How Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Make $650,000 a Minute
One of the things Prince Harry and Meghan Markle vowed to do after announcing they were stepping down as senior royals in January 2020 is “work to become financially independent.” In the less than two years since that announcement, the couple has certainly done that.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have become involved in several different business ventures and thanks to a lucrative deal with one company, they are actually making over $600,000 every 60 seconds. Here’s more on how they’re pulling down so much a minute.
Prince Harry and Meghan signed a mega-deal with Spotify
In December 2020, the prince and former Suits star inked a deal for their Archewell Audio imprint with Spotify. The pair said they wanted to “build a community through shared experiences, powerful narratives, and universal values.”
The Telegraph reported that the deal was for £18 million ($24 million USD) but since signing on the dotted line, Meghan and Harry have only produced a three-minute trailer and a 34-minute Christmas special last year. More content from the Sussexes was expected in 2021, however, as the year draws to a close fans have yet to hear anything from the duke and duchess.
The Sussexes are making $650,000 a minute without producing content
According to The Sun, even though no other podcast episodes have been loaded to the digital streaming service under the terms of their deal, Harry and Meghan have been paid a whopping £486,000 ($650,000 USD) per minute for less than an hour of content. The publication noted that Spotify executives recently “gave Archewell Audio a gentle nudge to finish the content and protect the future of the multimillion-pound partnership.”
“It is interesting regarding Spotify because if you look at several of the Sussexes activities you find they’ve not actually done a great deal,” royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said. “I think given the way the Sussexes think, they do things their own way and that would have been very clear to Spotify, Netflix, and any future sources that want deals with them. They therefore won’t feel [pressured]. How the next year is going to develop is going to be fascinating.”
How much the duke and duchess are making on another deal they have yet to produce content for
Speaking of their other deals, the one the Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed with Netflix has raised plenty of eyebrows as well.
Harry and his wife’s deal with that streaming platform was reached in September 2020 and is believed to be worth more than $100 million. In a statement to Variety confirming the deal, the pair said: “Our lives, both independent of each other, and as a couple have allowed us to understand the power of the human spirit: of courage, resilience, and the need for connection. Through our work with diverse communities and their environments, to shining a light on people and causes around the world, our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope.”
Meghan and Harry have yet to deliver content on the streaming platform. However, it’s believed that in 2022 they’ll debut a docuseries about the Invictus Games titled Heart of Invictus to mark Archewell Productions’ first Netflix series.
