When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from working royal duties in 2020 and decamped for California, they brought a commodity Tinseltown could not manufacture on demand: royalty. They settled in Montecito, a celebrity-packed enclave north of Los Angeles where their neighbors included Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Rob Lowe.
Global streaming giants and audio networks scrambled for their signatures, eager to secure big names to lure subscribers in a booming content market.
Streaming Mega-Deals and the Reality of Production
The centerpiece of their commercial reinvention was a multi-year deal with Netflix signed in 2020 through their Archewell Productions organization, reportedly worth between $60m and $100m. The ambitions were sprawling, encompassing scripted and unscripted projects, shows for all ages, and documentaries. Around the same time, the couple secured a podcast deal with Spotify reported to be worth up to $25m (£18.3m).
Attracting that initial wave of capital proved significantly easier than sustaining it. They were so sought after, they were names that would hit the press and command attention right away
, notes Stacy Jones, chief executive of Hollywood Branded, a marketing and PR agency, via Yahoo Entertainment. Jones points out that while the celebrity circuit offers endless events and parties, participants quickly realize all those endless things are promoting something to sell
.
The couple had plenty to sell, but the market proved unforgiving. Their 2022 self-titled documentary series, Harry & Meghan, set record viewing figures for a documentary debut and became one of Netflix’s most successful docuseries ever. Yet subsequent non-royal content struggled to capture the same oxygen. Projects like the polo documentary failed to crack global top-10 charts, viewership for the cooking and lifestyle series With Love, Meghan dropped off significantly, ranking as the 1,217th most-watched title on Netflix over the second half of last year, and an animated children’s series titled Pearl was canceled.
Spotify Dissolution and Netflix Downgrades
Audio ambitions hit a wall even faster. After producing a 12-episode season of the podcast Archetypes featuring guests such as Serena Williams and Mariah Carey, Spotify and Archewell Audio mutually agreed to part ways in 2023.
Netflix also adjusted its exposure. The five-year deal has since been replaced by a less lucrative arrangement. Netflix also ended its partnership with Markle’s lifestyle brand, As Ever, after seven months, with the company stating that handing full control back to Markle was always the plan.
The Power of Personal Royal Revelations
When the Sussex brand succeeded commercially, it relied almost entirely on personal narrative rather than generalized entertainment content. Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, arrived with a reported $20m advance and sold more than six million copies worldwide, securing its place as the fastest-selling non-fiction book on record.
Whether discussing his upbringing with trauma specialist Dr. Gabor Maté or fulfilling his role as chief impact officer at Silicon Valley coaching firm BetterUp, Harry remained intensely marketable when the subject matter stayed close to his personal biography or institutional ties. Maté observed that Harry came across as very personable, very sensitive
and determined he doesn’t pass on his traumas to his children
, as noted by Yahoo Entertainment.
“I have always loved the UK and I always will love the UK. It’s been good to reconnect with the causes I am passionate about. I have been able to spend some time with people that I have known for so long. It is hard to do it from far away.”
Returning to London Amid Unresolved Futures
The decision to return to the UK marks a definitive shift in lifestyle. Reaction across the Atlantic has spanned the spectrum from tabloid schadenfreude—such as a New York Post front page declaring that America’s long national nightmare is over
, cited by Yahoo Entertainment—to a quieter recognition that Hollywood itself has decentralized. As streaming networks operate on increasingly global footprints, bases of physical operation matter less than they once did.
Yet as the family prepares for the UK, the grand thesis of their California transition—that a prince and a Hollywood actor could construct an independent, self-sustaining media empire purely on the weight of their marquee names—faces its most significant test yet.
