What another dismal week for Prince Harry. Despite announcing his commitment to a life of ‘service’ following Megxit, he does not appear on Time magazine’s list of the 100 ‘Most Influential Philanthropists’, released this week.

Worse still, his brother Prince William (described in Spare by Harry as his ‘arch-nemesis’) is on the list, along with wife Kate.

It’s hardly shocking, given that this year Prince Harry stepped down from the charity he founded, Sentebale, after a disagreement with its board chair.

There’s also the issue with the charity African Parks – where he served as president for six years before moving to the governing board of directors in 2023 – which has confessed to human rights violations.

And both setbacks come hard on the heels of Harry’s loss in the Court of Appeal over his right to automatic taxpayer-funded security, something which he called a ‘good, old-fashioned establishment stitch-up’ in a memorable tell-all BBC interview earlier this month.

The interview definitely got everyone talking, but probably not in the way Harry had intended, as he came across as bitter and entitled.

The initial Netflix deal was with both Meghan and Harry, and reportedly worth £78 million over a five-year period. The couple promised to create ‘content that informs but also gives hope’

But while 2025 is shaping up to be yet another annus horribilis for Harry, for wife Meghan, all seems to be sunshine and roses.

For, as I can exclusively reveal, despite ratings which insiders concede were ‘limp’ and ‘disappointing’, it is ‘almost certain’ that her Netflix lifestyle TV show, With Love, Meghan, will be recommissioned for a third series to be shown next year (a second is already in the can), and that the deal with the streamer, which had appeared dead in the water, will be renewed in September.

One well-placed source tells me: ‘What people do not understand about the situation is that [Netflix CEO] Ted Sarandos is a massive, massive fan of Meghan personally. He calls her “the rock star”. There is no way that her deal does not get renewed.’

The source adds: ‘Ted is in the Meghan business and that is not about to change. He is all in.’

So while the deal will be re-upped, my source says it’s on the basis of Meghan’s on-screen presence and of her ideas in the lifestyle arena.

And not on account of any ideas Harry has had. The initial Netflix deal was with both Meghan and Harry, and reportedly worth £78 million over a five-year period. The couple promised to create ‘content that informs but also gives hope’.

Their 2022 tell-all documentary, Harry & Meghan, was a runaway success, racking up 97.7 million hours of viewing in its first week.

However, it was followed by Heart Of Invictus which, although a worthy look at the work of Harry’s charity for injured servicemen and women, was one of Netflix’s worst performers of 2023.

Last year’s Polo, a behind-the-scenes documentary about the sport which barely featured the Sussexes, did not chart.

Those who do business with Netflix believe the new deal will be a much-reduced offer compared with their current agreement, will be focused entirely on Meghan and this time will be without a generous upfront payment.

The one guest Meghan will really want to land for series three – which may go into production later this year – will be the reigning Queen of Montecito, Gwyneth Paltrow

One senior TV and film producer said: ‘The renewal will be crucial in saving face all round, not least for Netflix. It’s like Amazon endlessly renewing Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s deal, despite her coming up with nothing. It means that the executive who made the hire doesn’t look as if they made a mistake. I can see why it makes sense to renew for much smaller money.

‘Meghan’s not got anything to the screen as a producer – none of the scripted [films or TV shows] she talked about have come to fruition – but people are fascinated by her on a global level, and that’s not true of many people.’

Of her scripted shows, the animated children’s series Pearl was junked before going into production and an adaptation of the best-selling romantic novel, Meet Me At The Lake, has yet to have an approved script.

Nothing has been heard of their planned feminist take on Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations in more than a year. But Meghan clearly remains a source of huge interest – as seen this week when she shared a ‘love story’ moodboard to mark her seventh wedding anniversary to Prince Harry.

And she is now intent on monetising that appeal with her elegant fingers plunged into several money-making pies.

Her As Ever brand launched, with its ‘fruit spreads’, teas and biscuit and crepe mixes selling out in less than an hour on April 2.

We don’t know, of course, just how many items were produced, so the jury is still out on whether that is impressive, or if it was just a clever PR stunt.

And what is not impressive is the fact that, seven full weeks later, nothing has been restocked. ‘I would bet that someone in logistics is getting fired,’ says a source. ‘Where are the products? If they are in demand, then sell them! It’s basic business.’

Netflix boss Ted Sarandos, pictured, is said to be a ‘massive, massive fan of Meghan personally’

Asked for comment on the delay this week, her PR team at Archewell were saying nothing, however.

Certainly, the brand launch, which Meghan says was done in association with Netflix, appeared to be painfully fumbled, slow and chaotic.

But, while there is a long way to go before the ‘female founder’ of As Ever can count herself a foodstuffs tycoon, even her detractors have to concede that her commercial ventures show sign of promise.

