Meghan and Harry sing together in Archewell Audio trailer

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Meghan and Harry claimed they wanted to be “financially independent” from their very first announcement explaining they were going to step back from the monarchy in January last year. But, Harry claimed in his bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey that it was only after his father Prince Charles “literally cut me off” financially that the couple were drawn to streaming services as a new source of income. They signed a deal with Netflix last year of historic value — said to be worth $150million (£107million) — and a subsequent contract with Spotify, estimated to be worth $25million (£18million).

While the couple have announced their first “creative activation” with Netflix, a documentary following athletes training for Harry’s sporting competition the Invictus Games, they only released one 35-minute podcast for Spotify back in December.

There has been radio silence from the Sussexes about their podcast branch of their new venture, Archewell Audio, over the last six months.

Royal watchers should not expect any new content to be released any time soon either, as the couple just took a five-month hiatus from their working lives to bond with their newborn daughter Lilibet Diana.

Royal commentator Phil Dampier warned: “We’re being told they’re having up to five months off and people who are paying them a lot of money will expect something in return.

“They seem to be using up a lot of ammunition very early and putting a lot of stuff out there in terms of deals and agreements with lots of firms.”

He added: “The question might be asked whether they have too much on their plate.”

But, PR expert Mark Borowski said: “Even if the shows haven’t materialised yet, it’s a win-win for Spotify to have two of the most famous people in the world connected to them.”

Still, he added that Harry and Meghan “will be under scrutiny to deliver” content, when speaking to The Sun.

After all, the couple will not receive their full fee until after they have fulfilled all their obligations in their contract with Spotify, which suggests more content should be on the way.

Royal commentator Angela Levin even told talkRADIO that the only episode they have released, their Holiday Special, was “extremely boring”.

She said: “They don’t want to pay anything, they want to get the money rolling in by doing very little in return, that has been shown up with Spotify.

“They were offered an £18million contract, they did one extremely boring podcast for half an hour where people like Elton John were complaining that they could not take their private planes.

“They were not questioned by Meghan and Harry, they just had to send in a five or ten-minute [clip].

“I think Spotify is going to take action in August unless they make up their minds.”

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It has been pointed out that, considering they have only released one episode, the Sussexes have been paid a staggering £486,000 per minute of content for Spotify so far.

Back in February, Spotify was even forced to defend its lucrative contract with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Musicians and songwriters had complained to the global streaming platform that they were not being paid enough for releasing their content on the service — and so were struggling to make ends meet in a stark contrast to Meghan and Harry.

Head of global affairs and chief legal officer for Spotify, Horacio Gutierrez, told MPs back in February that the Sussexes were regarded as “box office” in “terms of the talent that goes into podcasts”.

He compared their content to top international shows such as Game of Thrones.

He continued: “Those high production shows tend to be the tent-pole that attract people into the service, and therefore benefit everyone.

“There is clear evidence that having podcast offerings on the service benefits music consumption, so on the whole there’s a virtuous cycle that occurs.”

Yet, Conservative MP Steve Brine hit back and said such a lucrative deal “sticks in the craw of some of the artists who are driving Uber cars right now to pay the rent”.

Mr Gutierrez was speaking to a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee hearing for its inquiry into music streaming.

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