Prince Harry ‘wanted to interview Putin, Trump and Zuckerberg about their childhood traumas’

Prince Harry hoped to interview Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg about their upbringing and childhood traumas on a Spotify podcast, it has emerged.

Harry discussed his ideas for potential shows with multiple producers and production companies, telling them how he wanted to talk to the controversial figures about their childhoods and how they became the men they are today.

He also reportedly wanted to speak to Pope Francis about religion — according to the execs scratching their heads Bloomberg.

The revelations come after Harry – who ended up producing no solo podcasts – and his wife Meghan dropped out of their £15 million Spotify deal.

The streaming giant and Sussex audio production company Archewell Audio released a joint statement last Thursday announcing that they had ‘mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we have created together’.

After a week of bombshells, during which Meghan Markle was accused of falsifying interviews and Spotify executive Bill Simmons called ‘the Sussexes ‘f*****g grifters’, Prince Harry’s extraordinary podcast pitches have now emerged .

The Duke of Sussex, who insiders claimed earlier this month would stop doing tell-all interviews bashing the royal family because he and Meghan “have nothing left to say,” also had plans for a fatherhood-centric show.

Meanwhile, he allegedly pitched an idea to discuss social conversations each episode, touching on climate change and religion. For the latter, Harry wanted to interview Pope Francis, it is reported.

The usefulness of interviewing these guys would have raised questions for those on Harry’s podcast team, especially given that the likes of Putin and Zuckerberg aren’t the ones to open up about their childhood traumas.

Unfortunately for Harry, the Sussexes’ three-year deal with Soptify collapsed without any of the Duke’s ideas coming to fruition.

Meghan, who is more unpopular than ever according to new polls, had her Archetypes podcast scrapped as Spotify begins to make changes and revamp its output.

Harry and Meghan reportedly signed a £15 million ($20 million) deal with Spotify for the project in late 2020, but insiders close to the audio giant claim the royal couple failed to meet the productivity benchmark required to receive the full payout , reported The Wall Street Journal. .

The move to cancel the Duchess of Sussex’s show, which explores the ‘labels that try to stop women’, follows discussions months ago about renewing for a second series.

However, the determined Duchess still plans to create more podcasts and find a new home for her series, which previously featured her friend and tennis star Serena Williams, pop sensation Mariah Carey and South African comedian Trevor Noah.

In the days following the bombshell announcement, Bill Simmons, Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetization at Spotify, denounced the pair in an episode of his own podcast last Friday.

“The damn crooks. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them,” he said.

“I have to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories.’

Simmons, a sports writer, founded the sports and pop culture website and podcast network The Ringer and sold it to Spotify for $200 million in 2020.

He then joined Spotify and was critical of the pair for a long time, including when last January he berated Harry, claiming it was “embarrassing” to be affiliated with the same company.

“Shoot this man at the sun,” he said, according to sports website The Big Lead.

“I am so tired of this man. What does he bring to the table? He just whines about s*** and keeps giving interviews.

‘Who cares if***? Who cares about your life?

“You weren’t even the favorite son. You live in f****** Montecito and you just sell documentaries and podcasts and nobody cares what you have to say unless you talk about the royal family and just complain about it.”

Spotify recently laid off staff and scaled back talent from big names to focus on the creator economy.

The streaming giant announced it would lay off about 200 staff — about two percent of its workforce — who work within its podcast teams. It cited difficulties in making podcasts profitable despite its popularity among listeners.

Meghan concluded her 13th and final Archetypes episode with a defiant poetry about survival, but made no mention of a possible second series.

Since officially leaving the royal family and moving to California in 2020, the Duke and Duchess have taken a number of different avenues to generate income.

This includes Prince Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare, which he made as part of a $20 million deal with Penguin Books.

The pair also teamed up with Netflix to produce the Harry And Meghan docu-series, with the streaming giant reportedly paying the pair $100 million for the six-episode series.

But more than three years after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex decided to leave royal life behind for new pastures in California, the couple will be stepping back and staying behind the scenes of any future Netflix production.

Scorching attacks on members of the royal family, including King Charles, Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as the wider institution, will be suspended as the pair plan to take on roles further removed from the public eye , insiders told The Sun earlier this month.