When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, stepped out in Canada this week, at an event for Harry’s Invictus Games ‘One Year to Go’ celebrations (the next games for wounded and sick soldiers and veterans will take place in Vancouver and Toronto next year) their message was clear. Things are not only very much ‘business as usual’ for the couple, who have been the centre of yet another hailstorm of stories about the ongoing royal rift in the last few weeks, but they are this week making a declaration that the Sussex brand is flourishing - despite some damaging news regarding the future of their foundation, Archewell, last month.
The pair arrived in Whistler accompanied by a camera crew and seemed to be in high spirits. Harry chatted to instructors and competitors training for Invictus 2025, while Meghan took pictures and captured video on her phone. The Duchess of Sussex cut a glamorous figure on the slopes in a Calvin Klein puffer coat, Sorel snow boots and a Burberry cashmere beanie, as she filmed her husband, who jokingly asked if he needed to ‘sign a waiver’ before he had a go at sit-skiing.
The timing for their publicity trail is certainly apt, given the reports surrounding Harry’s fleeting return to the UK just the previous week, following the news that his father, King Charles, was beginning immediate treatment for an undisclosed cancer. After the 30 minute meeting at Kensington Palace on Tuesday 6th February, the first time they had seen one another since Charles’s coronation, speculation was rife about what it meant for Harry, as well as Meghan’s, relationships with the Royals after years of rifts and rows. One newspaper report questioned whether this apparent truce with Charles could also hint at a reconciliation between Harry and William, adding that the Prince of Wales ‘needed his brother’ now more than ever because of increasing pressure on him due to both Charles’s illness and Princess Catherine’s serious health concerns following abdominal surgery last month.
And yet Harry’s visit in the UK lasted less than 48 hours, and by Wednesday night he had already hopped on a British Airways flight from Heathrow back to the States, where he was due to present an award at the NFL Honors event in Las Vegas the next day, ahead of the Super Bowl. With William stepping up to perform duties in the King’s absence, and Harry appearing at public events to promote his own brand in the US, it’s clear that their distance is ever growing rather than closing in. For that reason, say Royal sources, while there is a gap in the slimmed down Royal family with the King and the Princess of Wales both out of action, it’s not a gap that could or would ever be filled by Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42. ‘They have made it clear that there is no going back, and if anything this is a pivotal time for them to move forward,’ said one source close to the couple in Los Angeles.
They have now made it clear that operating in their reduced Royal capacity is a big part of their future...
Behind the scenes, the source added, Harry and Meghan have been earnestly chasing business opportunities in film and TV in Los Angeles (to add to their reportedly faltering Netflix deal which is hanging in the balance when it’s up for renewal next year) and to try and rectify the loss of their $20 million deal with Spotify, which came to an end last year. And their committed networking since they moved to Montecito in 2022, making connections with the likes of Brian Robbins, studio head at Paramount, Gwyneth Paltrow and renowned talent manager Ari Emmanuel, who runs the couple’s entertainment industry affairs, appears to be paying off. Indeed, the Duchess announced that she had successfully found a new home for her Archetypes podcast last week, signing a deal with Lemonada Media, a female-founded American audio company. In a statement on her newly reinstated joint website with Prince Harry, Sussex.com, Meghan said she was ‘overjoyed to be joining the Lemonada family’. She added, ‘Our plan to re-release Archetypes so that more people can now have access to it, as well as launching a dynamic new podcast, are well in the works. I’m so eager to be able to share it soon.’
Meghan’s decision to announce this news via the Sussex.com website made their new mission statement very clear - a rebrand of sorts is in the works; new projects and a new public facing platform, yet this time all clearly accompanied by their Royal coat of arms and titles. The homepage reads: ‘The Office of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, is shaping the future through business and philanthropy.’ So, while the distance between Harry and the Royal family remains, and a truce seems far from on the cards, the couple have now made it clear that operating in their reduced Royal capacity is a big part of their future. Watch this space…