Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Will Host & Produce Your New Fave Podcasts
The Duke and Duchess are releasing a special holiday podcast to kick off their new deal with Spotify
Raise your hand if this year has been the Year of Podcasts for you as a way to cope through the pandemic. Yep, yep, we’re all just trying to listen to things that soothe us and distract us from, well, life. Murder mysteries, Princess Diana myth de-bunking, and meditations are all the rage right now. And soon to join that list of favorite podcasts will be the ones Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be hosting and producing exclusively through Spotify.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have inked an “exclusive, multi-year deal with Spotify” through their newly-formed production company, Archewell Audio. The duo plans to host and produce podcasts that uplift and entertain audiences. Later this month, a holiday special hosted by the couple themselves will be released on Spotify and will feature inspirational stories to mark the end of a very difficult year.
The audio introduction for their holiday special is available to listen to now, and OMG it’s adorable hearing them be themselves (Meghan encourages Harry to start because things “sound better” in his accent, LOL).
“What we love about podcasting is that it reminds all of us to take a moment and to really listen, to connect to one another without distraction,” Harry and Meghan said in a statement. “With the challenges of 2020, there has never been a more important time to do so, because when we hear each other, and hear each other’s stories, we are reminded of how interconnected we all are.”
Earlier this year, Harry and Meghan relocated to California and secured a producing partnership with Netflix. They play to create documentaries, feature films, children’s programming, and more. This is all very, very exciting news for the couple. They announced back in January that they had decided to step away from the royal family after years of racist, targeted abuse toward Meghan from the British press with little to no support from the royals.
Last month, Meghan penned a very personal, very thoughtful essay for The New York Times where she shared that she suffered a miscarriage over the summer, empathizing with everyone out there who has suffered and grieved this year.
“We have learned that when people ask how any of us are doing, and when they really listen to the answer, with an open heart and mind, the load of grief often becomes lighter — for all of us. In being invited to share our pain, together we take the first steps toward healing.”
As part of their Spotify deal, Meghan and Harry plan to feature diverse and underrepresented voices. Their first full podcast series will be released in 2021, as part of Spotify’s free, ad-supported product, which reaches 320 million listeners around the world.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex may live in California but the power of their voices rests in their status as citizens of the world,” Spotify chief content and advertising business officer Dawn Ostroff said in a statement.
“That they are embracing the extraordinary capacity of podcasts on Spotify while also seeking to elevate underrepresented voices is a testament to their appreciation for the potential of audio storytelling. We are proud to partner with the Duke and Duchess and look forward to listeners hearing directly from them and the other creators that they will be elevating via our global platform.”
