Star-studded pic reveals sad Meghan Markle and Prince Harry truth
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been photographed with a bunch of Hollywood A-listers but there’s more to these new photos than meets the eye.
COMMENT
Explain to me, someone, The Coat.
In breaking news over the weekend that somehow didn’t manage to dislodge the war in Ukraine or Brian Austin Greene’s engagement from the headlines, Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex appeared at their first US charity fundraiser as guests. Specifically, the duo turned up for One805 Live, an event hosted by Bodyguard star and current celebrity divorce participant Kevin Costner, at his $225 million Santa Barbara estate.
Photos show Harry wearing an all-black number, looking like he was off to audition for a Johnny Cash tribute act, while Meghan wore a confusing poncho meets short-sleeved coat number, despite it being about 21 degrees, which might suggest some high-end designer is looking to try and crack the Oodie market.
Why does the duchess keep turning up on warm days wearing big, wintry numbers that make it look like she is off to bobsleigh in Gstaad?
Answers on the back of a postcard please.
In the meantime, there is a more interesting story to tell, one about power, success and money thanks to the new photos of Harry and Meghan at this charity event.
Specifically, just how small fry they are in their adopted homeland of Hollywood.
Consider the shots that showed up on social media of them posing with Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry’s parents, Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi, and Costner.
In all of these photos, of the celebrities pictured, Harry and Meghan are by far and away least wealthy of the big names.
Let’s run the numbers. Oprah Winfrey is reportedly worth $4.3 billion, Ellen and Portia, $590 million, while Perry’s net worth was put at $527 million, all according to Forbes. They are all some of America’s wealthiest self-made women.
Costner is valued at more than $620 million, giving him every reason to occasionally croon I Will Always Love You to his wealth manager.
To truly understand what a big financial league we are talking about, consider the fact that the event was held on the Yellowstone star’s personal polo field.
And ol’ Aitch of the Many Feelings? It’s not even known if he, a keen polo player from way back, was playing on ponies he himself owned when a member of the Los Padres polo team last year.
Harry and Meghan, even coming off the back of years that have seen them ink massive deals, are still only worth a small fraction of what their chums are. Yes, yes, there are more ways to measure success than just filthy lucre but as the Sussexes close out what might be their most lucrative years, even now, they are not even remotely close to playing in the same ballpark as Costner & Co.
How much money might have Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made?
Get your abacus out, we’re going to do some counting. The Sun has reported that the duke and duchess’ Netflix deal has seen them paid about half to the total deal’s value, which would translate to them pocketing about $76 million. Next, there was the reported $31 million Harry got for Spare. Lasty, it’s not known exactly how much they might have received of the approximately $30 million Spotify had originally promised them before severing ties in June this year.
Even if we assume that they were paid the full amount promised by the latter (which surely seems highly unlikely) that puts the total at $137 million – and that’s before tax and their own production and staff costs.
Certainly not bad for two people whose CVs include military service, mid-level department store face and professional calligrapher, but chump change compared to Ellen et al.
Of course, this is probably $137 million more than you and I have to our names but the sharper, stickier part that should be keeping the Sussexes’ accountant up at night is that this figure cannot be taken as just the exciting starting point of the LA careers but could represented the pinnacle of their earning power.
It could well be downhill from here.
The money that Harry and Meghan have earned in recent years, could be it.
And it could have to keep them afloat for years, if not decades, with both the Daily Mail and the Sun having claimed of late that Netflix won’t renew their contract when it expires. All the while, and forever more, they will have to pay their own security costs and bankroll their lifestyle.
Fundamentally, the problem that Harry and Meghan face is that Costner, DeGeneres, Winfrey and Perry can all boast established careers and are proven successes.
The same can hardly be said for the palace exiles who have, at best, dominated the cultural and political conversation at certain points in time via their royal revelations and the questions they have raised about the monarchy, power and the media.
But are the duke and duchess successful entertainers? Sure fire hotshot bets that executives will want to throw money at? Widely adored public figures?
You take my point.
Of the three Netflix series that Sussexes have released – Harry & Meghan, Live to Lead and Heart of Invictus – two have proved damp squibs in terms of audience performance, failing to crack the top ten.
If there is one definite, nay two, that can be drawn based on the titled duo’s US stint: The duchess loves a coat and the public is largely uninterested in what they have to say if it does not involve them indulging in royal PR bloodsport.
It has become clear that audiences do not care a jot about spending their precious time listening or watching the Sussexes share their deep thoughts on leadership, gender inequality or why childhood emotional hardship might have led to the annexation of Crimea. (I’ll never get sick of the fact that, per Bloomberg, Harry reportedly pitched a podcast to Spotify in which he would interview the homicidal facelifted Russian megalomaniac, Vladimir Putin, and the Cheezel-hued former president turned serial criminal case defendant, Donald Trump, about their childhoods.)
Harry and Meghan are now moving in circles where their careers and fortunes do not even begin to measure up to those of the self-made success stories around them.
Their titles and being a part of King Charles’ family will always set them apart from their new capped-teeth besties but in terms of what they have independently achieved and earned since skedaddling out of London is absolutely teeny potato territory compared to Winfrey, DeGeneres and Perry.
They have yet to sell out an arena, make billions or build any sort of empire.
Still, there might be hope for them yet. Curiously, Costner is represented by WME, the same talent agency that signed Meghan as a client earlier this year. Maybe the duchess will be able to afford her own polo field in no time at all? 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.
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