Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are facing yet another setback as reports suggest their lucrative publishing deal with Penguin Random House may have quietly dissolved after his bestselling memoir, Spare.
The deal was initially believed to be worth $20 million (around £16m). It reportedly included additional projects such as books on leadership and wellness, as well as works authored by both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle latest news
Vanity Fair recently claimed that the idea of a post-divorce book had been mentioned, should Meghan and Prince Harry ever separate.
However, the publication added that the book meeting didn’t mean the couple were splitting. It was meant to see if the publisher would “theoretically be interested” should a divorce ever happen.
A source has told Page Six: “Meghan and Harry know that they are tied together; their value is in being a couple. Even if they wanted to split, they couldn’t. And honestly, they are obsessed with each other. They are just two narcissists.”
The alleged collapse of the publishing deal seems to mirror the trajectory of the couple’s Netflix partnership.
“I think the Random House deal is much like the Netflix deal,” a publishing insider remarked. “Netflix just said ‘yes’ to everything because they wanted to get the docu-series [Harry & Meghan]. So they said, ‘Ok, we’ll take the ‘Polo’ show’ and let’s see what happens with Meghan’s lifestyle show.”
Royal Insider has contacted reps for the Sussexes for comment.
Meghan and Harry’s book blow is ’embarrassing’
The couple’s 2021 deal with Random House was rumoured to include multiple projects. But so far, only Harry’s Spare has been released.
The memoir became a massive success, selling millions of copies worldwide and breaking records as the fastest-selling nonfiction book of all time.
However, Meghan’s contribution to the deal has been limited to her children’s book, The Bench.
Meghan and Harry know that they are tied together; their value is in being a couple.
Meanwhile, planned projects like her rumoured wellness book or a joint leadership book have yet to materialise.
According to royal commentator Kinsey Schofield, if the book deal does collapse, it’s “another embarrassing situation for the Sussexes”.
Harry and Meghan allegations in Vanity Fair
Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan found themselves back in the spotlight following a recent Vanity Fair article.
The piece included claims from sources who described Meghan as “really, really awful” to work for, with some staff reportedly feeling as though they could be “thrown to the wolves at any given moment”.
“You can be yelled at even if somebody doesn’t raise their voice,” a former employee allegedly told the magazine.
“It’s funny that people don’t differentiate between the energy of being yelled at and someone literally screaming at you.”
The article also highlighted alleged issues within Meghan’s Archetypes podcast team.
While the couple has not publicly addressed the claims, reports suggest that Harry and Meghan are “distressed” and “upset” by the allegations.
