Meghan Markle and Prince Harry "misunderstood what was expected of them" from their lucrative Spotify deal, Princess Diana's close friend has claimed.
Former butler Paul Burrell has said the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have "fallen short of everything that was expected" after they decided against spilling any Royal Family gossip.
Harry and Meghan stepped away from the streaming giant just three years after signing an exclusive $25million (£19.6million) deal in 2020. Their Spotify podcast saw Meghan speak to a number of guests including Serena Williams and Paris Hilton.
Through their partnership with Spotify, Meghan and Harry wanted to "build community" and share "powerful narratives" which showed "universal values".
Speaking about the announcement that they would be ending the partnership, Paul said: "I think that the statement by Spotify was to save face, actually, I think it was a very diplomatic statement.
"Obviously, Spotify was a money-making exercise as much as Netflix was and I think that Harry and Meghan both misunderstood what was expected of them. Of course, both Spotify and Netflix wanted royal content. After all, that's what they're famous for."
Speaking on behalf of Slingo, Paul added: "Both Netflix and Spotify signed up for that content, for their story, for their experience with the royal family and sadly, I think it's been shortcoming."
He suggested Meghan and Harry need to "reinvent themselves" to secure future brand partnerships. Paul also said they should focus on continuing their charity work.
"[Princess Diana] always said the price you pay for this wonderful lifestyle is public service and you have to give something back. Where is Harry and Meghan's public service? They both have a great platform they could use for this. Maybe they will. I hope they will."
Speaking about their future work, Paul said he believes Meghan will "eventually go into beauty and fashion".
He said: "I've always said that and I can see a bottle of 'Meghan' on someone's dressing table or perhaps 'Duchess'. Why wouldn't someone want to take a risk with that and create something for Meghan then that would give her a foothold and a platform to launch herself into fashion."
Paul added: "I think it's another platform which can give her an opportunity to grow tentacles into different arenas and I've always said that this is just a rung on the ladder. She's climbing the ladder, she will eventually climb to the top of that ladder."
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