These are trying times for the Duke of Sussex. Already estranged from his family and many of his oldest friends, he has now parted ways with the African charity he co-founded in memory of his mother.

Yet Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, can boast of success in one particular area: public relations.

This week’s public statement about their relationship with Netflix, for example, provides a masterclass in media manipulation.

Back in September 2020, the Duke and Duchess signed a five-year deal to make documentaries and films for the American streaming giant said to have been worth up to $100million (£75million).

On Monday, the California-based pair announced what would happen when, next month, that deal finally comes to an end.

‘We’re proud to extend our partnership with Netflix and expand our work together to include the As Ever brand,’ said Meghan.

‘My husband and I feel inspired by our partners who work closely with us and our Archewell Productions team to create thoughtful content across genres that resonates globally and celebrates our shared vision.’

This was widely reported as Netflix ‘renewing’ its deal with the couple. Speculation they would be dropped by the company had been proved wrong, it was gleefully declared.

The truth, however, is very different.

That lucrative 2020 deal, in which they were paid an agreed sum to make films and programmes, has not in fact been renewed.

Instead, what the Sussexes have been given is a face-saving, ‘first-look’ agreement in which Netflix has the option, but no obligation, to commission any project Harry and Meghan might suggest.

Significantly, I am told the couple will be paid in full only if those projects are commissioned. So, there could be far less to the much-hyped new ‘deal’ than meets the eye.

As a showbusiness source put it: ‘This announcement is potentially an elegant way for Netflix to cut its ties with the Sussexes if they don’t come up with anything juicy and personal – such as their 2022 docu-series Harry & Meghan.’

That’s the tawdry reality show in which Meghan was criticised for mocking the late Queen Elizabeth by performing an exaggerated curtsy.

What we do know is that Netflix is to broadcast a second series of the lifestyle and cookery programme, With Love, Meghan, later this month.

It was filmed at the same time as the first season, which failed to make the streamer’s top 300 shows in the first six months of this year. We can also expect a special Christmas holiday edition.

And Netflix has announced that it will bring out a short documentary produced by the Sussexes about an orphanage in Uganda called Masaka Kids, A Rhythm Within.

Have the Sussexes received a retainer or an up-front fee? Yes, insisted their spokesman, although the size of any payment remains in question.

‘I can say no more owing to commercially confidential contractual agreements,’ he said.

A Netflix spokesman told me: ‘As you can imagine, and as with all the talent Netflix works with, we don’t discuss fees or deal terms.’

A new trailer released to publicise the second series of With Love, Meghan has raised eyebrows, I hear – particularly among some of those who worked with the American former actress during the 22 months that she was a front-line member of the Royal Family.

That’s because the trailer revealed that one of the guests Meghan will feature in her series is model and TV producer Chrissy Teigen.

Teigen, they noted, apologised in 2021 for bullying, saying she had reflected on ‘the crushing weight of regret for the things I’ve said in the past’.

The model said she had been privately contacting people she’d insulted online in the past, though she did not say whom.

‘There is simply no excuse for my past horrible tweets,’ wrote Teigen, who is married to singer John Legend. ‘I was a troll, full stop. And I am so sorry.’

In 2018, Meghan was accused by a senior royal aide of bullying staff in the Royal Household.

Jason Knauf raised his concerns while he worked as communications secretary for the Duke and Duchess in an internal email – an apparent attempt to force Buckingham Palace to act (Knauf, of course, is CEO of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize).

At the time, a spokesman for the couple strenuously denied the allegation of bullying. Buckingham Palace launched an internal review into the claims but never made the findings public.

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