What does a dethroned prince live on? Many wonder when they see Henry of England and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and their luxurious lifestyle in California. A villa in Montecito (a luxurious area of Santa Barbara), trips, gala evenings, nice clothes, security personnel, good schools… are part of his daily life. But, with the son of Charles III out of the British royal family and with her private ventures not yielding many results, it seems that Markle has an ace up her sleeve: getting back to acting.
The duchess seems to be looking for a discreet return, but with her eye on Hollywood. Last Tuesday she was spotted on the set of Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming film, Close personal friendswith actors Brie Larson, Lily Collins, Jack Quaid and Henry Golding. The diary The sun was the first to break the news, but then the magazine People confirmed it. As it turns out, the former (or maybe not-so-ex) actress was in Pasadena, north of Los Angeles, on a work day for the film. It is not known whether she will do more: her role is small and she will play… herself.
“Meghan was on set today,” a source close to the filming explained to the American magazine on Wednesday afternoon. “She has a small role. She seemed very relaxed and happy. She introduced herself to everyone and was very friendly and helpful.” In the British newspaper, for their part, they spoke to people about the study. “This is a very important moment for Meghan and marks her return to what she really enjoys doing. She has received many offers, but this one felt like the right one,” they say. “It’s his way of coming back little by little and seeing if he likes being back on set,” they say. “Everyone involved in the project is tremendously enthusiastic and has sworn their involvement to secrecy.” It seems, however, that the secret has been revealed.
The film is written and directed by Jason Orley and is about two couples, one famous and the other not, who meet in Santa Barbara (now home to the Sussexes) and who quickly become friends. It’s a comedy that doesn’t have a release date. According to what the same sources explained, Henry of England would be delighted with his wife’s participation in the film.
It’s been almost a decade since Markle last stepped in front of the cameras for a series or film, since November 2017, when her participation in the series ended. Clothesin which he starred from 2011 and until then. Just six months later, the interpreter would marry Prince Henry of England, younger son of the then heir to the throne and now King Charles III. They later had a son, decided to leave the British royal family to make a new life in California, broke ties with the Windsors and settled in the United States, where they had their second daughter.
Their businesses have not worked as they expected since then. In 2021, Henry of England was appointed director of a start mental health specialist called Better Up, of which little more has been heard since. They tried to launch podcasts with Spotify —thanks to a fruitful collaboration worth 20 million dollars— and programs with Netflix —the agreement, estimated at 100 million, was broken in July to be reformulated with a smaller contract—, for the moment, with little success.
With Netflix everything worked well at first, when the dukes told their story in December 2022 in a six-part docuseries titled Harry and Meghan which, while not sugar-free, told his version of the door being slammed in the face of the British royal family and his decision to live on the other side of the world in search of privacy. So, Prince Henry said he was obsessed with making sure the story of his mother, Diana of Wales, and the media persecution she experienced until her death was not repeated with Markle and her new family. But since then, the rest of his projects, such as Live to lead, a series of seven chapters of half an hour each in which the profiles of international leaders are reviewed; Heart of the Invictus OR Invictus Heartin Spanish, about the games Enrique created for war veterans, or Poleas far as professional polo is concerned, it has had little traction.
The last attempt was Love, Meghanwhere the duchess invites friends to eat and spend time at her home dedicating themselves to activities such as birthday gifts or homemade floral arrangements, with a snobbish but at the same time completely fake touch. Although a second season was released a few weeks ago, the contract with Netflix had been terminated by that point. Although a Christmas special is confirmed and scheduled for this December; and the platform remains As Ever, the lifestyle brand launched by Markle and which sells jams, candles or edible flowers.
A couple of years ago the head of the audio platform even confessed in an interview with the BBC that he expected more from the program. A journalist revealed in another program that Enrique was obsessed with his ideas about childhood trauma and that he wanted to invite and interview Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump, among others, into space to talk about his childhood. Even host Bill Simmons went so far as to say he felt “embarrassed” about sharing a platform with Enrique. “Those damn crooks. That’s the one.” podcasts that we should have launched with them,” he said. “One night I’ll get drunk and tell the story of the video call I had with Enrique on Zoom to help him and try to come up with an idea for a podcasts with the. It’s one of my best stories.”
Therefore, at this time Henry of England has the inheritance from his mother, from his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, and with personal assets that he may have inherited from his father, but not with an active income. Markle, meanwhile, had only been an actress for just under a decade and came from a middle-class family. Therefore, both are now looking for creative ways to increase family wealth. Returning to acting, even if little by little, seems to be the next idea.
