For, once again, storm clouds may be gathering.
Meghan’s as yet unlaunched American Riviera Orchard lifestyle brand has just asked for a three-month extension to make corrections to her trademark application, even as the transmission date of her Netflix cookery series looms early in the New Year.
Meanwhile, the Sussexes charity, Archewell, is due to file a tax return in the US which will reveal the scale of its donations and disbursements – an annual occurrence which always attracts great scrutiny.
More pressingly, a major documentary titled Harry: The Lost Prince is to air on television in Germany on Tuesday.
The 45-minute film has been more than a year in the making and is an examination of, among other things, whether Harry and Meghan have succeeded in ‘finding freedom’ and launching themselves as a financially independent, globally influential entity.
The answer to this last question, according to documentary-maker Ulrike Grunewald, one of Germany’s most experienced royal reporters, is a firm ‘No.’
As Ms Grunewald, presenter of the long-running German news and current affairs show, Heute-Journal (Today-Journal), and a royal correspondent since 1987 when she accompanied the then Prince Charles and Princess Diana on their visit to Germany, told the Mail exclusively: ‘Harry and Meghan have set the bar very high. They want to be global benefactors who bring about tangible change. So far, they have not lived up to this image at all.’
There was a swell of goodwill for the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf, before reports it cost the German taxpayer 40million euros. Harry and Meghan are pictured at the games last year
Ms Grunewald travelled to Montecito to try to interview the couple and their friends and discovered that despite their wealth and royal pedigree, the Sussexes do not appear to have been fully integrated into the community’s most elite circles.
She said: ‘On average, the millionaires and billionaires who move here pay eight to nine million euros for a house.
‘The cultural life is very lively, but everything often takes place in closed circles and Harry and Meghan rarely take part in these activities. They seem to have isolated themselves a lot.’
The Sussexes’ neighbour, Richard Mineards, tells Ms Grunewald that the couple don’t seem to have put down particularly deep roots in the area, being seldom seen in town – just occasional trips to the local market or walks, always with security in tow.
‘Sometimes you will see her at the farmers’ market or with a dog but generally you don’t see her and you just don’t see much of him. It’s a shame. This is a lovely place.’
Ms Grunewald was further intrigued by their Archewell Foundation, which was launched to great fanfare in 2020 as their major philanthropic venture.
‘What surprised me most was how ineffectively Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation is organised,’ she told the Mail. ‘The amount of donations has fallen drastically in one year: from 13million dollars in 2021 to two million dollars declared in 2022/23.
‘According to their own documents, Harry and Meghan only work one hour a week for the Archewell Foundation – why so little?’
In her documentary, Ulrike Grunewald went to the couple’s hometown of Montecito to interview friends and take a closer look at the Invictus operation
Ms Grunewald also wanted to take a closer look at the Invictus operation.
While there was a swell of goodwill for the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf last year – an uplifting event attended by 500 disabled servicemen as well as Meghan, supporting her husband – this was later damaged by reports suggesting the games had cost German taxpayers a staggering 40million euros to put on.
‘A year before the Invictus Games Harry and Meghan visited the city [Dusseldorf] for a day. I was reporting for [German TV network] ZDFRoyal at the time and wanted to find out more. How is an event like this organised and who pays for it?
‘I believe Harry is probably little more than a figurehead, even if he represents the cause very credibly.’
The next Invictus Games are soon – in February in Whistler, Vancouver.
In the manner of the Germans, the Canadian government has pledged almost £20million to stage them. The rest of the undisclosed budget will have to be met by commercial partnerships. Arms manufacturer Boeing will continue to act as a sponsor, as they did for the Düsseldorf games.
Disconcertingly for Harry, late last year the CEO of the event Peter Lawless, a lawyer and arguably Canada’s most respected Olympic and Paralympic administrator, left his job abruptly.
Insiders claimed that Mr Lawless, who was awarded the Diamond Jubilee Medal by Harry’s grandmother the Queen in 2012, was fired and morale amongst staff was ‘at an all time low’.
Meghan’s yet-unlaunched American Riviera Orchard lifestyle brand has just asked for a three-month extension to make corrections to her trademark application
The chief commercial officer Bill Cooper also left his post at around the same time.
And when the event comes to Birmingham in July 2027, it will be in receipt of some £26million from British taxpayers, which has already been allocated by the UK Government in Jeremy Hunt’s Budget in March this year. Other funding will come from commercial partners of the charity.
At the time of the Budget, Lord West of Spithead, who is a former Royal Navy Admiral, expressed his astonishment that defence spending had not been increased at such a globally troubling time, yet the government had found money for Invictus.
He said: ‘Invictus is a wonderful thing and it is important to invest in our ex-servicemen, but I think the government have “lost the plot” as regards what is crucial for defence.’
Newsweek’s royal reporter Jack Royston agrees, telling the documentary that the budget for the event is a ‘huge amount of money’ and reflecting that Birmingham was ‘almost bankrupted’ after hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
But he also adds: ‘I believe that Invictus is genuine and authentic work. Harry is completely devoted to it.’
It seems that with every endeavour there’s a certain disconnect between the couple’s stated charitable ambitions and the outcome.
Ms Grunewald said: ‘During the year that we worked on this film, a change of strategy was recognisable in Harry and Meghan. They started out as a power duo in their new life in California.
The Duke of Sussex speaking during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf
‘Now they mainly appear separately, as they were unable to create a functioning image together. They have come down to earth.
‘I was interested in whether Harry and Meghan’s strategies for an independent life are working. After four years, the results are very mixed.’
But despite the commercial setbacks, says Jack Royston, the prince appears truly committed to his new life with Meghan in California.
‘When Meghan came along, [Harry] realised she was the one and wanted to keep hold of her,’ he says. ‘He didn’t want to lose her. He was constantly worried that she was going to leave. He treated her a bit like a Ming vase that he doesn’t want to knock over.’
And Ms Grunewald adds: ‘To be fair, from his point of view Harry wanted the best for his own family. And surely he has now gained valuable experience in California and learnt what it means to have to stand on his own two feet. He would never have been able to do that in the close circle of the Royal Family.
‘He now has to decide for himself what he has to offer the people he wants to inspire for his business and charitable causes. He is still surrounded by a certain royal glamour, but in the tough atmosphere of the Hollywood industry this can wear off.
‘People have long memories and few revelations can be more damaging to their image than the private details that Harry and Meghan have made public themselves in the last few years.
‘Although surveys in the UK and the USA attested to their high level of popularity of over 90 per cent, they are now in the lower ranks of the popularity scale. With [some surveys showing] an approval rating of just under 30 per cent, it will be difficult to do good business.
‘They don’t seem credible, which is underpinned by their disastrous poll ratings.’
There was no response from the Sussexes to the documentary.
Although this week, the Duchess granted an interview to Marie Claire magazine while co-hosting a dinner at a restaurant in Venice Beach, California, for women who had fled Afghanistan. The Archewell Foundation has a Welcome Project which supports programs for resettled women, with 11 branches in nine states.
Perhaps the next accounts for the charity will reflect a greater devotion of time to Archewell duties as both have undertaken numerous charity activities, including tours of Nigeria and Colombia.
Clearly, for the Sussexes, the work goes on.
