Amid the coronavirus lockdown, Prince Harry and Meghan have kept a fairly low profile since their recent move to California, but a Hollywood insider says they’re already being shopped around for projects.
For a couple defined by risk, Prince Harry and Meghan’s latest foray into the public eye is as safe as it comes. After all, who could object to the video he shot of his wife and their young son that was posted on a charity’s Instagram to raise money for coronavirus relief on May 6, baby Archie’s first birthday?
But the Duke and Duchess of Sussex didn’t forsake Canada for California just to make videos.
Vancouver Island, where they were living from November until mid-March, was always only a stop gap, experts say.
“I think the intention really was always for Harry and Meghan to head to California,” said Nick Bullen, editor in chief of True Royalty, a TV channel dedicated to all things royal.
“I don’t think either of them were really able to run their new lives from Vancouver Island.”
During the coronavirus lockdown, the couple has kept a fairly low profile, occasionally delivering food to local residents in need.
But Hollywood insiders say Meghan, who grew up in California, is just waiting for her chance to shine again in Tinseltown.
“When you have someone who’s starry eyed with respect to Hollywood and the immense opportunities that exist — the people, the relationships that they have — it makes a lot of sense that they would come to L.A.,” said Eric Schiffer, who advises a roster of Hollywood stars as chairman of Reputation Management Consultants based in Irvine, Calif.
“My sources tell me that they are absolutely being shopped for projects and they absolutely have price tags associated to those projects.”
Meghan’s first project, narrating a Disney documentary called Elephant, was released days after the couple officially stepped back from the Royal Family and the proceeds will benefit Elephants Without Borders.
Potential controversy
But the next chapter, announced this week, promises to be more controversial: a book about the couple that could only have been written with their say-so. Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family by journalists Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand goes on sale Aug. 11, publisher Harper Collins said.
According to Howard Bragman, CEO of the Los Angeles PR firm LaBrea Media, it’s a savvy way to relaunch themselves on their own terms.
“Somebody was going to write a book on them anyway, so what they probably are doing is a preemptive book. They’re telling their story before somebody else tells their story,” Bragman said. “The No. 1 thing you wa