Why do so many royals have podcasts now?

India Hicks, daughter of King Charles, was the first notable name to get in on the action. The India Hicks Podcastwhich debuted in 2019, offered a “wonderfully intimate look” into her life and her “extraordinary family.” It consisted of conversations about “movie stars, matadors and maharajas” with her mother, Lady Pamela Hicks, a former lady-in-waiting to the late Queen Elizabeth.

A few years later, Princess Eugenie co-hosted Reflector: an interview podcast about modern slavery made with her charity, the Anti-Slavery Collective.

Then came Meghan Markle’s Archetypes. In this much-hyped 2022 series, the Duchess of Sussex spoke to some of the biggest names in popular culture (including Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton and Serena Williams) about the “labels that try to hold women back”.

The following year, Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson, Duchess of York, launched a chat podcast with her friend Sarah Thomson, and Queen Camilla launched The Queen’s Reading Room podcast.

The latter, an extension of his literacy organization of the same name, features interviews with notable authors and book lovers such as Dame Joanna Lumley and Richard E. Grant. But Camilla is only featured for a few minutes per episode.

Although podcasts are an intimate medium, as Dr. Beckett, they also allow the royals to maintain a great deal of control – certainly more so than in a traditional TV interview.

“They have to be careful because they’ve tried different tactics like this,” says Beckett. “In 1969, Queen Elizabeth allowed a documentary about her home life. It was broadcast once on the BBC, then realized it was a mistake. It allowed people too much into her personal life and she actually banned it from ever being played again.” (Decades later, this leaked on YouTube.)

Loading

In 1987, younger members of the British royal family also competed in the TV game show It’s a Royal Knockout alongside celebrities, running in costumes, doing obstacle courses for charity.

“People thought it was a disaster,” says Beckett. “Royals aren’t like other celebrities, they have to behave a certain way and maintain certain standards… but at the same time be ‘normal enough’ that we can relate to them.”

Moral influencers or “f—ing grifters”?

So do people care about this exclusive royal content or just watch Crown?

The most successful of the bunch is undoubtedly Meghan Markle’s Archetypes. The show debuted at number one on Spotify in the UK, US, Canada, Ireland, India, Australia and New Zealand. But also lost a lot of steam by the end of the season, and Meghan and Harry’s Archewell Audio “mutually agreed” to leave Spotify shortly after.

Meghan Markle made a season of Archetypesin collaboration with Spotify.Credit:

Their initial deal reportedly cost US$25 million ($38.5 million) and The Wall Street Journal reported that the couple did not meet the “productivity benchmarks” to justify the amount. Although their agreement 2020 promised “a multi-year partnership… to produce podcasts and shows” (multiple), nothing else materialized.