Meghan struggling to book guests for new podcast

SkyNews.com.au Digital Reporter Reilly Sullivan says Meghan’s father Thomas Markle, in a tell-all interview, said that he was sad.

Mr Markle has spoken out this week and publicly begged the Duchess of Sussex to allow him to meet his grandchildren.

“He’s in failing health, he’s about to turn 80 and he’s never met his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet,” Mr Sullivan told Sky News Digital Presenter Gabriella Power.

“It was sort of one last kinda ditch effort in the media to beg Meghan to see him.”

Markle, 42, inked a new podcasting deal with Lemonada Media earlier this year after Spotify ripped up a podcast contract with Meghan and Prince Harry last July.

An exec at the streaming giant later slammed the couple as “f***ing grifters”, but the harsh feedback has not deterred the former working royal from returning to the airwaves.

Despite Meghan’s resolve to book A-list guests for her upcoming Lemonada series, she is understood to be struggling to attracting major celebrities.

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“While Meghan’s contact list may not have completely diminished, she will certainly have a smaller pool to rely on,” public relations insider Kayley Cornelius told the Express newspaper on Sunday.

The Duchess of Sussex’s first podcast Archetypes was produced with the backing of Spotify, which likely helped the 12-part series attract an impressive selection of A-list celebrities.

Archetype’s producers booked guests from across the worlds of sports and entertainment, including tennis icon Serena Williams, music diva Mariah Carey and Bollywood star Deepika Padukone.

Despite no longer having the Spotify association, Ms Cornelius claimed that Meghan could still rely on remaining celebrity friends that she did not interview during Archetypes’ initial run, such as actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas.

“We might expect her to call in favours from her remaining friends and work through their networks,” she said.

“Priyanka Chopra, who did not feature on ‘Archetypes,’ could be among the first names Meghan considers.”

The insider also speculated that Meghan could look to B- and C-list stars, such as her former co-stars on the legal drama series Suits.

“Other potential guests could include friends from her ‘Suits’ days, such as Abigail Spencer and Wendell Pierce, who likely remain accessible points of contact for Meghan,” she said.

The report marks the first major update on Meghan’s podcast since the Duchess of Sussex announced the deal in February.

“I’m proud to now be able to share that I am joining the brilliant team at Lemonada to continue my love of podcasting,” Meghan announced in a statement.

“Our plan to re-release Archetypes so that more people can now have access to it, as well as launching a dynamic new podcast are well in the works.

“I’m so eager to be able to share it soon and am overjoyed to be joining the Lemonada family.”

Despite Meghan’s “love of podcasting”, Archetypes was also dogged by rumours the Duchess actually relied on her staff members to conduct interviews with most of her guests, before audio of her voice was spliced into the final episodes.

According to the industry website Podnews, “multiple sources” claimed that “some interviews on the show were done by other staffers, with (audio of Meghan’s) questions edited-in afterwards”.

Although the source did not reveal which episodes featured the Frankenstein-esque interviews, Archetypes guest Allison Yarrow has admitted she did not meet the Duchess of Sussex herself.