Harry and Meghan are ‘tied to Netflix and book deals’ because they ‘need the money’ and have ‘no other source of income’, royal biographer claims
- Duke and Duchess of Sussex have deals with Netflix and Penguin Random House
- Tom Bower says couple are ‘stuck with the devil’ because they need the money
- Meghan also has Spotify deal and Sussexes live in £13million home in California
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are ‘stuck with the devil’ over their multi-million dollar Netflix and book deals because they need the cash, a royal expert has said.
Royal biographer Tom Bower claimed the couple’s deals with the streaming service and publisher Penguin Random House are ‘the only way they can earn their money’.
Mr Bower added that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – who also have a Spotify deal and live in a £13million home in California – have ‘no other source of income’.
He said: ‘They need the money and they need it now more than ever because they’ve got no other source of income. So I think they’re just stuck with the devil now.
‘They’re tied to Netflix, they’re tied to their book. And all the criticism they’re going to take means nothing because that’s the only way they can earn their money.’
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex go on a walkabout to meet members of the public at Windsor Castle in Berkshire on September 10 following the death of Queen Elizabeth II two days earlier
Speaking to GB News on Monday, Mr Bower added: ‘I don’t see how the Sussexes can give up both the Netflix and book deal.
‘They wouldn’t be living in a Montecito cottage, they’re more likely to living somewhere in downtown LA in a little hovel, that’s their problem – they’re stuck now.’
Meghan needs her own brand that isn’t just a ‘grievance brand’, says royal expert Tina Brown
Meghan Markle needs to develop her own brand that isn’t just a ‘grievance brand’ if the Sussexes are to be successful globally, a royal expert has said.
Asked how long-lasting the Sussex brand can be across the world now the couple are semi-outside the royal fold, ex-Vanity fair editor Tina Brown said Prince Harry, 38, would ‘always be royal’ as the son of King Charles and Princess Diana.
She told the Cheltenham Literature Festival yesterday: ‘He will always have the iconic status that that has. He does have an identity, his Invictus [Games] has an authenticity and people relate to that.’
But she insisted that Harry’s wife, Meghan, 41, needed to find and focus on a cause of her own.
She said: ‘I think Meghan does really need to find the thing she cares about the most and develop her own sort of brand that isn’t just a grievance brand, that is actually something we recognise as hers.
‘It’s hard to find that and I think she hasn’t yet found that but I think she could if she rows back from the focusing always on what didn’t work.’
Miss Brown, who was speaking to promote her latest book, The Palace Papers, said on stepping back as senior royals, the Sussexes hadn’t anticipated the challenges of life outside the palace operation.
‘The Sussexes didn’t realise how hard it was to create a rival platform. You’re essentially at the mercy of PRs who [specialise in making people look good].’
‘The people who achieved it, the George Clooneys and the Oprahs, they are very good at it.
‘It’s very difficult when you want to be above it. It’s much harder than it looks.’
Mr Bower – whose new book ‘Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors’ came out in July – also said that the ‘only way I can conceive of Harry getting out of it now’ is if his father King Charles III could ‘bail him out’.
The author said the King would have to pay off Netflix and Random House, but this could be done in return for a signed agreement that would avoid Harry criticising the Royal Family again.
However, Mr Bower said he would not expect Meghan to ever sign such a deal because she ‘has got no interest whatsoever in giving away being silent’.
The author continued: ‘She wants the battle. She wants to rubbish the Royal Family and go onto bigger things. Hostilities have resumed, I think.’
During his chat with GB News presenter Dan Wootton – also a MailOnline columnist – they also referenced a comment by leading royal biographer Tina Brown who said the Sussexes are poor by Hollywood standards.
Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival this week, Miss Brown said: ‘It’s not very pleasant to be a D-list celebrity who, for them, doesn’t have enough money. It’s a wholly different game to be with those super-rich people.
‘In Montecito, where they live, their $14million mansion is a humble cottage compared to what these other people have.’
Miss Brown, the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, also claimed that Harry’s tell-all biography may never be published.
‘They are now in this bind, where they’ve taken all this money and Harry has made this book deal where he’s supposed to spill everything about his horrible life as a royal, but now he’s actually tortured about it because he understands there is no way back if he does it,’ she said.
‘If the book continues, I don’t think there is any way for Harry to return. So my view has always been that the book won’t see the light of day.’
Yesterday, Meghan claimed in her latest Spotify podcast that she had been branded ‘crazy’ and ‘hysterical’, saying such labels were used to silence women.
The Duchess, 41, said the insults could lead to people being ‘gaslit’ into thinking they were ill.
Taking a swipe at films and TV, she attacked the way the words were ‘thrown around casually’, leaving ‘reputations destroyed and careers ruined’.
Meghan did not say who had questioned her mental health but revealed her ‘worst point’ came after she started dating Harry and he arranged a referral for her.
The cover photograph for Archetypes, the Duchess of Sussex’s podcast available on Spotify
Also yesterday, Miss Brown spoke at the Cheltenham Literature Festival and said Meghan needed to avoid being a ‘grievance brand’ if the Sussexes were to be a global success.
Asked how prominent the couple could be across the world now they were semi-outside the royal fold, Miss Brown said Harry would ‘always be royal’ as the son of Charles and Diana.
She said: ‘He will always have the iconic status that that has. He does have an identity, his Invictus Games has an authenticity and people relate to that.’
But she insisted that Meghan needed to find and focus on a cause of her own.
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