Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s whopping £75m deal with Netflix could apparently open the door for a new deal to be negotiated – for a very specific reason
The future of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex ’s £78million mega-deal with Netflix is hanging in the balance, with a PR expert claiming it has also reignited talk of trouble within their marriage. The Duchess’ much-derided TV show, With Love, Meghan, has proved a spectacular flop, ranking at a lowly 383 in the platform’s most-watched titles between January and June 2025.
The wholesome series – which has pulled in just 5.3million viewers worldwide since it was first broadcast in March – showed Meghan cooking, gardening and hosting A-list pals. But in an embarrassing blow, it was outperformed by hundreds of lesser-known shows in the first six months of this year – including repeats of Meghan’s old TV drama, Suits, in which she starred before meeting Harry.
What happens next in the royals’ relationship with the streaming giant is the subject of much conjecture. But PR expert Dermot McNamara believes Netflix won’t sever ties with the Sussexes just yet, as they will want first dibs on that explosive first interview, should the couple ever divorce.
“The fairytale narrative has stalled, their creative output hasn’t delivered consistent returns and audiences are increasingly sceptical,” Dermot tells us. “There are only so many chances Netflix can take on them, before they’re just wasting money for the sake of it.
“But Netflix knows that if cracks appear, or if the couple split, there’ll be global demand for the inside story. That’s when their value skyrockets again.”
Dermot believes Netflix will want to be “at the front of the queue” should the couple eventually go their separate ways. “The sense in industry circles is that Netflix haven’t cut ties with Harry and Meghan entirely because, frankly, they might be sitting on the most valuable content of all: the fallout,” he says.
“Rumours of their Netflix contract not being renewed when it runs out in September is a quiet signal that the platform is no longer banking on them as creative talent, but they’re keeping the relationship warm. Why? Because if the Sussex marriage ever unravels, it would be the streaming coup of the decade. It’s a brutal calculation, but this is Hollywood.”
Sadly, it’s not the first time that Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, have faced rumours that their seven-year marriage is on the rocks. If anything, the rumblings that all is not well have only intensified in recent times, as the couple have increasingly pursued separate work agendas.
Last December, Harry addressed the speculation head on, joking that it was “hard to keep up with” the allegations made on social media. “Apparently we’ve bought or moved houses 10, 12 times,” he said at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit. “We’ve apparently divorced maybe 10, 12 times as well. So it’s just like, what?”
Right now, however, Meghan appears to have nothing but praise for her husband and regularly speaks glowingly of their union. During her first-ever podcast interview on The Jamie Kern Lima Show in April, she was asked if she believes that she and Harry will “be married forever”.
Meghan responded, “Yes. He’s also a fox, if you haven’t noticed. My husband’s very, very handsome. But his heart is even more beautiful. There’s something that is not to be taken for granted when you have a partner and a spouse who is just so behind you.
“You know, I mean, H, that man loves me so much. And you know, look what we built. We’ve built a beautiful life, and we have two healthy, beautiful children [Archie and Lilibet].”