Prince Harry and Meghan Markle put on a united display as they make surprise calls to young people

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle put on a united front in their garden today as they appeared in a video about working with young people to improve the digital world.

As they deal with falling popularity and questions over the future projects of ‘Brand Sussex’, the Duke and Duchess surprised US recipients of the first Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund (RTYPF) grants with phone calls to congratulate them.

Harry, 38, also mentioned their children Archie, four, and Lilibet, two, telling one winner in a call: ‘Thank you for doing everything that you do. Our kids especially are incredibly grateful.’ Meghan, 41, then added: ‘They don’t know it yet, but they will!’

It comes after the couple’s Spotify tie-up ended in June and concerns were raised over the future of their Netflix deal, while Harry’s green travel project Travalyst made a major announcement about a big revamp in May without mentioning him.

Also in June, a YouGov survey found Meghan’s popularity had sunk to -47, which is the lowest since polling her favourability began in 2017, while Harry’s fell to -36. 

Today’s clip was released by the RTYPF rather than the couple, but features slick footage of them speaking at their £12million mansion in Montecito, California.

The Duke was dressed smart casually with brown chinos and a white shirt, while his wife – who turns 42 this Friday – wore a $189 camel sleeveless top and matching $162 skirt from Malibu brand Bleusalt, which she paired with minimalist gold earrings.

Their appearance comes as it was announced the couple will attend the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf together next month for the events between September 9 and 16. It is not yet known whether the couple will visit the UK during their time abroad. 

And the clip was released as an Archetypes production source claimed their Spotify deal ended early because there was too much red tape and it ‘moved very slowly’.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are seen making the phone calls from their Montecito garden

Harry and Meghan speak to recipients of Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund grants

The Duke and Duchess’s lucrative Spotify project was pulled in June after they produced one 12-episode podcast and a festive special over three years.

The couple were also said to have not produced enough content to receive the full pay-out from the reported £18million deal they signed after stepping down as senior working royals.

But an Archetypes production source has now claimed that Harry and Meghan had ‘a lot of ideas and did pitch them’ – although the project became delayed by huge amounts of red tape between the two parties and ‘things moved very slowly on both ends’.

The source told People magazine: ‘They were given no formal lay of the land to kick things off, so they were already on unsteady footing even before the ink was dry.’

Another source close to the Sussexes claimed they were being held to a higher standard than others, and had ‘plenty of things that are in different phases’.

That source told the publication: ‘Very few other production companies are measured by what’s actually hit the airwaves.’

Furthermore, a royal insider told People that ‘there wasn’t necessarily a five-year plan’ when Harry and Meghan left the UK for the US in early 2020.

The insider added that royal life ‘wasn’t a world they wanted for their family’ and ‘everything else flows from that, for whatever time period it takes’.

As for the RTYPT, the Sussexes’ Archewell Foundation is a founding member of the fund, which is designed to help those working within the ‘responsible technology movement’. 

Harry and Meghan put on a united front for the calls made to recipients of the new fund

Harry, 38, references the couple’s children Archie, four, and Lilibet, two, during one of the calls

The couple sit together in the garden of their £12million mansion in Montecito, California

Some 26 youth-led initiatives will receive a total of $2million in grants ranging from $25,000 and $200,000, based on the stage of the organisation and its needs.

The money, which will help efforts including ensuring the responsible use of artificial intelligence, has been provided by several sponsors including the Archewell Foundation.

Sam Hiner, executive director of the Young People’s Alliance Education Fund, was among those to receive a phone call from the couple.

He told People magazine: ‘What I appreciated is that sometimes it feels like we’re not as recognized for the advocacy we do as young people.

‘I really appreciated that they saw the importance of the work that we were doing and were speaking to the importance of young people getting engaged in the democratic process.’

Trisha Prabhu from the organisation Rethink Citizens told the couple: ‘It was like young people were empowered and emboldened to say things to me online that they would never say to me in person.

‘And so my vision was, can we actually stop the cyber bullying at the source with the cyber bully via a behavioural approach that actually teaches young people to pause and rethink.’

And Harry responded: ‘This is amazing. This is exactly why we do what we do. This is exactly why the Youth Power Fund was created.’

Tazin Khan Norelius, founder of Cyber Collective, was congratulated by Harry and Meghan

Trisha Prabhu of Rethink Citizens told the couple about how she wants to stop cyber bullying

Tazin Khan Norelius, founder of Cyber Collective, was also congratulated by the couple who said they were ‘really proud of the work’ her group was doing.

Meghan also asked Ms Norelius to pass on a message to her father, who was an inspiration behind the organisation for which she is now chief executive.

Ms Norelius told People: ‘She said, ‘Tell Baba I say hi!’ Which was really sweet. The impetus of me starting this organisation, one of the reasons was because dad got hacked.

‘When I was able to share that story, I think that maybe resonated with them, and they congratulated me. When I told my dad, he was just so excited about it.’

In a statement reported by Town and Country magazine, RTYPF co-founder Emma Leiken said today: ‘Societies globally are wrestling with major issues like the youth mental health crisis and the decay of our information environment.

‘What and who can we trust online? Can online spaces be truly safe and affirm wellbeing? And what new systems can we create with, instead of for, young people?

‘These questions touch on issues ranging from platform accountability to cybersecurity, privacy, digital literacy, data equity, algorithmic bias, and digital well-being and that’s what this fund’s grantees will tackle.’

Meanwhile, comments made by the Archetypes source today about podcast ideas pitched by the couple follow claims in June that Harry suggested interviewing Russian president Vladimir Putin about his ‘childhood traumas’.

Harry and Meghan with their children Archie and Lilibet in a Christmas card in December 2021

He apparently came up with the idea of speaking to ex-US President Donald Trump and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg about their formative years and how those experiences made them the adults they are today.

The initial 2020 announcement from Spotify referred to both Harry and Meghan producing and hosting multiple ‘podcasts’.

But Meghan completed just one, on the social stereotypes around women in 2022, as well as one joint half-hour Christmas edition in 2020 featuring a group of celebrity friends and their son, Archie.

The couple also faced an attack from fellow Spotify podcaster and senior executive at the company, Bill Simmons, who blasted them as ‘grifters’.

In a joint emailed statement, Spotify and Archewell Audio, Meghan and Harry’s production company, said in June that they ‘have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together.’

Sources close to the duchess also pointed out that she was looking to take her Archetypes series to another streaming platform.

Following the news that the Spotify deal had been cancelled, rumours circulated the couple’s £80million Netflix deal, signed in 2020, could meet the same fate.

But the streaming platform spoke out in support of the couple, with a Netflix spokesman saying: ‘The bond with Archewell Productions is one we deeply value. Our exciting journey with them isn’t ending any time soon.’