Meghan Markle is said to be the main ‘breadwinner’ in the Sussex household as she pushes forward with As Ever, her lifestyle brand. But there are fears that Prince Harry is struggling to carve his own path as he faces hurdles in his charity work
Prince Harry is at a significant crossroads in his life – but his next move could bring ‘serious success’ if he plays it right.
While Meghan is firmly focused on expanding her lifestyle brand As Ever after parting ways with Netflix, Harry remains dedicated to his philanthropy work. But he’s faced some gruelling setbacks – most notably his heartbreaking Sentebale departure – and now there’s been another blow.
Last week, it was revealed Melloney Poole has stepped down as a trustee and vice chairman of the Invictus Games board for next year’s event in Birmingham. Poole, who has been described as “instrumental” for the Invictus team, became vice chairman in December 2024, in what a huge win for the charity.
The resignation has been described as a ‘second heartbreak’ for Harry, with the armed forces charity being his main focus after quitting Sentebale last year. It has also emerged that a short time after the Sussexes returned from the quasi-royal tour to Australia last month, the Australian government decided to cut their spending on Invictus Australia. The funding axe could mean that Australia may not even be able to send a team to the next Invictus Games in 2027 in Birmingham.
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Further adding to Harry’s woes, there have been some calls for him to step down as patron of the Games. He has become something of a divisive figure in the military community, not least because he appeared to ‘boast’ about the kill count from his second tour in Afghanistan in 2012 in his tell-all book Spare.
Retired army veteran Col Tim Collins was among those to speak out, describing Harry’s comments as “crass”. He told Forces News: “Amongst his assertions is a claim that he killed 25 people in Afghanistan. That’s not how you behave in the army; it’s not how we think. He has badly let the side down. We don’t do notches on the rifle butt. We never did.”
The former soldier further accused Harry of engaging in “a tragic moneymaking scam to fund the lifestyle he can’t afford”. Other Afghanistan veterans also condemned his comments, with a former para saying, “I’ve never heard anyone talk about kill counts, it’s crass and frankly cringeworthy. Taking a life is the most serious thing you can ever do on ops, serious people don’t talk it up as a game to shift a few books.”
The Sussexes have become very polarising figures both UK and abroad, with popularity polls painting a bleak picture. After quitting royal life in 2020, the couple made the decision to cash on their royal connections by repeatedly laying bare their grievances in a very public way – through their shock Oprah interview, their TV series, and of course, Harry’s 2023 memoir Spare.
It’s thought they racked in over $100million with the likes of Netflix, Spotify and Apple clamouring to help them tell ‘their story’. But that work has dried up.
“Money is tight,” a source recently told Page Six. The report suggests that Meghan and Harry need at least $6 million a year to cover their various bills. Not only are the pair reportedly paying a mortgage on their $15 million mansion, but they are also said to be spending $3 million per year on private security.
It begs the question, should Harry’s role change at Invictus – where will he go next? Previously, the couple were able to rely on money from Netflix to help supplement their income. They signed a multiyear production deal with Netflix in September 2020 in a bid to achieve financial independence in their post-royal lives.
Their six-part docuseries Harry & Meghan became a major hit for the platform – but follow-up projects failed to resonate, including Live to Lead, Heart of Invictus, a docuseries centered on the Invictus Games, and Polo.
Last summer, there was an announcement of a much watered-down relationship between the Sussexes and Netflix over producing TV series for the platform. Their contract was downgraded to a less lucrative “first look deal” that gives Netflix first refusal on any new projects.
It was then later announced that the partnership between Meghan’s lifestyle brand and Netflix was also coming to an end, and As Ever was becoming fully independent, having previously been supported financially by the streaming giant.
As it stands, the couple do have some Netflix project in the pipeline. Archewell Productions is said to be developing an adaptation of the best-selling books The Wedding Date and Meet Me At The Lake, and Harry and Meghan are producing a scripted polo TV series for Netflix, set in Florida and based on two rival teams and their families.
It was also recently announced that they are producing a film adaptation of No Way Out: The Searing True Story of Men Under Siege, a military memoir written by Major Adam Jowsett about his experience during the war in Afghanistan.
It’s a personal project for Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan. But it remains to be seen whether it will be a commercial success for the Sussexes.
Olivia Bennett, senior PR director at Go Up , is optimistic. “By stepping into the scripted drama space with polo and an Afghan war movie, Harry is successfully steering Archewell’s output toward his core strengths: sport, military camaraderie, and brotherhood. Crucially, he’s doing it under the cover of fiction,” she tells the Mirror.
“The 2024 Polo docuseries struggled because it felt too elite, too privileged, and turned people off. Turning this new project into a scripted, Succession-meets-Gossip Girl drama allows stories about his world to be told without the intense personal scrutiny.
“Plus, the success of Off Campus and Heated Rivalry proves that audiences are completely obsessed with what happens after the whistle blows, the locker room politics, the intense psychological pressure, and the insular, hyper-competitive worlds. It could be a great success.”
Olivia also believes that in order to ‘get his spark back’, Harry needs to “stop trying to please his critics”. She tells us: “He has been trapped in defensive crisis management for years, whether it’s the High Court litigation or responding to political noise. He needs to lean into the fun, the competition, and the camaraderie of these new projects.
“If he throws his energy into making this polo drama a massive, soapy, addictive hit and ensures No Way Out honours the veteran community, he will naturally find his footing.”
She also suggests that if Harry wants to use his voice, “he could look at high-end, long-form audio and journalism”. The PR guru says: “Instead of being the subject of interviews, he should be the interviewer. Imagine a heavy-hitting podcast or documentary series where Prince Harry sits down with world leaders, military generals, and global changemakers to talk about conflict, resilience, and leadership. It positions him as an intellectual peer to global leaders rather than a celebrity talking about his own life.”
Whether that’s a viable option for Harry remains to be seen, however. According to Variety, A-list talent and directors are hesitant to work with the pair now perceptions of the couple have shifted in the industry, fuelled further by comments made by Spotify’s head of podcast innovation and monetisation, Bill Simmons, who famously called them “f*****g grifters”.
Then-United Talent Agency CEO, Jeremy Zimmer, said in a 2023 conference: “Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent. Just because you’re famous doesn’t make you great at something.”
Sources further said that Meghan made it clear that this was her world – not Harry’s. One told the publication: “In virtual and in-person meetings with partners, she tends to talk over or recast Prince Harry’s thoughts, sometimes while he is mid-sentence, sources say (usually preceded by a touch to the arm or thigh).”
Ultimately, though, Olivia believes the couple can rely on the public’s “unyielding, almost visceral fascination with this couple”. “Whether people love them or love to critique them, they click, they watch, and they buy. That level of global recognition is a permanent, self-monetising asset,” she says.
“They don’t need a single £100 million contract when they have twenty different revenue streams spinning at once. Between book deals, speaking gigs, tech investments, and As Ever products, they are transitioning from being ‘celebrities for hire’ to becoming a decentralised corporate conglomerate. The fascination with them guarantees they will always have a seat at the table.”
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