What happened to Harry and Meghan's American dream?Harry and Meghan enjoyed some showbusiness success, but their Hollywood reign proved short-lived.18 mins agoUS & Canada

What happened to Harry and Meghan's American dream?

Key points

• Their multi-year Spotify accord, noted to be worth up to $25m (£18.3m), produced Meghan's 12-episode podcast Archetypes, featuring guests such as Serena Williams and Mariah Carey.
• When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit working for the Royal Family in 2020 and moved to California, they brought something even Hollywood can't manufacture: royalty.
• Their five-year Netflix accord, signed in 2020 and reportedly worth between $60m and $100m, delivered a number of programmes.
• The couple settled in Montecito – a celebrity enclave a few hours north of Los Angeles with neighbours like Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rob Lowe.
• In their 2021 blockbuster interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan described the freedom to create her own choices as "liberating".

But while Harry and Meghan enjoyed some success in showbusiness, their Hollywood reign proved short-lived and California has greeted news of their departure back to the UK with a shrug.

In pursuing their American dream, they remarked they were seeking more than financial independence.

Harry afterwards stated America offered his family a degree of privacy and freedom they "undoubtedly wouldn't be able" to enjoy in the UK – and that it was the life his mother, Diana, would have wanted for him.

Notably, the couple settled in Montecito – a celebrity enclave a few hours north of Los Angeles with neighbours like Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rob Lowe. Multimillion dollar podcast and Netflix deals followed.

"They were so sought after, they were names that would hit the press and command attention right away, " notes Stacy Jones, chief executive of Hollywood Branded, a marketing and PR agency.

"There are endless parties, endless events and endless things to do if you are a celebrity inside Hollywood, " she notes. "But you soon realise that all those endless things are promoting something to sell." And the royal couple had plenty to sell.

LA-based royal watcher and journalist Elizabeth Holmes. This person wrote HRH: So Plenty of Thoughts on Royal Style, states: "I think part of why this was surprising to me was just because it did feel like they were sort of settling into their life in California."

Not everyone is sad to see them go. The New York Post, often scathing regarding the couple, greeted the news of their departure with the headline "Throne Back!", declaring that America's "long national nightmare is over".

In practice, the tabloid mockery was largely dismissive of the couple's rare achievement in Hollywood. They managed something most newcomers to Tinseltown never do: persuading some of its biggest firms to invest heavily in them. Attracting that initial investment proved easier than sustaining it, nevertheless.

Harry and Meghan are experts in surprise – but why are they returning to UK now? Meghan could return to acting once back in UK.

In 2023, nevertheless, Spotify and the couple's Archewell Audio unveiled that they had "mutually agreed to part ways".

But it has since been replaced by a less lucrative arrangement, against the backdrop of a broader downturn throughout the entertainment industry.

Behind the projects, the Sussexes' production business additionally experienced high staff turnover, with reports that some former employees privately called themselves the "Sussex Survivors Club".

Harry, too, discovered commercial success, but largely when he was selling his own royal story.

His memoir, Spare, was a publishing phenomenon, reportedly coming with a $20m advance.

It sold more than six million copies worldwide, making it the fastest-selling non-fiction book on record.

As part of its promotion, Harry held a public conversation with trauma specialist Dr Gabor Maté, in which he explored how his royal childhood had shaped him.

In an interview with BBC Newsnight on Thursday, Maté remarked Harry had come throughout as "very personable, very sensitive" and someone doing his best to create sure "he doesn't pass on his traumas to his children".

For context, the Duke of Sussex remains enormously marketable when the subject is Harry himself, the Royal Family or the causes with which he has long been associated.

He became chief impact officer at the Silicon Valley coaching firm BetterUp and co-created and executive-produced the Apple TV+ mental-health series The Me You Can't See, with Oprah Winfrey. His Netflix projects have drawn heavily on his established interests.

While Polo explored another of his passions, heart of Invictus followed wounded and injured military veterans preparing for the Games he founded.

Neither attracted anything approaching the attention generated by the couple's six-part documentary series Harry & Meghan, or his revelations in Spare.

In one of his relatively rare major public appearances, Harry additionally delivered the keynote address at an informal gathering of the UN General Assembly in New York in 2022, marking Nelson Mandela International Day. He spoke regarding his mother, his connection to Africa and Mandela's legacy.

But he seemed to struggle to break out of his royal typecast role in the US.

As for former Suits actress Meghan, she branched out into a Netflix cooking and lifestyle series.

This content indicated off their idyllic life with adorable "rescue chickens" and fresh-grown strawberries, against the scenic backdrop of the Santa Ynez Mountains.

With Love, Meghan was cancelled after two seasons, but it has been nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Lifestyle Series category.

Netflix additionally concluded its involvement in Meghan's lifestyle brand, As Ever, earlier this year.

"Netflix produces movies. Netflix doesn't produce jam, " notes Jones, the brand guru.

Critics assailed the carefully curated lifestyle presented by Meghan as tone-deaf. But in branding terms, Jones acknowledges that even negative publicity can have value if it keeps someone at the centre of the conversation.

Meghan's projects kept her visible and offered audiences something they could watch or purchase.

"In moving to Britain, it looks like they are continuing to chase that proximity to the Royal Family to validate themselves or, in some cases, to commercialise, " notes Kinsey Schofield, whose namesake podcast focuses on the Royal Family.

"Meghan's been cosplaying as a royal selling her teas and her fruit spread through As Ever since it launched."

Notably, the Sussexes still have projects in development. They lately issued a documentary regarding Girl Scouts and they have a scripted series in the works set in the exclusive world of polo teams, to be produced by the makers of Gossip Girl.

But their American experience overall reveals the limits of celebrity in Hollywood.

Taken together, the developments around what happened to Harry and Meghan' s American dream?Harry and Meghan enjoyed some point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.