Prince Harry, Meghan Markle’s odd curse: How Netflix’s ‘Harry & Meghan’ still haunts the couple

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are unable to sell the property which they had acquired to film their 2022 docuseries for Netflix, Harry & Meghan — setting off a bizarre curse of sorts.

According to HELLO!, it was a house that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had bought near their actual residence in Montecito which provided the backdrop for their appearance in the series “for privacy reasons”.

Purchased for $33.5 million, the estate was “relisted for the same asking price in March 2022, where it sat on the market while being used for filming by the Sussexes.”

The property was taken off the market six months after the release of Harry and Meghan’s documentary project due to its failure in sales, “before returning to the market in April 2024 with a price reduction of $3.5 million, and still remains listed at that price of $29,995,000.”

Ryan Malmsten, the real estate broker responsible for selling the Californian place, explained the issue behind its lack of market offers in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

“We’ve come close on several occasions to selling it. For whatever reason, that particular buyer chose something else,” the real estate agent revealed. “Buyers today are wanting way less square footage. They’ll pay the same amount, but they want a smaller home. That’s a big challenge.”

He further admitted the “unfortunate” detail “that the publicity from Harry and Meghan’s docuseries hasn’t boosted the interest”. However, he further stated that that is “likely due to the fact that the Sussexes didn’t make clear that it was a flashy rental property, and fans could have just thought it was their own home.”

“The sellers have been unlucky that even with a drop in price, the house hasn’t budged in three years. However, that’s not uncommon for the area with the big price tags and uncertain terrain prone to floods and fires, deterring buyers,” Malmsten noted.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle memorably charted the early years of their relationship, their marriage, and subsequent step-down as working royals in Netflix’s six-part docuseries, Harry & Meghan. The couple had moved into their current Montecito, California home in 2020.