Money trouble in paradise? It costs a lot to fund a 9-bedroom Montecito mansion, all that security – and all those court cases. As their big bucks Spotify deal comes to a sudden end, will Harry and Meghan be forced to rein in their plutocratic lifestyle?
It’s hurricane season again in the Atlantic but in far-away Montecito, the storm clouds gathering over Prince Harry and Meghan’s sunlit home are looking a lot more concerning.
Suddenly, a multi-million pound-shaped hole in the couple’s finances imperils not just their oh-so comfy California lifestyle but threatens to undermine the model of their post-royal life, the one in which they are not propped up by money from King Charles.
They may not be pushing the panic button quite yet, but the news that streaming giant Spotify is ending its contract with them is at the very least an uncomfortable reminder that even Harry and Meghan’s global fame is no guarantee to the long-term commercial value of Brand Sussex.
According to trade experts the greatest danger to the couple is one of contagion: once one high-profile supporter disappears, will others follow?
Mark Borkowski, the PR and marketing guru, suggested yesterday that Spotify’s decision to scrap their £18 million deal after one series of the Duchess’s Archetypes podcast, was a sign that ‘their star is really falling’. He believes that it stems from a failure to get the quality of their product right.
The news that streaming giant Spotify is ending its contract with them is at the very least an uncomfortable reminder that even Harry and Meghan’s global fame is no guarantee to the long-term commercial value of Brand Sussex
‘The air is going out of their balloon and these little things begin to erode that juggernaut of hype that they delivered when they broke away from the Royal Family,’ he said, adding: ‘It is not a good day for the long-term brand of Meghan and Harry.’
How quickly times have changed. Archetypes, launched with huge fanfare last year, saw Meghan speak to high-profile figures including tennis champion Serena Williams and pop star Mariah Carey about stereotypes levelled against women.
The Serena interview, however, was chiefly remembered for Meghan’s claim that her son Archie had been put in danger after a fire broke out in his nursery during her and Harry’s tour of South Africa.
But for all the razzmatazz, reviews were mixed.
One critic likened the listening experience to being ‘locked in the relaxation room of a wellness spa with an unusually self-involved yoga instructor’.
Meghan was unabashed, declaring: ‘I loved digging deep into meaningful conversation with my diverse and inspiring guests, laughing and learning with them. It has been such a labour of love.’ The podcast won a prize at the People’s Choice Award in LA.
Spotify had originally spoken of a relationship with Archewell Audio, the couple’s production company, to produce several series. However it decided to pull the plug on the arrangement after just one.
Their faux-Tuscan nine-bedroom home boasts more bathrooms than there are working members of the Royal Family. They took out a £7.5 million mortgage when they purchased the sprawling seven-acre property for £11 million three years ago.
The company had reportedly become impatient with the couple about the pace of recordings, which was initially 12 episodes in two years — until it was eventually released at a rate of one episode per week last year, with a brief pause when the Queen died and Meghan and Harry were in Britain.
Meanwhile, Spotify was accused of wrongly using its own official podcast chart to keep Meghan at No1 when her daily listeners were lagging behind comedian Joe Rogan and other stars.
It was probably no coincidence that the streaming company was already tightening its belt.
Earlier this month it said it planned to lay off 200 people, including workers at its podcast studios Gimlet Media and Parcast. This was on top of the 600 employees made redundant at the beginning of the year.
All the same the decision now, inevitably, calls into question Harry and Meghan’s other business ventures, not least their multi-million dollar deal with Netflix.
So just how precarious are their finances? Where does their money come from and, crucially, what do they spend it on?
On the surface they seem to enjoy an enviably gilded life: chauffeurs to whisk them anywhere, bodyguards to protect them and staff to cosset them.
But all this costs money.
