Prince Harry, Meghan Markle continue to cash in on deal terminated by Spotify

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan's multi-year agreement with streaming giant Spotify to produce podcasts ended in June with just one series made.

The Swedish company announced the partnership with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in late 2020 after they stepped down from royal duties and began to forge new careers in California.

It was estimated by media to have been worth as much as $20 million or more.

The duchess was named top Entertainment Podcast Host in the Gracie Awards in March.

But in a joint statement, Spotify and the royal couple's company said the agreement to produce future series had been terminated.

"Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together," the statement said.

A Wall Street Journal report said the couple had not met the productivity benchmarks required to receive the full payout from the deal whose terms were not made public when it was announced.

Meghan's "Archetypes" podcast, described on Spotify as one where "we investigate, dissect, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back", had featured many famous figures such as Mariah Carey and Serena Williams in its 12 episodes.

Interestingly, Meghan Markle and Princes Harry have yet to update their website archewell.com which still mentions their deal with Spotify.

It's not known whether the couple is deliberately keeping Spotify's name in the introduction of Archewell Audio on their website.

The couple worked one hour a week on Archewell, their charitable endeavour, a new tax filing shows, said a report in March this year.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed their working hours in the nonprofit's tax returns - which is similar to one week's full-time work.