Published: 01:25 BST, 20 August 2026 | Updated: 07:45 BST, 20 August 2026
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's decision to move their family back to Britain six years after fleeing royal life is likely to be seen as the most dramatic admission yet that their grand plans to conquer America have failed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex swept into California in 2020 with Hollywood seemingly at their feet, armed with their royal titles, global fame and blockbuster deals worth tens of millions of dollars.
There was a reported $100million Netflix agreement and a $20million Spotify contract – while podcasts, documentaries and television shows were promised.
Archewell Productions was supposed to turn the Sussexes into serious Hollywood power players, while Meghan later attempted to reinvent herself as a lifestyle entrepreneur.
They settled into a $15million mansion in sun-kissed Montecito, surrounded by billionaires and A-list celebrities, as they embarked on what was supposed to be an extraordinarily lucrative second act.
But six turbulent years later, the couple are heading back across the Atlantic.
News that Harry and Meghan plan to return to Britain for an extended period and enroll Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, in an English school suggests the couple have accepted that their American adventure has not delivered the glittering commercial empire once envisaged.
The Spotify deal is long gone. Their original Netflix contract has ended. The duchess's series With Love, Meghan lasted two seasons.
Harry and Meghan laid bare their grievances with the Royal Family in their explosive six-part Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, released in 2022
In 2021, to mark her 40th birthday, Meghan Markle launched the 40×40 initiative on Zoom
A string of heavily promoted projects either struggled to find audiences or never materialised at all.
Even the couple's first jointly produced feature documentary, Cookie Queens, endured a humiliating opening weekend this month when it was beaten at the US box office by a compilation of internet cat videos.
And their difficulties have stretched far beyond television.
Meghan's lifestyle business endured an embarrassing start when American Riviera Orchard, a name unveiled with enormous fanfare in 2024, was eventually abandoned and replaced with the considerably shorter As Ever.
