Royal officials to ‘scrutinise’ Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s $150m Netflix deal

The Royal Family will cast “a critical eye” over a multimillion-dollar deal that Prince Harry and Megan Markle have signed with Netflix, according to a palace source.

The insider told the Daily Mirror that while the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had quit royal duties “with everyone’s best wishes”, the couple had “agreed any commercial deals would be subject to discussion”.

“It goes without saying any deals they are making will be scrutinised by the royal household,” the source added.

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The Sussexes announced earlier this week that they have inked a deal, reported to be worth between $100m (£75m) and $150m (£113m), to produce documentaries, docu-series, feature films, scripted shows and children’s programmes for streaming giant Netflix.

But “one concern is how the lucrative career move will look to the British public while the couple are still repaying £2.4m of taxpayer cash lavished on the refurbishment of their Frogmore Cottage home at Windsor”, according to the newspaper.

The Mail on Sunday reported in May that Harry and Meghan had agreed to pay back the money under a “rental-plus agreement”. The newspaper said the pair were paying “just shy of £18,000 a month to keep Frogmore as their official British base”.

Following news of their Netflix deal, Royal expert Ingrid Seward told the Daily Mail that Prince Charles was likely to be “relieved as they will be off his payroll now, and the British public will be relieved because they can pay back what they owe now on Frogmore Cottage, so it’s a win-win situation”.

However, other Royals may be feeling a little miffed, according to The Sun. The paper reports that sources say the Queen was not informed of the deal by the Sussexes before it was announced, and was instead “told the news by her aides”.