Prince Harry leaves his New York City Hotel to head to Stephen Colbert to pre tape another segment in his Royal drama
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So too do the mortgage payments on their faux-Tuscan nine-bedroom home, which boasts more bathrooms than there are working members of the Royal Family. They took out a £7.5 million mortgage when they purchased the sprawling seven-acre property for £11 million three years ago.
The vine-covered 14,500 sq ft house includes a home cinema, spa, gym and a lift. It is possible that the couple have paid off some or all of the loan, but this is not clear based on U.S. records.
However, they clearly grabbed a bargain, in Californian terms — the previous owner, Russian magnate Sergey Grishin, paid £20.4 million for it in 2009.
The couple’s wrap-around security is their biggest financial outlay, with Harry repeatedly making clear it is his top priority. The annual cost of round-the-clock protection has been estimated at between £2 million and £5 million.
A squad of guards and state-of-the-art surveillance kit is needed to cover the family’s extensive grounds. The couple and their children also have bodyguards wherever they go, with teams needed to scout locations ahead of planned visits and robust vehicles to escort them safely.
For trips abroad, security staff also need flights and accommodation. Security consultants told Forbes magazine two years ago that the price tag could be a hefty £2.4 million.
Harry and Meghan’s controversial life choices will have done nothing to lower their security requirements
When the Sussexes moved to America, it was reported that the then Prince Charles was footing an estimated £4 million of security
When the Sussexes moved to America, it was reported that the then Prince Charles was footing an estimated £4 million of security.
Since then, Harry and Meghan’s controversial life choices will have done nothing to lower their security requirements. And that’s only the start.
High-spending California levies some of the highest taxes in America and the property tariff (the U.S. equivalent of the UK council tax) on their home is reportedly an eye-watering £116,746 a year.
The super-wealthy Californians with whom the Sussexes now mix typically pay for a full-time housekeeper — known as a ‘house manager’ — as well as a gardener and nanny. Assuming — as seems inevitable — that they go private in educating their children, school costs will soon rise steeply for the couple.
However, there’s room for savings — as the U.S. media has pointed out, Meghan is a dab hand at using her fame to get products and services for free — as she did with her lifestyle blog The Tig when she was an actress. According to biographer Tom Bower, she regularly sought free hotel accommodation or luxury brand products.
According to the New York Post, the Sussexes tried this approach again during their controversial visit to New York in May (which ended in their alleged car chase with paparazzi) as they requested — but were refused — a steeply discounted rate at the luxury Carlisle Hotel.
It has been suggested that Spotify’s decision to scrap the couple’s £18 million deal after one series of the Duchess’s Archetypes podcast, was a sign that ‘their star is really falling
To keep this incredible show on the road, the dollars need to come pouring in.
Harry’s memoir Spare was a publishing phenomenon and is likely to remain a lucrative money-spinner for some time to come. Published simultaneously around the world, the book sold more than 1.43 million copies on its first day, mostly from pre-orders placed in the days and weeks before it appeared on the shelves. This was a record for a non-fiction book by Penguin Random House, the world’s largest publisher. Only the ‘other’ Harry — JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books — has sold more. In Britain, Spare has sold more than 750,000 copies so far.
The Sussexes are said to have struck a £16 million advance covering four books, of which the explosive Spare will surely be the bestseller by far.
The New York Times said there was ‘flexibility as to the number and type of books Harry and Meghan could produce’.
One of these upcoming books is believed to be a wellness guide written by Meghan. And Harry was said to be writing another book that he had always planned to publish after the Queen’s death.
It is not known what percentage of royalties he negotiated, but it would be surprising if Harry did not enjoy a significant wedge as the book continues to sell.
Harry paid his ghost-writer, J.R. Moehringer, a reported $1 million for helping him write the book.
