Is this the end of the road for Meghan?

Has there ever been a more brutally effective piece of social satire than the South Park episode that mocked Harry and Meghan? 

Since it aired in mid-February, the Duchess of Sussex, previously a seemingly ubiquitous and unstoppable cultural phenomenon, has effectively withdrawn from public life. She’s made just one formal appearance – at an awards show, which ended in the farce of disputed paparazzi car chase claims – and has given precisely no interviews. 

The couple’s media empire also seems to be imploding. Spotify has axed their $20 million (£15.6 million) podcast deal, with senior exec Bill Simmons ungallantly labelling the pair ‘fucking grifters’.

There are reports, too, that Netflix has grown tired of the couple and may not be renewing the $100 million (£80 million) deal they signed in 2020. ‘The feeling is the lemon has been fully squeezed’, the Sun reports an anonymous insider as saying. 

I remember at the time it was aired thinking the South Park episode, with its perfectly executed send up of the Worldwide Privacy Tour the pair seemed to be embarked upon, would take some getting over, particularly in a place like California, where they now live and where image is all.