Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Reportedly Blame “A Vendetta Being Waged Against Them” for Career Disappointments

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle — (Image credit: Getty)

Prince Harry had a major victory this week: yesterday, he won a payout to the tune of $180,000 in damages for having his phone hacked by Mirror Group Newspapers. It is a bit of respite in a season of rough waters for both Harry and Meghan Markle, who, Deadline reports, are reportedly complaining that their “string of failed projects and brand partnerships” have led them to believe that there is “a vendetta being waged against them.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle greet folks at an engagement

William Morris Endeavor—the powerhouse talent agency that Meghan Markle signed with this past April—is reportedly holding crisis talks with Meghan and Harry, Deadline reports. The couple have, of course, had successes since stepping back as working members of the royal family nearly four years ago, in January 2020: their sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 was all anyone could talk about at the time; their eponymous six-part Netflix docuseries, released exactly one year ago, was a hit; and Harry’s memoir, Spare, released at the top of this year, broke records.

But there have also been setbacks. “There’s a general feeling that there has been a vendetta waged against them,” a 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.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend an engagement together in 2017

As Deadline writes, Meghan has been with WME for eight months, but no new projects have materialized thus far. Since April, Harry and Meghan’s $20 million deal with Spotify collapsed, and the outlet also points to the cancellation of Meghan’s “pet doc project Pearl” being canceled by Netflix as an example of the brick walls the Sussexes have encountered. “The team doesn’t appear to know what to do at this point,” they said. “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.”

As a new year dawns, it continues to feel like Harry and (especially) Meghan are on the cusp of announcing a big next step—but the wait continues. “They are in trouble and struggling to find the best way forward,” they said. “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.”

King Charles is reluctant to meet with Harry at the moment, reports say. “There is very little trust there, which is understandable,” they 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.”

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.