Meghan Markle’s lifestyle brand As Ever and Netflix ended an equity partnership in early March 2026, marking a major landmark in the Duchess of Sussex’s six-year relationship with the streaming giant.
The Sussexes’ collaboration with Netflix shaped their post-royal media strategy, yielding one of the streamer’s biggest documentary debuts and a slate of subsequent non-fiction projects.
In 2025, Meghan announced that Netflix was also jumping on board as an equity partner in her lifestyle online shop As Ever, where she sells jam, wine, flower sprinkles and other goods.
Why It Matters
Now though, the streamer has pulled out of the business while Harry and Meghan’s TV production contract was downgraded to a “first look deal” in summer 2025.
The Sussex camp remain bullish about Meghan’s prospects going it alone, suggesting she may have been held back by Netflix’s caution, however it does increase the pressure on the duchess to demonstrate the business is a success.
Good relations with Netflix are also important for Harry and Meghan after a very public disintegration of their partnership with Spotify, which ended with Spotify executive Bill Simmons calling them “f****** grifters.”
Origins of the Netflix Deal and Harry & Meghan
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle signed a multiyear production deal with Netflix in September 2020 in what was the first concrete sign they would achieve financial independence in their post-royal lives. They announced they were quitting the palace that January.
Their six-part docuseries Harry & Meghan premiered in two volumes in December 2022 and became a major hit for the platform, with subsequent coverage widely describing it as record-breaking for Netflix’s documentary slate.
However, it also earned them some criticism for re-hashing the same story they told Oprah Winfrey in a sitdown interview in March 2021. Among hostile reviews, Variety ran the headline: “It’s Well Past Time for Harry and Meghan 2.0.”
Its account of their messy exit from royal life included swipes at the royals and Meghan famously re-enacting her curtsy to Queen Elizabeth II on meeting her for the first time, which she compared to the themed dining experience “Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament.”
The moment went viral on social media as some felt the performance was disrespectful to the British custom of curtsying to royal family members.
Harry and Meghan’s Later Shows Fall Flat
Live to Lead, an interview series developed with the Nelson Mandela Foundation dropped on Netflix in late December 2022 but drew far less attention than the biopic that charted their royal exit.
Next came Heart of Invictus, a docuseries centered on Prince Harry’s Invictus Games, an Olympics-style tournament for injured service personnel. The series dropped in August 2023 and included some inspiring stories of veterans who fought back from battlefield injuries to compete, including Ukrainian soldiers from the war with Russia.
Prince Harry’s second solo Netflix project was titled Polo, and followed competitors in the sport Harry has enjoyed since his teenage years alongside his brother Prince William and father King Charles III. The docuseries, however, featured Prince Harry only briefly and underperformed relative to Harry & Meghan.
With Love, Meghan and a Lifestyle Relaunch
With Love, Meghan dropped its first season in March 2025 and showed Meghan cooking, entertaining and crafting with her celebrity friends, including Chrissy Teigen.
The show did get viewers and reviews, though many were searingly critical, noting the fact it was not filmed in her real kitchen. Meghan was also criticized for repackaging Trader Joe’s peanut butter pretzels into plastic bags, which viewers felt was presenting them as homemade.
A Vulture review read: “With Love, Meghan is an utterly deranged bizarro world voyage into the center of nothing, a fantastical monument to the captivating power of watching one woman decorate a cake with her makeup artist while communicating solely through throw-pillow adages about joy and hospitality.”
The second season and a holiday special failed to make the top 1,000 shows on Netflix in 2025.
In August, their Netflix contract was downgraded from the initial five-year, mega-bucks deal to a less lucrative “first look deal” that gives Netflix first refusal on any new projects but allows Harry and Meghan to then take their work elsewhere.
As Ever Launch and Netflix as Equity Partner
Meghan launched lifestyle brand As Ever alongside With Love and Netflix was announced as an equity partner in it.
At the time, Meghan said on Instagram: “Then Netflix came on, not just as my partner in the show, but as my partner in my business, which was huge.”
However, last week Netflix and As Ever parted ways with sources on Meghan’s side telling The Sun she was still on good terms with the platform but felt their caution was holding her back from going global.
Newsweek has confirmed the newspaper’s reporting.
What People Are Saying
An As Ever spokesperson said in a statement to Newsweek: “As Ever is grateful for Netflix’s partnership through launch and our first year. We have experienced meaningful and rapid growth and As Ever is now ready to stand on its own. We have an exciting year ahead and can’t wait to share more.”
Netflix said in a statement: “Meghan’s passion for elevating everyday moments in beautiful yet simple ways inspired the creation of the As Ever brand, and we are glad to have played a role in bringing that vision to life.
“As it was always intended, Meghan will continue growing the brand and take it into its next chapter independently, and we look forward to celebrating how she continues to bring joy to households around the world.”
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