From Royal to Reality: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Face a 'Bleak' Financial Future as Regal Rebels Free Fall Into Irrelevance

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are currently playing the "celebrity with a royal connection" card within the Hollywood entertainment industry, but it is becoming old hat for many.

"Unless they keep coming up with new initiatives and new goods, they’re going to disappear like so many other celebrities, and once that happens I think the future is going to look rather bleak," royal historian and author Hugo Vickers stated on a recent episode of "The Royals with Roya and Kate" podcast.

For a royal prince raised in the world's most popular monarchy, which is an insular world filled with servants, bowing, and never hearing the word "no," Harry could be in for a "rude awakening."

"It's very difficult because he is part of an extraordinary institution, and then suddenly he’s cut free from that; he’s gone off on his own; it’s a brave step into an unknown world," Vickers added.

"What worries me is that I think, whenever I see images of Range Rovers and things coming to the airport and security people, that’s jolly expensive, and they’ve got to keep moving the whole time to finance this life, and I’ve been to Montecito and that’s pretty and lush and expensive, too, and there are lots of people around keeping the show on the road," he said.

Vickers further observed, "The thing right now that seems to be keeping their finances afloat" is their past experience and connection to the British monarchy.

This led co-host Roya Nikkhah to state, "I think he has got a lot of what he wanted. He wanted a settled, calm family life, which he didn't feel he had growing up and I don't think he felt he was going to be able get when he was here in the royal family because of all the pressures. He feels very happy and settled in that."

When compared to the "nightmare" of 2023, 2024 has been a "busy year" for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex so far. The duo attended numerous high-profile events in January and February, which included Harry's taking a trip to London on February 6 to see King Charles after his cancer diagnosis.

Mid-March saw the "soft launch" of Meghan's brand American Riviera Orchard, which included 50 select jars of strawberry jam sent to her friends. The move was quickly labeled as "pandering for celeb influence" and "hypocritically exclusive as always."

There is also the duo's remaining year left on their five-year Netflix contract, which after four of those five years, has produced only one hit documentary, Harry & Meghan. A Meghan-led cooking show, a rom-com movie, and two further documentaries are in development, with some projects reportedly filmed and "canned" until a viable release date can be decided.

In Style reported on Vickers' remarks.