Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s reason for ‘failing’ in Hollywood have been explained by an American royal expert. Times are undoubtedly tumultuous for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with the pair having big-name commercial deals cancelled left and right.
This week, rumours are flying that Netflix is not seeking to renew its £80m contract with the Sussex duo, whilst Spotify has already cancelled an £18m deal after just 12 episodes of Meghan Markle’s Archetypes podcast.
Meanwhile, there’s upset in their own company, Archewell Productions, which just yesterday lost senior manager Bennet Levine – the fifth company staff member to jump ship in a year.
Speaking to TalkTV’s Mike Graham, royal expert Kinsey Schofield discussed the reasons for Harry and Meghan’s industry failures and their seeming inability to succeed in the professional space.
Schofield speculated that the pair “don’t like to play by the rules”, and that the way Harry works is “frustrating” for senior staff.
Speaking on the departure of Levine, who also worked on Harry and Meghan’s Netflix docuseries, Ms Schofield said that the gap in talent between bosses and staff may be the reason for the Sussex duo’s constant failure.
She said that Harry and Meghan have “pursued some talented individuals,” to work on their productions, and that former Sony employee Levine was “disciplined” and had a “template” for success.
According to Schofield, however, it could be the pair’s taste for nonconformity that is killing their careers. She said: “But Harry and Meghan don’t like to play by the rules, they want to make their own rules.
“It must be very frustrating for people like (Levine) who have made a name for themselves through hard work, and through legitimate talent.”
Schofield suggested that Harry and Meghan had a degree of unfair entitlement and said: “Harry gets to be the boss, but he was a nepo baby,” referring to the Prince’s in-built fame as a Royal.
Meanwhile, she said that “[Meghan] is in the position that she’s in because of who she married.”
In a scathing blow to the Sussexes’ talent, the royal expert claimed that their continued loss of staff and contracts was a “reflection of leadership.”
Suggestions were also made as to Harry and Meghan’s reputation amongst industry media titans.
Whilst Schofield said that the Sussexes are renowned for “not wanting to play by the rules”, she stressed that this non-conformity was not viewed as an asset by industry leaders – quite the opposite, she suggested.
She said that company leaders such as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, in charge of Audible and Prime Video, would be asking the duo serious questions as to their likeability with staff and their ability to deliver on projects.
