She may be Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, but she’s not totally above feeling a little schadenfreude. After another terrible week for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, as critics labelled them “grifters” and “untalented” following the cancellation of their $20million Spotify deal, royal insiders say the former Duchess of Cornwall is quietly enjoying seeing their downfall.

“Of course Camilla is kept informed about the headlines around Harry and Meghan,” says an insider close to the 75-year-old who was crowned Queen alongside her husband, King Charles III in May. “And there’s no point denying that she’s delighting in it. She and Meghan never got on very well and after everything that’s happened in the last few years, she can’t help but cheer a little at the news coming out of the US in the last couple of weeks.”

It’s been another rough week to be the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Following the embarrassing news that their $20million deal with Spotify had collapsed after just 12 episodes of Meghan’s podcast, Archetypes, critics piled in to blast the pair. Industry expert, Bill Simmons, who sold his podcast to Spotify in 2020 for $196million, called the couple “grifters,” revealing, “I have got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories … Fuck them. The grifters.” Leading Hollywood agent, Jeremy Zimmer, chief executive of the United Talent Agency, also took aim at the former [Suits] actress, saying, “Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent. And, you know, just because you’re famous doesn’t make you great at something.” It followed an official statement, jointly released by the Sussexes and Spotify, which insisted they had “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together”. But there was trouble behind the scenes according to insiders, who said Harry and Meghan hadn’t met the “productivity benchmark” expected of them. It followed shocking headlines accusing the 41-year-old mum-of-two of “faking interviews” for her podcast, with industry sources claiming, “The Duchess got staff to do chats with Archetypes guests then had audio of her voice edited into the final episodes.” Reports went on to say Meghan had interviewed the high-profile stars herself – including Serena Williams, Mariah Carey and Mindy Kaling – but producers did some of the others. TV host, Andy Cohen defended Meghan insisting, “Of course” he had been interviewed by her, adding, “That’s an insane rumour. Her podcast is conversations with people. How would she not have, of course she did.”

But one interviewee, author Allison Yarrow seemingly confirmed the claim, thanking audio producer Farrah Safarfi for being an “excellent interviewer”. Meghan is yet to comment on the claims herself. Royal critics took the opportunity to pile in on <Archetypes>, with US media site Jezebel calling it “a shit show by any measure – it took nearly two years to get off the ground and severely underdelivered”, adding, “With so much money on the table and so little work put in, you might wonder why Markle didn’t interview all of her guests.” UK websites also hit them hard, with The Telegraph last week labelling the pair, “workshy, whining and thoroughly entitled.”

And Camilla could be about to get even happier, as later reports went on to claim Harry and Meghan’s $100m Netflix contract is also now in jeopardy. The streaming giant is said to be dissatisfied with the ideas Harry and Meghan have pitched since their docu-series Harry & Meghan came out in December, with experts predicting the couple could lose as much as $40million if the deal is pulled now. A source last week said, “Netflix was pleased to sign Harry and Meghan and is looking for some great ideas going forward. But the remainder of the deal relies on them producing those good ideas. The deal’s continually under review which is normal for ones of this magnitude.”

As heat has previously reported, things have been tense between Harry, 38, and his stepmother ever since she married his dad, King Charles III, 74, in 2005. The Duke detailed their difficult relationship in his bombshell memoir <Spare>, writing how he pleaded with his dad not to marry Camilla. Harry compares her to “the wicked stepmothers in storybooks”, claiming she “sacrificed me on her personal PR altar”, and complaining about how she turned his bedroom into a dressing room after he moved out of Clarence House. In the many TV interviews Harry did in the aftermath of publication, he also called Camilla “dangerous”, and a “villain”, adding that her habit of leaking stories to the press would leave “bodies in the street.” <heat>’s insider continues, “Of course Camilla was furious and hurt when she read what was written about her in Spare. She felt like she’d made a big effort to make them feel welcome at the Palace when Harry first met Meghan. She made a fuss of her and defended Meghan, even when it put everyone else’s backs up. She even invited the actress over for tea and to go horse-riding, offering words of support and encouragement. But where did it get her? Harry may have been the one who wrote those things in his book but it must’ve been done with Meghan’s encouragement. Camilla and Harry had no issue until his wife came along. The Netflix series was the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as she was concerned, so it’s good to see that deal could be falling apart.”

It’s been one damaging headline after another in recent months for the Sussexes, who quit royal life in 2020 amidst accusations of racism and bitter feuding in the family. And despite Charles hoping for a reconciliation at the coronation on 6 May, Meghan turned down the invite, while Harry flew in for less than a day. “Camilla is aware that Charles would like her to let go of her resentment,” says the source. “But she’s very much her own person and finds it hard to forgive and forget. Just because Charles has decided to go easy on them won’t stop Camilla from holding a grudge. The only way she’d possibly consider a truce is if Harry and Meghan apologised publicly – and everyone knows that won’t happen. She is steadfast in her belief that the Sussexes are spoilt and have brought all this on themselves. There’s no doubt Camilla’s a powerful enemy – which they’re finding out now, very much to their cost!”