People have lost jobs over money spent on Harry and Meghan’s Spotify deal

Following the news that Meghan and Harry have been dropped by Spotify, it has sparked a wider conversation about companies that throw money at big names who can’t deliver and end up hurting those who are actually talented in the industry.

Speaking to Palace Confidential, the Daily Mail’s Diary Editor Richard Eden asked his fellow panellists Jo Elvin and the Daily Mail’s Royal Editor, Rebecca English if it’s open season on the royal couple.

Discussing Hollywood talent agent Jeremy Zimmer’s comments about Meghan Markle, calling her ‘not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent’, Richard said: ‘These are extraordinary comments really because it came from one of Hollywood’s top agents, Jeremy Zimmer.

‘Usually, agents are very diplomatic because even if they’re not their client now they’ll be thinking they could be in the future and they don’t want to be seen criticising stars.’

The insults are the latest in a string of jibes and unfavourable press coverage that the Sussexes have had to endure.

Harry and Meghan have faced a barrage of criticism over their Spotify deal 

Rebecca pointed out that Harry and Meghan’s deal with Spotify is no different to lots of places that ‘threw money’ at big names who couldn’t deliver

But Richard went on to say he believes that the attacks could add a ‘toxic element’ to their media personalities: ‘If you’ve got talent agents that are willing to be so rude about you in public, I can imagine it being off-putting to lots of people.’

The Sussexes are suffering extra criticism because of what has happened in the podcast industry.

Discussing the ending of the show in a wider context, Rebecca said: ‘Part of this problem with Harry and Meghan is a problem with the entire podcast industry.

‘There was a flurry to sign massive names and throw big money at them without actually knowing if they had an idea which was workable.

‘That’s now falling around the industry’s ears and a lot of good people: producers and engineers – these people are losing their jobs, and there’s a lot of anger because people like Harry and Meghan with significant amounts of money, so there’s quite a lot of bad feeling about it.’

Elsewhere in the show self-confessed fan of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Richard revealed he thinks it’s time the sisters take on more jobs now that the Royal Family has been slimmed down.

Richard said he would like to see Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie (with their mum Sarah Ferguson centre) take on more roles

He said: ‘I’d definitely like to see them having more of a role. It’s possible that a lot of the royal patronages that the Queen and Prince Philip previously had, William and Catherine might not want to take them on.

‘They’re keener to focus on a few key issues, so there may be lots of patronages otherwise that would be lost.’

Sharing her views on the matter, Rebecca added: ‘The whole point was that the King wanted a slimmed down monarchy but the monarchy has slimmed down a lot quicker than he ever thought it was going to be. 

‘They never thought they would be without Harry and his family, supporting William along the way.

‘We’ve got a lot of older members of the Royal Family who will eventually retire from duties and we’re soon going to be left with barely six, seven people.’