As an influencer, Meghan – the famous ‘briefcase girl’ on American TV’s Deal Or No Deal before making her name in legal drama Suits – seems to have found her niche. Her Shop My website appears to be booming. The $395 (£290) striped Jenni Kayne cashmere sweater she wore on her Netflix show, and which she featured in an Instagram post, is sold out in all sizes.

It’s the same with the Carolina Herrera dress she wore to a Beyonce concert earlier this month. While hers was last season and no longer available, it prompted a spike in demand for the designer’s current pleated denim mini dress – which is sold out in all sizes, despite costing $1,600 (£1,182).

Ditto a pretty, $400 (£295) black tiered Doen sundress worn in a picture posted in honour of International Women’s Day.

Meghan’s powerful influence on shopping cannot be disputed, and the move into e-commerce has been an easy win for her – she will be getting at least ten per cent of sales – and a welcome contribution to the Sussex family coffers.

Harry, who inherited millions from his mother and grandmother – memorably complained to Oprah in their tell-all interview in 2021 that his family had ‘literally cut me off financially’.

Royal accounts made public shortly afterwards showed that Charles had in fact continued to support the couple until the summer of 2020 from a £4.4 million Clarence House pot used to support his two sons and their families.

Less successful have been her recent TV ventures.

Her series, With Love, Meghan, had 12.6 million hours streamed in its first week, just squeaking into the Netflix global top ten that week. It was number seven in the UK

in its first week before dropping from view.

It was also not a critical success, panned for featuring lots of sprinkling of edible dried flowers on just about everything: ice cream, hummus, cakes and in drinks.

For all Meghan’s talk of ‘authenticity’, it wasn’t even filmed in her own home but in a nearby mansion near to hers – for reasons of privacy and because her own kitchen isn’t large or bright enough to accommodate a crew. Sources, however, say she was delighted with the series.

Netflix boss Ted Sarandos – who has a weekend home near to the Sussexes in Montecito with wife Nicole Avant and shares some mutual friends with Meghan – tends not to talk about her in interviews, but it’s clear where he sees the duchess’s potential. In March this year, just after With Love, Meghan started streaming, he spoke about her in a long-profile piece in industry bible Variety and said: ‘I think Meghan is underestimated in terms of her influence on culture.

‘When we dropped the trailer for the Harry & Meghan doc series, everything on-screen was dissected in the Press for days. The shoes she was wearing sold out all over the world. The Hermes blanket that was on the chair behind her sold out everywhere in the world. People are fascinated with Meghan Markle. She and Harry are overly dismissed.’

Asked whether Netflix was serious about being involved in Meghan’s brand beyond just ‘a marketing ploy’, Sarandos replied: ‘It’s good for marketing and branding. This is all expressions of fandom.’

He added: ‘We’re a passive partner in Meghan’s company, and it’s a big discovery model for us right now.’

From which you might intuit that Sarandos isn’t banking on As Ever becoming the next Heinz, but sees it as a useful way of attracting audiences to the Netflix show, and of commercialising the global fascination which Meghan exerts.

So strong was his belief in Meghan that a second eight-episode series of With Love, Meghan was filmed at the same time as the first last spring, and it will go out this autumn.

As I revealed last week, one of the guests will be model and TV presenter Chrissy Teigen – arguably a step up from Mindy Kaling, a comedian who clearly didn’t know the duchess very well after she was famously (and snippily) corrected when she called her Meghan Markle.

‘It’s Sussex now,’ the Duchess told her.

But the one guest whom Meghan will really want to land for series three – which may go into production later this year – will be the reigning Queen of Montecito, Gwyneth Paltrow.

Paltrow had made a rather cool observation about Meghan earlier this year, saying: ‘I don’t know Meghan and Harry. I’m surprised, given how close they live. I mean, I’ve met Meghan, who seems really lovely, but I don’t know her at all.’

She added: ‘Maybe I’ll try to get through their security detail and bring them a pie.’

This was followed by an Instagram video of Paltrow making breakfast which appeared to make a dig at Meghan, as she was drinking tea from a mug with a crown on it and decanting shop-bought biscuits on to a plate.

Paltrow shut down rumours of a feud by then getting Meghan to make a surprise appearance in a video filmed in Paltrow’s kitchen, eating pie, a few days later.

Asked if she might appear on Meghan’s show this week Paltrow said: ‘Sure! Why not? You never know. I don’t bake that well, but I can always try.’

As is the case in the celebrity world, the true barometer of their friendship can be found on Instagram: neither follows the other.

Ted Sarandos, meanwhile, follows both of them.

Surely it’s only a matter of time before Meghan returns Gwynnie’s hospitality – this time with Netflix footing the bill.