Prince Harry had a major victory this week: yesterday, he won a payout to the tune of $180,000 in damages for having his phone hacked by Mirror Group Newspapers. It is a bit of respite in a season of rough waters for both Harry and Meghan Markle, who, Deadline reports, are reportedly complaining that their “string of failed projects and brand partnerships” have led them to believe that there is “a vendetta being waged against them.”
William Morris Endeavor—the powerhouse talent agency that Meghan Markle signed with this past April—is reportedly holding crisis talks with Meghan and Harry, Deadline reports. The couple have, of course, had successes since stepping back as working members of the royal family nearly four years ago, in January 2020: their sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 was all anyone could talk about at the time; their eponymous six-part Netflix docuseries, released exactly one year ago, was a hit; and Harry’s memoir, Spare, released at the top of this year, broke records.
But there have also been setbacks. “There’s a general feeling that there has been a vendetta waged against them,” a source said. “There have been talks held with high-profile brands that didn’t lead to anything but should have done. Those brands then actively courted other members of the family.”
As Deadline writes, Meghan has been with WME for eight months, but no new projects have materialized thus far. Since April, Harry and Meghan’s $20 million deal with Spotify collapsed, and the outlet also points to the cancellation of Meghan’s “pet doc project Pearl” being canceled by Netflix as an example of the brick walls the Sussexes have encountered. “The team doesn’t appear to know what to do at this point,” they said. “The consensus now is to try and repair the damage done to the royal family and hope that link will help them out of the doldrums.”
As a new year dawns, it continues to feel like Harry and (especially) Meghan are on the cusp of announcing a big next step—but the wait continues. “They are in trouble and struggling to find the best way forward,” they said. “Harry has been trying to reach out to his family of late but doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere. He appears to have well and truly burned those bridges.”
King Charles is reluctant to meet with Harry at the moment, reports say. “There is very little trust there, which is understandable,” they said. “If there will be a meeting, it will have to be done properly with aides and officials present, and everything documented with minutes taken.”
