The winners and losers of Megxit: One year on from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bombshell announcement, how the Duke’s old school pals and the Queen have lost out while Oprah and even Joe Biden have benefitted
Mail Online
Announced they were quitting as senior members of Royal Family on January 8.
Departure has caused heartache for the Queen, Prince Charles and Harry’s pals.
Media mogul Oprah Winfrey, author Omid Scobie and Joe Biden have benefitted.
It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made their bombshell announcement that they were quitting the Royal Family.
Posting on their now defunct Sussex Royal Instagram page, the couple revealed their plans to ‘step back as senior members’ of the Firm and work to become ‘financially independent’ while splitting their time between the UK and the US.
It sent shockwaves around the world, and the coining of the term ‘Megxit’ quickly followed – which became one of Collins Dictionary’s Words of the Year in 2020.
Twelve months later and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, now living in a $14 million mansion in California with their 18-month-old son Archie, have signed lucrative deals with the likes of Neflix and Spotify, and ‘don’t regret’ their decision to go it alone, according to a source.
But their departure has not been without heartache, with the Queen, 94, said to be ‘personally hurt’ by the manner in which it came about, and the Royal Family’s collective disappointment at not being able to watch young Archie grow up. Their acrimonious departure has also left painfully deep scars for Prince William which those in the know claim may never be healed.
In the coming months Harry was due to meet with his grandmother for a face-to-face 12-month review of the so-called ‘Megxit deal’, however the Covid-19 pandemic, which has brought a ban on non-essential travel, has scuppered those plans.
So, a year later, who are the winners and losers of Megxit? Here FEMAIL reveals the figures who have benefitted from their departure – and those who have been left behind.
WINNERS
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah was friends with Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39 (as well as Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland) before their move to the US, and attended their royal wedding in May 2018.
However they appear to have grown considerably closer over the past 12 months, with Oprah proving herself a generous friend, gifting story books to their son Archie and organising for her friend Tyler Perry to let them stay in his Beverly Hills mansion while they found their feet across the pond.
Reports surfaced last year that Oprah had helped advise Meghan and Harry on leaving their posts as senior members of the Royal Family, but she denied the claim.
In April 2019, the Duke of Sussex announced a partnership with media mogul Oprah as co-creators and executive producers of a new mental health documentary series for Apple.
The pair had reportedly worked on it for ‘several months’ during a number of ‘secret meetings in London’ – however it emerged this week that Covid-19 restrictions, Harry’s exit from the Royal Family and move to the US with Meghan Markle has ‘stalled’ production.
Last month Meghan cannily used her connections by gifting Oprah a bundle of coffee from a company she invested in to plug to her 19.2 million followers on Instagram.
Oprah captioned the post: ‘On the first day of Christmas my neighbor “M” sent to me… A basket of deliciousness! (Yes that M).’
It later emerged that the Duchess has decided to invest in Clevr Blends as she begins to build a portfolio of startup investments – her first such venture since officially stepping back from royal duties.
PR guru Mark Borkowski told MailOnline that Oprah’s endorsement was worth at least $1million and is probably the most valuable piece of free publicity in history…