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Daily Record
Daily Record
Entertainment
Francesca Edwards & Nicola Croal

Prince Harry's controversial podcast pitch to interview Donald Trump and Putin

Prince Harry reportedly wanted to controversially interview Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump about their childhood in a Spotify podcast.

The Duke of Sussex is said to have shocked producers with his bold ideas about asking them about their upbringing and how they became the men they are today.

However, it seems Harry never got the chance to do this after he and Meghan Markle's £18m Spotify deal was axed last week after just one series of Markle's Archetypes podcast.

Bloomberg reports that the Prince discussed podcast ideas with "multiple producers and production houses" but "mostly stuck by his own" idea to interview the figures, the Express reports.

According to recent reports, the Duke was dreaming big with his desired guests as he allegedly wanted to chat with Russian president Vladimir Putin, former US President Donald Trump and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

It was also reported that Harry had hoped to speak with Pope Francis about religion.

Harry had aspirations to interview the Russian president and former US president about how their upbringing shaped who they are today (MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images)

His debatable pitch was said to have "struck" Spotify bosses as "questionable at best" as most of his desired guests have rarely given interviews or spoken on their upbringing.

Harry and Meghan signed the lucrative deal with Spotify after their departure from the royal family in March 2020.

However, despite Meghan recently winning the Top Entertainment Podcast Host at the Gracie Awards, the podcast was axed after just 12 episodes.

In a joint statement with Spotify, the couple's company Archewell said: "Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together."

PEACEHAVEN, UNITED KINGDOM - OCTOBER 03: (EDITORS NOTE: Retransmission with alternate crop.) Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex make an official visit to the Joff Youth Centre in Peacehaven, Sussex on October 3, 2018 in Peacehaven, United Kingdom. The Duke and Duchess married on May 19th 2018 in Windsor and were conferred The Duke & Duchess of Sussex by The Queen. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

However, it's been questioned as to whether things are as amicable as they were made out to be after Bill Simmons, Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetization at Spotify dubbed the couples as "f***ing grifters" just one day later.

In a furious rant, he said: "That's the podcast we should have launched with them. I've got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It's one of my best stories."

The couple submitted an application to gain exclusive rights to 'Archetypes' but the US Patent and Trademark Office has turned down their claims on the basis of a "likelihood of confusion" with an existing brand.

Harry and Meghan attempted to claim rights to Archetypes in areas such as "downloadable audio recordings and podcasts" and in anything that fell into the category of "cultural treatment of women and stereotypes facing women".

However, due to an existing trademark by Arizonian firm Archetypes LLC, their requests were denied.

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