When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the Royal Family in 2020, they had huge dreams. The powerful pair wanted to conquer the world.
Three years later, in the match-up between expectations and reality, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are on the losing end.
The Royal Family is watching the spectacle with discernible glee after being on the defensive for the past few years.
Markle initially set the bar very high. She was eyeing a career in politics and thinking about possibly running for president down the road. That trial balloon did not last long.
There was even an attempt to create buzz for an appointment to a Senate seat. She was not able to build support for that either.
The former actress eventually put her political aspirations on the back burner to make money with Spotify and her Archetypes podcast.
The hype around the project was real, and the first few episodes delivered some solid numbers. However, the mother of two was unable to maintain the same energy, and the streaming giant decided not to renew their contract.
This kind of development was bad for the duo, but the aftermath was even worse. People close to Spotify engaged in a negative campaign to tarnish the reputation of the Sussex couple even further.
Bill Simmons, a famed podcaster and Spotify executive, revealed: “I wish I had been involved in the ‘Meghan and Harry leave Spotify’ negotiation. The F$*king Grifters. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them. I have got 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. F**k them. The grifters.”
This is another area where expectations did not meet reality. The couple was supposed to bring something totally different and fresh to the table.
The hype around their business endeavors is reminiscent of how many people saw their marriage in 2018. Their union was supposed to signal the beginning of a new era for the Royal Family and a way for the British monarchy to make peace with its complicated past.
There were people in the streets of London filled with hope and happy to celebrate the moment. Even after they left, some were hoping that they would become ambassadors for the institution while conducting their businesses.
However, all of these dreams fell flat after the brutal interview with Oprah Winfrey. The Harry & Meghan documentary on Netflix and the Spare memoir made it clear that there would be no going back for the Sussexes.
After all the lofty promises, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are still working on big things for the future. However, fans of the royals are starting to pay less attention because, so far, the great expectations have always bumped into reality.
