These times are challenging for the Duke of Sussex. Already disconnected from his family and many longtime friends, he has also separated from the African charity he co-created in memory of his mother.
Yet Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, can boast of success in one particular area: public relations.
This week’s public statement about their relationship with Netflix, for example, provides a masterclass in media manipulation.
In September 2020, the Duke and Duchess entered a five-year contract to produce documentaries and films for a major American streaming service, a deal reportedly valued at up to $100 million (£75 million).
On Monday, the California-based pair announced what would happen when, next month, that deal finally comes to an end.
‘We’re proud to extend our partnership with Netflix and expand our work together to include the As Ever brand,’ said Meghan.
‘My husband and I are motivated by our partners who collaborate closely with us, as well as our Archewell Productions team, to create meaningful content across various genres that resonates globally and upholds our shared vision.’
This announcement was widely interpreted as Netflix ‘renewing’ its agreement with the pair. Speculation that the company would terminate the contract was proven false, to much delight.
‘We’re thrilled to extend our partnership with Netflix and broaden our collaboration to encompass the As Ever brand,’ said Meghan on Monday. Here, she is shown with Prince Harry in 2023.
The truth, however, is very different.
That lucrative 2020 deal, in which they were paid an agreed sum to make films and programmes, has not in fact been renewed.
Rather, the Sussexes have been offered a face-saving, ‘first-look’ agreement, granting Netflix the option, but not the obligation, to commission any projects Harry and Meghan propose.
Significantly, I am told the couple will be paid in full only if those projects are commissioned. So, there could be far less to the much-hyped new ‘deal’ than meets the eye.
As a showbusiness source put it: ‘This announcement is potentially an elegant way for Netflix to cut its ties with the Sussexes if they don’t come up with anything juicy and personal – such as their 2022 docu-series Harry & Meghan.’
That’s the tawdry reality show in which Meghan was criticised for mocking the late Queen Elizabeth by performing an exaggerated curtsy.
The Duchess of Sussex tends to her garden in With Love, Meghan – her Netflix series
What we do know is that Netflix is to broadcast a second series of the lifestyle and cookery programme, With Love, Meghan, later this month.
It was filmed at the same time as the first season, which failed to make the streamer’s top 300 shows in the first six months of this year. We can also expect a special Christmas holiday edition.
And Netflix has announced that it will bring out a short documentary produced by the Sussexes about an orphanage in Uganda called Masaka Kids, A Rhythm Within.
Have the Sussexes received a retainer or an up-front fee? Yes, insisted their spokesman, although the size of any payment remains in question.
‘I can say no more owing to commercially confidential contractual agreements,’ he said.
A Netflix spokesman told me: ‘As you can imagine, and as with all the talent Netflix works with, we don’t discuss fees or deal terms.’
A new trailer released to publicise the second series of With Love, Meghan has raised eyebrows, I hear – particularly among some of those who worked with the American former actress during the 22 months that she was a front-line member of the Royal Family.
The show sees her cook with famous friends, such as make-up artist Daniel Martin
That’s because the trailer revealed that one of the guests Meghan will feature in her series is model and TV producer Chrissy Teigen.
Teigen, they noted, apologised in 2021 for bullying, saying she had reflected on ‘the crushing weight of regret for the things I’ve said in the past’.
The model said she had been privately contacting people she’d insulted online in the past, though she did not say whom.
‘There is simply no excuse for my past horrible tweets,’ wrote Teigen, who is married to singer John Legend. ‘I was a troll, full stop. And I am so sorry.’
In 2018, Meghan was accused by a senior royal aide of bullying staff in the Royal Household.
Jason Knauf raised his concerns while he worked as communications secretary for the Duke and Duchess in an internal email – an apparent attempt to force Buckingham Palace to act (Knauf, of course, is CEO of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize).
At the time, a spokesman for the couple strenuously denied the allegation of bullying. Buckingham Palace launched an internal review into the claims but never made the findings public.
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