The Express can exclusively reveal that parties linked to the Sussex camp have held crisis talks following a succession of failed projects and influential doors being slammed in their face.
“There’s a general feeling that there has been a vendetta waged against them,” the 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.”
Queen Camilla wore Dior Haute Couture to the Palace of Versailles during an official visit to France in September. It was also revealed in November that Meghan had lost out on the opportunity of a lucrative Dior deal to Meg Bellamy who plays a young Kate Middleton in season six of The Crown.
“Both Harry and Meghan often wore Dior and were at one point huge fans of the brand,” the source said. “Harry wore a [Dior] suit to the Coronation and the Sussexes were starting to build up their partnership with the fashion house.
“Then the focus shifted towards Camilla and other members of the family. To add salt to the wounds, the actress playing Kate Middleton was announced as the new face of the brand. It was all very suspicious timing.”
It was announced in April that Meghan Markle had signed a contract with William Morris Endeavor (WME) in a bid to secure lucrative new deals. However, eight months later, there’s still no sign of any new projects and the Sussexes’ reputation remains in ruins.
Harry and Meghan’s self-titled Netflix documentary was released last December. Since then, they’ve lost out on a lucrative $20 million Spotify deal with exec Bill Simmons calling them “grifters”. Netflix cancelled the development of Pearl; an animated series created by Meghan and the couple are noticeably struggling in Hollywood.
“They [the Sussexes] are thrashing around like a fish out of water,” the source said. “The team doesn’t appear to know what to do at this point. 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.”
It was also revealed this week how the Sussexes’ charitable organisation, the Archewell Foundation, suffered a £9 million decline in donations in 2022 compared to the previous year. The foundation’s total expenses also exceeded its revenue last year, leaving it in the red by more than £540,000, according to the public filing.
“They are in trouble and are struggling to find the best way forward,” the source stressed. “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.”
It was recently revealed in Omid Scobie’s book Endgame that King Charles cancelled a meeting with Harry shortly before he announced the publication of his book Spare. Reports suggest that Harry sought to meet with his father on a trip to London to discuss the claims he was to make in the book, but the King kept avoiding his requests for a meeting. “Charles ignored a request to meet,” Scobie wrote in Endgame, “instead instructing an aide to fob him off with a ‘too busy’ excuse.”
The source concludes that the King is quite reluctant to meet with Harry at the moment. “There is very little trust there which is understandable,” the source 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.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been approached for comment.
