TLDR
Years after leaving royal duty, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are juggling stalled shows, lost audio money, and a restless lifestyle brand as they fight to keep the Sussex name commercially and culturally powerful.
From Blockbuster Deals to Quiet Retreats
When Meghan and Harry signed with Netflix in 2020, the deal was reported at close to $100 million and sold as the couple’s creative rebirth. According to the New York Times, it promised documentaries, scripted shows, and children’s programming built around their values.
The Spotify partnership told a similar story. Through Archewell Audio, Meghan’s podcast “Archetypes” arrived with A-list guests and a stated mission to unpack stereotypes about women. Yet after just 13 episodes, Spotify and the Sussexes parted ways. Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek later admitted that parts of its podcast push, including celebrity deals, “had not worked” as hoped, and the platform moved on.
Netflix brought Meghan to the center of the frame with “With Love, Meghan,” a lifestyle series that first found curious viewers, then slumped. Season 2 reportedly missed Netflix’s Top 10, even as critics described the show as “boring” and “painfully contrived.” For a couple once defined by spectacle, the quiet retreat of a headline series signaled real commercial drag.
When Branding Meets Real-World Headwinds
Offscreen, Meghan’s lifestyle ambitions faced their own turbulence. Her As Ever venture, reworked after trademark snags with the original American Riviera Orchard name, promised an aspirational Montecito kitchen of jams, homewares, and curated hosting. Instead, the launch got tangled in paperwork questions, lookalike logo complaints from Spain, and a fight to secure categories from the US trademark office.
The product that cut through the noise was jam, or rather, fruit spread. A source told Page Six that Meghan’s apricot jars generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Yet jam expert Donna Collins critiqued the texture, calling the As Ever spread “a real disappointment” and saying it resembled what the industry sells when a true jam does not set. The debate became less about taste and more about execution under a global microscope.
By early 2026, Page Six reported that nearly all of the Sussexes’ Netflix projects, including romance adaptations like “Meet Me at the Lake” and “The Wedding Date,” were stuck in development limbo. Then came word that Netflix had cut ties with As Ever altogether. An insider framed it bluntly, saying Meghan’s lifestyle show “did not go on,” while Netflix and As Ever both issued warmer statements about the brand’s next “independent” chapter.
What the Sussexes Risk Next
Their philanthropic arm, Archewell Philanthropies, has not escaped turbulence. Multiple senior staffers, including chief James Holt, departed, and insiders portrayed a charity looking for a fiscal sponsor just to cover outgoing costs. One source told Page Six that what remained was “smoke and mirrors,” a striking description for an organization built on the couple’s promise to do tangible good.
Taken together, the underperforming shows, the jam debate, the charity retrenchment, and the stalled prestige projects sketch a different kind of royal drama. Meghan and Harry are no longer fighting palace courtiers. They are negotiating with algorithms, trademark lawyers, and audiences who can turn away with a click. Their next choices will decide whether the Sussex brand is remembered as a brave reinvention that finally found its lane, or as a glittering experiment that never quite lived up to its own storyline.
Join the Discussion
Do you see Meghan and Harry’s post-royal projects as healthy experimentation in a tough industry, or as a warning about how difficult it is to turn fame into a lasting business?
!["Dr. [Thais Aliabadi] kept saying, 'Well, we need to look at this and keep an eye on it before you get pregnant because it could potentially be an issue," she said. Justin Bieber / Instagram - Page Six](https://insidefame.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/page-six-0006-img03_square-ad48636f12a14dd5ada7c0089eaf17c4.jpg)
