Spotify bosses 'horrified by Harry's Oprah comments'

Prince Harry ‘horrified’ Spotify bosses by admitting he signed quick deals ‘to pay for security’ in Oprah interview, Richard Eden tells PALACE CONFIDENTIAL

• Experts discussed the Sussexes’ next moves after their Spotify deal was axed
• READ MORE: Prince William pledges to ‘end homelessness’

Spotify executives were likely ‘horrified’ by Prince Harry’s admission he had signed lots of deals in a hurry to make money, as their podcasting deal comes to an end.

Speaking to Palace Confidential, the Daily Mail’s Diary Editor Richard Eden recalled Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 when the Duke discussed his financial worries after his family security was withdrawn.

Speaking in March 2021, Prince Harry said that the multi-million-pound deals he had signed with streaming giants Spotify and Netflix was ‘never part of the plan’ and insisted: ‘That was suggested by somebody else by the point of where my family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford security for us.’

A week after Spotify announced it was parting ways with the Sussexes following just one series of Meghan’s podcast series, Archetypes, Eden claimed Harry’s admission left Spotify bosses reeling.

‘It takes an awful lot of work [to produce a podcast]. It’s serious work, it’s planning,’ he said. ‘You can’t just turn up and, ‘Oh, what shall we do today’?’ 

Richard Eden, the Daily Mail’s Diary Editor, told PALACE CONFIDENTIAL that Spotify executives were likely left reeling by Prince Harry’s admission that he signed deals with streaming giants to pay for his security

He added: ‘That’s shown by… you know… I had to listen to these podcasts for the programme so frankly, I’m not surprised it’s coming to an end.’

The Daily Mail’s Royal Editor, Rebecca English, agreed with her fellow panellist, saying both Spotify and the Sussexes had put a ‘brave face’ on the end of the deal but it was ‘undoubtedly a blow’ to the couple.

She said: ‘What it gets to the heart of is what it is they can sell.’

English added that, although the Sussexes likely wanted to make ‘worthy’ programmes championing causes they care about, streaming giants are more interested in what it’s like to be a member of the royal family. 

‘I think anybody, even their biggest supporters, will admit people are not given multi, multi-million pound deals with no track record in the industry on the basis they’re going to produce some incredibly worthy programmes over a number of years,’ she continued.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-GbPEDDDVAc%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US

During his explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 (pictured) the Duke said it had never been ‘part of the plan’ to sign the streaming deals

As the Sussexes’ next move appears uncertain, English said that, despite rumours Prince Harry’s Netflix project about the Invictus Games had been axed, it is still slated to go ahead this summer. 

Eden said: ‘To be fair, that could be really interesting.’

Elsewhere in the episode, English teased ‘a big launch’ from William, 41, on an initiative about homelessness in the coming weeks.

Speaking about how the Prince of Wales as ‘stepping up his game’ on the cause, the pair spoke about how William was introduced to the plight of the homeless from young age when his late mother, Princess Diana, first took him to visit The Passage charity.

‘He started going to homeless shelters like The Passage with his late mother when he was kind of 11 eleven years old and it’s something he’s always worked quite passionately on in front and behind the scenes,’ she said. 

However, both English and Eden agreed that a Sunday Times article in which William discussed the issue, which was published last Sunday, was unusual timing given that Trooping the Colour had taken place just one day earlier, and risked overshadowing Charles’s first birthday celebration as monarch.

‘Last weekend we had Trooping the Colour,’ Richard explained.

‘It was the King’s first birthday parade, it was a big, big occasion for king Charles and Camilla.

‘And then that was pushed off the front pages by this interview which had been given before and was timed to come out on the Sunday, the day after Trooping the Colour.’

He found the timing ‘strange’, adding it ’caused a lot of raised eyebrows… among the King’s supporters’. 

Rebecca agreed, adding the story was relevant enough to run on another day. 

Speaking on Palace Confidential, Daily Mail Royal Editor Rebecca English teased ‘a big launch’ from William, 41 (pictured with his wife and children at Trooping the Colour) on project initiatives this week

‘As someone who’s been a journalist for 20-30 years, I did find it a little odd from a news management perspective because that interview could’ve come out any day this week,’ she told the programme.

‘And if you’d wanted to do it particularly with a Sunday paper because you feel they maybe devote more space to the complex issues involved, then they could’ve done it this Sunday so I didn’t quite understand that, I have to say.’

Richard also remarked on the absence of Charles’s name in William’s interview.  

‘Prince William made it sound in the Sunday Times interview as if it’s completely his new initiative,’ he said.

‘Remember, he’s in charge of the Duchy of Cornwall now, which is a huge area of land… and he was talking about some venture on building more social housing.

‘Well King Charles has been doing that for years… he’s really increased the amount of social housing in these areas and it’s something he feels very strongly about and he didn’t get a single mention whereas William was keen to pay credit to his mother…’

The royal has recently revealed his lifelong ambition to end homelessness in the UK and said he will build social housing on his private estate, the Duchy of Cornwall, which he inherited from his father.

William spoke in his first interview since becoming the Prince of Wales, and used it to explain that he is determined to ‘make a difference… that doesn’t set people up that are homeless for another fall’.

The 130,000-acre Duchy of Cornwall spans from Cornwall to Kent and includes estates in Newquay and Dorchester which comprise of a mix of private and some affordable housing.

When asked by the Sunday Times whether there are plans for affordable homes on Duchy land, William said: ‘Absolutely. Social housing. You’ll see that when it’s ready. I’m no policy expert, but I push it where I can.’

Described by the paper as a ‘curveball’ which aides were not expecting, William indicated that he will ‘start small’ with the housing and if the scheme does well will look to increase the amount available.

William said: ‘It’s all very well doing big gestures, but there’s no point if… there’s no future to it.’ 

Poundbury, an estate in Dorset which is part of the royal’s over £1billion property portfolio, comprises of 35 per cent affordable housing, as well as private homes. 

William is a patron of the charity Centrepoint and recently spoke at an affordable housing development of 33 flats for young people funded by the group. Pictured earlier this month

Under the national planning policy framework, major developments which include housing should be required to have at offer 10 per cent affordable homes. 

The Prince was vocal in his frustration around the government, councils and charities’ just ‘managing’ the homelessness crisis rather than ‘preventing’ it. 

Now he is teasing what he calls a ‘really big project’ coming from the Royal Foundation, which he heads along with the Princess of Wales.

He said he hopes the project, which is being kept under wraps until later this month, will have a ‘tangible impact’ on improving living conditions.

William was 11-years-old when his mother, the late Princess Diana, took him and Prince Harry to a homeless shelter and is now a patron of the Passage, the charity that ran it.

He followed in his mother’s footsteps to become a patron of another charity, Centrepoint, in 2005, and recently spoke at an affordable housing development of 33 flats for young people funded by the group.

The charity’s research revealed last year that the number of 16 to 24-year-olds who were either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless was 122,000.

This figure, obtained through freedom of information requests to all councils, has risen since Centrepoint’s first request five years ago, when it was 110,000, and is due to rise again this year.

The Prince also revealed that he is planning to take his children to a homeless shelter, and that he tries to make sure his kids are exposed to the realities facing tens of thousands across the country. 

He said that during the school run through London, he often asks Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte about what they see and why they think people are sleeping rough. 

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