THE SUSSEX MACHINE ROLLS ON
Harry’s wishes to help Charles at a time when he and Meghan are in the throes of on an image overhaul. They recently changed the name of their Archewell website to sussex.com, complete with an image of a royal coat of arms and links to their Archewell Foundation as well as their commercial arm, Archewell Productions.
Their children are also listed as Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex and will have Sussex as their surname instead of Mountbatten-Windsor. The move unleashed a flurry of criticism, with many slamming it as a breach of their promise to Queen Elizabeth not to capitalise on their royal name. “They’re going to have real trouble with the use of Sussex,” a royal insider says. “It’s a royal title and if there’s any hint of commercialism about this it will be shut down.”
But a representative for the Sussexes says the pair are “pursuing what they believe in” despite the backlash and challenges they face.
Which may well be true. After the couple lost their multimillion-dollar Spotify deal last year, which included one season of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast, the duchess has now signed a new deal with Lemonada Media. The women-led podcast company will distribute her Archetypes series on all podcast platforms and are developing a new as-yet untitled show Meghan will host.
“I am joining the brilliant team at Lemonada to continue my love of podcasting,” the duchess said in a statement.
Archetypes, which explored the stereotypes that hold women back, joins Lemonada’s line-up of award-winning podcasts that includes Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, which was named the 2023 podcast of the year by Apple. Meghan was also recently seen dining with top TV executive Terry Wood, executive producer at Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions, leading to speculation she may return to the small screen.
Harry was asked in his Good Morning America interview if he’d consider becoming a US citizen. “It’s not something that’s a high priority for me right now,” he said.
According to US law, he’d also lose his status as a royal so it’s highly unlikely he’ll do it.