last month, Meghan also unveiled lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard, with an official Instagram account and as-yet unpopulated website.

She has since soft-launched the first product in her range – homemade jam – by sending exclusive packages to a carefully curated group of highly influential friends, who then shared the delivery on social media.

Meghan’s latest venture comes months after the controversial collapse of her Spotify deal, which had produced less than 13 hours of content across its three-year duration.

Her one-season series, Archetypes, averaged around one million listens per episode and scooped up several awards after debuting in mid-2022.

However, the streaming deal fell through last June, with a Spotify executive later publicly branding Meghan and Harry as “f**king grifters”.

Sources close to the royal couple later lifted the lid on what really went wrong, claiming they were not set up for success and had been forced to deal with an overload of red tape after signing the eye-watering contract in late 2020.

“They were given no formal lay of the land to kick things off, so they were already on unsteady footing even before the ink was dry,” the insider told People magazine, adding they “have a lot of ideas and did pitch them,” but that “things moved very slowly on both ends”.