Royal expert Katie Nicholl breaks it all down for ET.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are "presenting a very united front." That's the way royal expert Katie Nicholl sees it, telling ET that while rumors are flying around about a split or potential split, she sees no evidence.
The rumors started flying around after multiple outlets -- here and across the pond -- reported a rift between the couple and even allegations that Harry rented out a hotel room to get away from the Duchess of Sussex. An insider later told Page Six that there's no truth to the rumors that their marriage has hit a rocky patch.
Speaking to ET, the author of The New Royals says it's easy to see why some folks might think something's amiss, but it's her experience that the couple has a genuine and authentic spark.
"My experience with Harry and Meghan -- whenever I've been with them as a couple, who are very, very close -- [have] a sort of spark between them that always struck me as being very authentic. However, there have been rumors circulating in recent months that the fallout from Spare, which is pretty epic for Prince Harry who had Britain really turned against him, his home country; he's really not welcomed here," Nicholl says. "[The book has] left a bad taste in people's mouths. It's further alienated him from his friends and his family and I think, inevitably, that has put a strain on them."
"And I think it was very notable that in the run-up to the launch of his autobiography, he had all the publicity and Meghan was noticeable by her absence," she continues. "And that was really the first time we've seen a divide between them because up until then they've very much been a partnership, and at this crucial moment where Harry's doing the boldest and possibly bravest thing of his life, she's not there for him. And that has continued and led to more rumors of a split, of a split being on the horizon ... and yet, there is no evidence. They're presenting a very united front."
ET has reached out to Meghan and Harry's reps for comment.
Rumors of a split came shortly after the couple and Spotify mutually ended their partnership last month. According to Bloomberg, choosing guests was a challenge for Meghan, and one of several problems that plagued her and Harry's $20 million deal with Spotify.
As if ending the partnership wasn't hard enough, Spotify's Bill Simmons criticized the couple, accusing them of being "f**king grifters," adding "that's the podcast we shoulda launched with them. I gotta get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It's one of my best stories."
What's more, Meghan was also accused of faking her Spotify interviews, the couple's Harry & Meghan Netflix documentary got snubbed by the Emmys, and Meghan was even snubbed by Taylor Swift to appear on her podcast.
As for what's next for the couple, Nicholl tells ET the world will be curiously watching their next step and see if they get back to their philanthropic efforts. It's been reported that Harry's doing exactly that (with a bit of a business twist), when, as Page Six reported, he's soon heading to Africa solo to film a new Netflix documentary.
"They said they were leaving to start a new life to essentially start a philanthropic lifestyle, to build this philanthropic empire and it was all based around Archwell, and I think what everyone's wondering is where the philanthropy is," Nicholl says, "because the deals have been big-dollar deals, very financially driven, but these [deals] have sort of run their course and there is the sense that they have exhausted their narrative, which is essentially attacking the royal family and explaining why they left. The big question is, what's next? You said you wanted to become global philanthropists to be co-humanitarians. When are we gonna see the evidence of this?"
Harry and Meghan have been estranged from the royal family since their decision to step down as senior members and relocate to California. Though they returned to the U.K. for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the couple's Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, and Harry's tell-all memoir, Spare, only led to further divides.
Amid the rift, Harry attended his father's May 2023 coronation solo.
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