Radar Charts Royal Rogues Harry and Meghan Markle’s Best and Worst Business Ventures Since Defecting From England

As soon as they stepped back from their royal roles, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle launched the Archewell Foundation, a nonprofit organization.

"Before SussexRoyal came the idea of 'arche' – the Greek word meaning 'source of action'", they explained the foundation's name in a statement.

"We connected to this concept for the charitable organization we hoped to build one day, and it became the inspiration for our son’s name.”

Harry and Markle welcomed their first child, Prince Archie, on May 6, 2019.

According to its Impact Report, the foundation has successfully raised money for charities over the past few years. In 2021, Harry and Markle amassed $13million and gave $3million in grants.

Archewell also supported COVID-19 relief efforts by funding vaccines and meal distribution throughout 2021 and 2022.

Harry, 40, and Markle, 43, announced their first major business venture in September 2020, revealing they signed a $100million multiyear deal with Netflix to produce several projects for the streaming giant. Currently, they have released three documentaries through Archewell Productions.

They wrote in a statement: "Our lives, both independent of each other, and as a couple have allowed us to understand the power of the human spirit: of courage, resilience, and the need for connection.

"Through our work with diverse communities and their environments, to shining a light on people and causes around the world, our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope."

In 2022, Harry & Meghan premiered on Netflix, followed by Live to Lead. Meanwhile, Heart of Invictus was released the following year.

Netflix's Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria disclosed the couple's next projects following the success of the documentaries.

"They have a movie in development, a [scripted] series that they're working on,” said Bela during the Next on Netflix event in February. "So all very early development, with a movie, a TV show and a couple of unscripted shows. But yeah, the movie's great."

Archewell Productions also has two nonfiction series that are in the early stages of production.

In December 2020, Harry and Markle secured a partnership with Spotify. As part of the collaboration, the Duchess of Sussex released her Archetypes podcast in August 2022.

However, after 12 episodes of the podcast, a representative for Markle's talent agency announced that the royals had parted ways with Spotify.

"The team behind Archetypes remain proud of the podcast they created at Spotify,” a spokesperson for WME told the Wall Street Journal in June 2023.

They added: "Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform."

Harry released his successful bombshell memoir, Spare, in January 2023. It immediately became the fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time after selling 1.43 million copies in just 24 hours.

In July 2021, he secured a $40million four-book deal with Penguin Random House, though details about the publishing contract have remained under wraps.

Meanwhile, Markle dropped her children's book, The Bench, in June 2021, though it only sold around 3,000 copies in the U.K. in the first week of release, per Daily Mail.

After parting ways with Spotify, Markle moved on with Lemonada Media and signed a new deal in February.

"I’m proud to now be able to share that I am joining the brilliant team at Lemonada to continue my love of podcasting," she said in a statement, expressing she was "overjoyed" to join the company.

Markle has pursued solo business ventures, including an investment in Clevr Blends, a women-owned small business.

She said: "I'm proud to invest in Hannah [Mendoza, Clevr's co-founder]'s commitment to sourcing ethical ingredients and creating a product that I personally love and has a holistic approach to wellness. I believe in her and I believe in her company."

The royal couple became partners at Ethic, a sustainable investment firm in New York City, starting in October 2021.

Speaking with The New York Times, the former Suits actress expressed: "From the world I come from, you don't talk about investing, right? You don't have the luxury to invest. That sounds so fancy. My husband has been saying for years, 'Gosh, don't you wish there was a place where, if your values were aligned like this, you could put your money to that same sort of thing?'"

Markle officially announced her latest venture, American Riviera Orchard, through the brand's official Instagram and website.

"By Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Established 2024," the text read.

Although it has not yet been officially launched, it revealed its first product – a jar of strawberry jam – in April.