Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to launch Netflix programs about cooking and polo
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a substantial contract with the platform in 2020, when they left England for California. The pair have already developed three programs, including the successful documentary about their life together
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex continue to cook up business opportunities in Hollywood. Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan Markle, 42 — who have been living in California for four years — have decided to develop the contract with Netflix that they signed in 2020 via their company Archewell Productions. According to Deadline, the couple will launch two new non-fiction projects: a cooking show and a docuseries about polo, one of Prince Harry’s favorite sports. At the moment, the projects are in the early stages of production and do not yet have a release date.
According to Deadline, the first of the projects will be a docuseries starring Markle, which will “celebrate the joys of cooking, gardening, entertaining and friendship.” The show will be produced by Archewell and Sony. Leah Hariton, the producer of Selena + Chef, a cooking program hosted by singer and Hollywood star Selena Gomez, will be one of the showrunners.
The series — currently untitled — seems to follow in the steps of the Duchess of Sussex’s latest initiative: after a seven-year break, she returned to social media on March 14, launching an Instagram page for a lifestyle brand called American Riviera Orchard. The website for the brand — which will sell products such as tableware, drinkware, and kitchen linens — also went live, but little is known about the venture. Markle has always been interested in cooking. In one of her first projects within the British royal family, she collaborated with a community kitchen, compiling recipes for a charity book.
The second project follows one of Prince Harry’s passions: polo, a sport through which he has made good friends, such as the Argentine player Nacho Figueras. According to Deadline, most of the series was shot during the U.S. Open Polo Championship in Wellington, Florida. “Known primarily for its aesthetic and social scene, the series will pull the curtain back on the grit and passion of the sport, capturing players and all it takes to compete at the highest level,” Netflix said of the polo series. It is not yet known if Prince Harry will appear in the series. The showrunner will be Miloš Balać, who is known for Welcome to Wrexham, a docuseries which follows the journey of the Welsh team bought by actor Ryan Reynolds. The series will be produced by Archewell and Boardwalk Pictures, which is behind hits such as Chef’s Table.
After stepping back from royal duties and moving to California, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a secretive contract with Netflix in September 2020. Little was announced about the deal, and little is still known today. Some media outlets estimate that the couple signed a $100-million deal with the platform. “Our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope. As new parents, making inspirational family programming is also important to us,” they said in a statement at the time.
Shortly after, in December, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle also signed a deal with Spotify, which was estimated at around $20 million. But the audio streaming platform cancelled the deal in June 2023. The CEO of Spotify later acknowledged that more was expected of the couple.
The two new nonfiction series follow three other projects the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have developed with Netflix. In August 2023, they released Heart of Invictus, a documentary about the Invictus Games, a sports competition for war veterans created by Prince Harry. In December 2022, the couple launched Live To Lead, a series of seven half-hour episodes that profiled international leaders such as Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg and activist Greta Thunberg.
But their most successful project to date is Harry & Meghan, which was also released in December 2022. The six-part documentary series reviewed their courtship, relationship, problems with other members of the royal family and the reasons that prompted them to leave England. The show presents the couple as crusaders in a love story, who are forced out of London due to the media persecution. On the first day it was released, it became the most watched program of the year in the United Kingdom. Time will tell whether Markle in the kitchen and Prince Harry among horses will have the same pull.
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