ROYAL RUMBLED
Harry & Meghan ‘talked with video platform Quibi a year before Megxit’ despite telling Oprah they ‘didn’t have a plan’
PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle were already in talks with a billion-dollar US streaming service a YEAR before Megxit, it has been claimed.
According to reports, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were discussing projects with Quibi in 2019 before they stepped down as working royals in early 2020.
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The Duchess of Sussex said the couple “didn’t have a plan” when they moved to Canada last year in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey last month.
But now it has been claimed Harry and Meghan had meetings with the now defunct video platform well before son Archie was born.
Quibi was a subscription-based streaming platform which ran roughly seven to ten minute long videos.
It had been tipped to become a rival to YouTube - but it closed down just six months after its launch.
According to reports, the discussions with Quibi had caused tensions with Palace staff - and the couple were accused of “cashing in” their royal titles.
A source told : “A lot of it was orchestrated by Meghan’s people in America.
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“It was a bit of a secret squirrel.”
Another source added: “There were well-developed proposals in place with Quibi from early 2019.”
The couple are thought to have even met with the video app’s founder, Jeffrey Katzenberg and its chief executive and former president of eBay, Meg Whitman.
Sources say a proposal for the couple to feature in a series was drawn up by the company in 2019.
And Harry attended a meeting with James Holt, the director of Archewell, the couples non-profit organisation, in London in January last year.
However, after the Sussexes moved, the plans were put on hold because of the pandemic.
Later in the year the couple signed a $112million deal with Netflix and a £30million contract with Spotify.
During their interview with Oprah, Harry claimed he'd had to sign the deals as he'd been effectively "cut off" by the Royal Family when he and Meghan stepped away.
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The 36-year-old said: "We didn't have a plan.
"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 spokesman for Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
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