Harry paid his ghost-writer, J.R. Moehringer, a reported $1 million for helping him write the book
READ MORE: Meghan only has Netflix left: £81m deal with streaming service is last surviving major deal in her media empire after Spotify dropped plans for a second series of her podcast
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry now have just one major media deal left with Netflix following the cancellation of the Duchess of Sussex’s Spotify podcast, Archetypes. Pictured is a clip from Harry & Meghan on Netflix, released last year
He has also pledged to give ‘proceeds’ to charities, though it is not clear if this amounts to all the cash he makes from sales. He has already given £1.2 million to Sentebale, his charity which helps children in Southern Africa at risk of HIV, and has handed £750,000 to Gloucester-based WellChild.
How the couple square plans for more books following reports that they will no longer speak publicly about the Royal Family because they have ‘nothing left to say’, is not clear.
But if Spare, with its revelations of losing his virginity, taking cocaine, his frozen penis, his fall-out with William and the bitterness he felt toward his stepmother Camilla, was the most talked about money-spinner, Netflix was the most lucrative.
The deal is reportedly worth around £81 million. And Harry and Meghan, the documentary mini-series, was by far the biggest venture for the couple to date.
They announced their partnership with Netflix six months after setting up home in California in March 2020, saying they wanted to provide ‘hope and inspiration’ by teaming up with the streaming goliath.
The much-anticipated six-parter, packed with attacks on the Royal Family, was released at the end of 2022 and was a huge broadcasting hit with nearly 2.5 million people watching the first episode on the day of its launch in the UK.
It aired to a backdrop of tense reports that the Duke and Duchess had been ‘at odds’ with the production staff and had wanted to make ‘extensive edits’ following the death of the Queen.
But having invited the Netflix cameras to film their lives, the privacy-obsessed couple are hoping to stay behind the lens for forthcoming projects, which may or may not prove as lucrative. The Duke and Duchess have said Archewell Productions will make documentaries, feature films, scripted shows and children’s programming. The couple fronted and executive-produced the series Live To Lead in conjunction with The Nelson Mandela Foundation, which was launched with a two-minute trailer in December.
But Mandela’s granddaughter accused them of ‘stealing’ the statesman’s words and using his name to ‘make millions’ on the show.
And the Netflix alliance has not been all plain sailing. Meghan’s hopes to make an animated children’s show, Pearl, were dashed when it was scrapped last May before release.
There have been fears the same fate awaits Heart Of Invictus, a docuseries following veterans competing in Harry’s Invictus Games. Netflix insists this is not the case but there is still no date for its broadcast.
The couple’s Netflix deal is reportedly worth around £81 million. And Harry and Meghan, the documentary mini-series, was by far the biggest venture for the couple to date
Harry is engaged in no fewer than five ongoing actions in the British courts — it was six until he lost one of them last month
So what other income sources do the couple have? There is Harry’s inheritance from his mother Princess Diana. In her will, she left £21 million to her two sons, to be held in trust until they turned 25.
In the intervening years, the fund was said to have grown significantly. Its eventual value was never made public. Estimates put Harry’s portion anywhere from £10 million to £20 million.
The prince also reportedly received an estimated £7 million from the Queen Mother, who in 1994 put two-thirds of her £70 million fortune into a trust fund for her great-grandchildren. And that is before interest payments, which could easily have doubled the windfall before Harry was given access to it.
Over his ten years in the Army, earning approximately £45,000 a year, Harry would have been paid a total of around £450,000.
Meghan’s previous earnings, meanwhile, have been put at £4 million, mainly from her role in the TV drama Suits, which paid her £2 million over six years. She also raked in six-figure sums for various film roles and about £60,000 a year endorsing products while running The Tig, which she is rumoured to be reviving.
Of all their vast expenditure, however, the most unquantifiable are Harry’s legal cases.
He is engaged in no fewer than five ongoing actions in the British courts — it was six until he lost one of them last month.
He is suing the Home Office and three newspaper groups and with teams of lawyers involved, his bills must be enormous.
Even if he wins his current hacking case against the publisher of Mirror newspapers, he could face legal costs of more than £1 million — which could dwarf any compensation.
Losing the Spotify money may yet turn out to be a hefty blow.
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