King Charles pushed ‘desperate’ Harry and Meghan to sign contracts worth £128m after leaving the royal family, claims Omid Scobie
- The author claims King’s ‘incompetence’ over Megxit led to deals between Harry and Meghan
- The couple signed contracts for books, documentaries and podcasts for the period after 2020
Harry and Meghan rushed to sign contracts worth up to £128million as they were ‘desperate’ for money after leaving the royal family, it was claimed yesterday.
Author Omid Scobie suggested that the king’s “incompetence” in dealing with the Megxit saga had actually prompted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to sign a series of commercial deals.
He claimed the couple were “in trouble” and had made deals that they might not have been able to act on had their finances not been cut off, leaving them in need of “serious money.”
Mr Scobie told The Independent: “They clearly had money. But they needed serious money for a good roof over their heads and safety.’
The pair signed contracts for books, documentaries and podcasts after quitting as senior royals and moving to the US in 2020, including a five-year £81 million deal with streaming giant Netflix and an £18 million contract with Spotify that was canceled early .
The Mail revealed in 2021 that Harry’s deal with Penguin Random House was for four books, after a bidding war between publishers that could see the final figure as high as £29 million.
Harry and Meghan rushed to sign contracts worth £128million as they were ‘desperate’ for money after leaving the royal family, it has been claimed
The deals led to a series of damaging revelations from Harry about his father and older brother Prince William, including in the Netflix series Harry & Meghan and his memoir Spare.
Mr Scobie suggested the Sussexes only became “disruptors” because the king mishandled their decision to leave Britain and step down as senior working royals.
In his book Endgame, published yesterday, he quoted an unnamed “family friend” who said Harry and Meghan “just wanted to be heard” but that Charles had been too stubborn.
The late queen and senior palace aides had urged him to swallow his pride and talk to his youngest son, but Charles refused to do so, the author claimed. Mr Scobie said all financial support for Harry and Meghan was stopped in July 2020, including money for their official security, which was previously funded by Charles’ private income from his estate in the Duchy of Cornwall.
In Endgame he wrote: ‘The rush to close commercial deals after the royal institution cut them off from all funding and security in 2020 led to them signing a number of lucrative deals that they might have thought twice about had they not been under had been under so much financial pressure. . When the couple signed a contract… with Spotify to develop podcasts, neither manager expected to reject so many of their ideas.”
He added: “It was in the middle of a pandemic, of course you’re going to sign the deals.
‘But ultimately Spotify was looking for content that made headlines and stirred up the media, and that’s not the direction the couple wanted to take, so it fell apart.
Author Omid Scobie suggested that the king’s “incompetence” in dealing with the Megxit saga had actually prompted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to sign a series of commercial deals.
Spotify and the Sussexes ‘mutually agreed’ to part ways earlier this year after the couple produced just one podcast series and a half-hour festive special
“I imagine the couple knew in the beginning that Spotify wanted this from them, but the money was on the table and they found themselves in a desperate situation.” Spotify and the Sussexes ‘mutually agreed’ to part ways earlier this year after the couple produced just one podcast series and a half-hour festive special.
Bloomberg reported that Harry had pitched ideas to Spotify, including interviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin about “childhood trauma.”
He had also hoped to interview former US President Donald Trump and Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg about their childhoods, it was reported.
Mr Trump has been an outspoken critic of the Sussexes, describing Harry as “hyped” and “embarrassed” and saying he was “not a fan” of Meghan.
In Endgame, Mr Scobie said Spotify wanted “juicy goods” and had only paid the pair “a portion” of the £18 million agreed for a series of podcasts.
Spotify CEO and podcaster Bill Simmons has branded the couple “scammers” and has spoken of his shame at sharing the same platform as them.
Speaking about Harry on his own podcast in January, Mr Simmons said: ‘No one cares what you have to say about anything unless you’re talking about the royal family and all you’re doing is complaining about them.’