There were the horrible days of his parents' split when he was yanked off the front line and dumped in an army desk job. There were also the days when his relationships with Chelsea Davey and Cressida Bonas fell apart because they were really interested in the misery of Royal wifedom.
And then there was that very terrible day when he realized that his sink was suddenly filled with strands of red hair.
And now comes one of the worst days ever that Harry has had in quite a long time. Not only did Harry and Megan probably lose about 18 million dollars in one fell swoop, but also apparently there are worries that his and Megan's post-back that Empire is crumbling. On Friday, the news came out that Spotify decided to cancel the 29 million dollar deal they made with Megan and Harry, and then it was reported that Netflix is quote unlikely to renew their contract with the Royal whiners.
At one point, it seemed like Megan and Harry were on top of the world and could have whatever they wanted, but things seemed to be changing. For instance, there was one report out suggesting that Megan and Harry are basically broke, but then a source stressed to page six that Megan and Harry are actually not broke. Okay, well, I guess that assurance is good enough to make their bank manager happy.
But to understand this a little more, we got to start at the beginning. So late last week, a piece of news came out that was really not all that surprising, saying that Spotify was simply done with Megan and Harry's lack of output. Last year, Megan delivered a 12-part podcast series called "Archewell Audio." It was a self-regarding orgy of California Eastward salad that could not even be saved by all the celebrity guests like Serena Williams and Mariah Carey.
In fact, the show just wasn't all that interesting, and the ratings reflected that. And in spite of Harry being a part of the Spotify deal, he never once managed to actually release a single program all on his own. Instead, he followed in the centuries of tradition set by Royal spares of combining both laziness and a sense of malcontent.
And basically, right after Spotify confirmed that they had basically dumped Megan and Harry, Spotify's head of podcast innovation, Bill Simmons, decided to really let loose on the couple, calling them "effing grifters." Simmons also revealed an attempt to help Harry, saying, "I gotta get drunk one night and tell the story of this Zoom I had with Harry to try to help him with a podcast idea. It's one of my best stories."
And then, before Harry and Megan could even respond, entertainment and Royal insiders were lining up to spell how terrible things are for brand Sussex at this moment. One industry source told Page Six, "I think they have come off as being lazy and difficult." And then, in The Sun, the former Harry biographer Angela Levin showed up to say that Megan and Harry's Empire is crumbling and that, "People are fed up with them." Now, in The Daily Mail, Mark Brokowski said, "The air is going out of their much-hyped balloon.
Their star is really falling. It is not a good day for the long-term brand of Megan and Harry." Also, in The Mail, the brand and culture expert said, "It looks like Megan's brand isn't such a box office winner, and I can see a lot of other businesses following suit." In The Times, the paper's podcast reviewer said that for Spotify to have pulled the plug, he "suspected that listening numbers would have been very low indeed."
Usually, Newsweek is pretty sympathetic to the Sussexes, but their entertainment expert, Mark Boardman, said, "Future deals of this kind for Harry and Megan will be hard to come by." And he also said that they face being presented with a lower fee in the future. But still, at the end of the day, how important is that? After all, the major plank in their post-Palace money-spinning operation is a 145 million deal they've got with Netflix. But apparently, things are not looking very good on that front either. Within 48 hours of this Spotify news coming out, The Sun's Royal editor, Matt Wilkinson, reported that Netflix "is unlikely to renew Megan and Harry's" contract.
Contract so it looks like there is no season two of their docu-series planned, and then Harry's Invictus Games documentary is the only other project they have on the go. A source told Wilkinson there is a less friendly attitude from some at the top. The source said the feeling is that the lemon has been fully squeezed. The big bucks Harry and Megan signed on for do not exist today. The paper also reported that, quote, "The Sussexes are prepared to see out their contractual obligations with Netflix, but there's been no news that Netflix feels the same."
And just in case that was not enough for Megan and Harry, then came the Daily Mail, bringing up the rear, raising similar doubts over their future with the entertainment giant. The Mail reported speculation is rife in Hollywood that Netflix may be preparing to follow Spotify and severing links with the Sussexes. And a source at Netflix said, quote, "The relationship hasn't always been great. Harry is no problem, but Megan thinks she knows how to run Hollywood."
So, to sum things up, Spotify is done, Netflix is unlikely to renew, things, Harry and Megan are viewed as lazy and difficult. The feeling reportedly at Netflix is that the Sussex lemon has been fully squeezed. So basically, they have lost whatever value they used to have. There have been moments when things looked pretty bad for Harry and Megan, but this has to be one of the worst by far, if not the worst, turns of fate for the two of them since they ran away from the UK. If their Netflix contract also goes belly up, they are up the creek without a paddle. It would basically be the same as that part in Jaws when the shark jumps on the boat and starts eating somebody's leg.
In the words of Oscar Wilde, "To lose one deal may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." Or it may look like Harry and Megan, their royal stories already told, are just not good for business. After all, who is going to want to pay for them at this point? How in the world would Megan and Harry pull in the previously estimated $5 million plus they need annually for living costs if their TV deal is also finished?
The way things are going now, it looks like Megan's probably going to be marching those kids any day now. The current state of their finances is a very difficult question to discuss. While Megan and Harry managed to land somewhere north of $200 million in deals in their first 18 months in the US, it's not like these companies just dumped a lot of money into their accounts while they were chewing the ends of their Tiffany and Company pencils and trying to think of some ideas.
Instead, these kinds of packages are more likely to have resulted in Megan and Harry's earnings dependent on their output. And since their Spotify deal was basically canceled, that means they're going to have lost out on a lot of money. Page Six has reported that, quote, "They will not be paid anything close to the full amount they could have earned under the deal." And then PR guru Brokowski has estimated that the end of their realm of Spotify may have cost them about $14.5 million.
And $14.5 million is about the same size as the mortgage they took out back in 2020. That has to hurt. Now, a source who spoke with Page Six stressed that they're not broke, but they're going to have to keep spending their money instead of banking it. This is a depressing muse indeed considering Megan and Harry's love of private jets and polo and that time Megan wore almost $70,000 worth of clothing in only six days last year.
Considering all of this bad news for Megan and Harry, is it any wonder that when the paparazzi shots of Megan came out over the weekend, she looked stressed and miserable? In April, only Megan signed on with the Hollywood mega-agent Ari Emmanuel, and now there's some speculation that the former actress may be signed up as the new face of Christian Dior. Okay, even if she managed this, the fee would not even be close to their Spotify deal or the figures of their Netflix one either.
I'm going to leave you with a little bit of irony here. While Megan and Harry are facing what might be a very depressing financial future, back in the UK, King Charles is busy giving away the Crown Estates' cut of profits from a $1.8 billion wind farm deal because he wants to help the citizens of his country. So while lots of hot air is paying off for the king, lots of hot air maybe making an Aries downfall.
