Largest Royal Enterprise Flops: Sitcom Axed After Single Season, Leading to Firm Debt of £140K by Queen’s Beloved Grandson

THEY’RE generally known as The Agency – however when members of the Royal Household have tried to make it on the earth of enterprise, it hasn’t all the time gone to plan.

Peter Phillips is the newest to launch a brand new enterprise, with the 45-year-old sharing plans for the UK’s largest ice rink to be opened at Kensington Palace this winter.

Peter Phillips – stated to have been the late Queen’s favorite grandson – is the newest member of the Royal Household to launch a brand new enterprise enterpriseCredit score: Getty – Contributor

He’s shared plans for the UK’s largest ice rink at Kensington PalaceCredit score: SUPPLIED

However it’s no secret that Princess Anne’s son hasn’t obtained the very best observe document with enterprise endeavours.

After graduating from college, Peter turned his hand at occasion administration, organising company leisure firm Tailor Made Hospitality Restricted in 2001.

Sadly it didn’t get the get together began and was horribly within the purple with web liabilities of £140,000 when it final filed accounts in 2003.

Seemingly unperturbed Peter, stated to be the late Queen’s favorite grandson, caught with company leisure – this time for the Williams’ Method 1 racing crew.

The since-disgraced banker Fred ‘The Shred’ Goodwin, who was stripped of his knighthood after his function in bringing down the Royal Financial institution of Scotland in the course of the 2008 monetary crash, employed him to run its sponsorship of the crew in 2005.

This positioned him amid what was later described as an “exceptionally lavish set-up” by which phenomenal sums have been spent on hospitality for company throughout races.

Peter then got here underneath fireplace in 2020 for buying and selling on his royal connections in a Jersey milk advert which appeared on Chinese language TV.

The Jersey milk was offered by a multinational company known as Vivid Dairies – owned by the Shanghai municipal authorities.

Peter got here underneath fireplace in 2020 for showing in an advert for Jersey milk on Chinese language TV

It’s thought he raked in “tens of hundreds” of kilos for the looks, however it didn’t do his status a lot good.

The Cupboard Workplace was urged to probe his alleged “cashing in” on his royal hyperlinks, with MPs branding the adverts “crass” and former Dwelling Workplace minister Norman Baker claiming strict guidelines had been damaged.

Peter declined to remark on the time, whereas couriers identified he isn’t a working royal and doesn’t obtain taxpayers’ cash.

Right here, we check out different members of the Agency whose companies have royally flopped…  

Canned sitcom

Prince Edward launched his TV enterprise Ardent Productions in 1993Credit score: PA:Press Affiliation

Prince Edward launched his TV enterprise Ardent Productions in 1993 after dropping out of the Marines.

He put £205,000 into the corporate, whereas one other £700,000 got here from traders.

Edward as soon as claimed it will turn into one of many prime 12 impartial manufacturing corporations by 2000, however it did not get a single fee in its first yr.

In 1995 there seemed to be a breakthrough when he fronted a brief sequence on the area of interest sport of actual tennis for Channel 4.

The channel then paid £2million for the corporate’s political cleaning soap opera Annie’s Bar, however later dropped the sitcom after it failed to draw not even 1,000,000 viewers.

Ardent then put ahead a sport present known as Glam Slam, which featured two drag queen hostesses, however it didn’t make it any additional than the pilot stage.

Prince Edward’s wage at Ardent reportedly peaked at £119,000 in 1998.

After the corporate went into liquidation, it was dubbed “a tragic joke within the trade”Credit score: Digital camera Press

The one yr that the corporate gained a revenue was in 2001, when Edward didn’t cost Ardent the £50,000 annual hire for the stables at Bagshot Park.

That very same yr the corporate obtained into scorching water when a two-man digital camera crew filmed Edward’s nephew Prince William on the College of St. Andrews.

It violated a press settlement about William’s privateness on the time. An announcement by Ardent claimed that the filming came about with out Prince Edward’s information.

Edward, 59, stepped down from Ardent in 2002 and the corporate went into liquidation in 2009. It was left with property of simply £40.27. 

The corporate was dubbed “a tragic joke within the trade”.

Shut up store

King Charles closed down a fruit and veg store in 2013Credit score: Information Group Newspapers Ltd

King Charles was compelled to shut his natural fruit and vegetable retailer in 2013 after eight years on account of falling commerce and rising value of produce.

The Veg Shed, situated in Tetbury, offered fruit, veg and meat from the Duchy Dwelling Farm at his Gloucestershire house in Highgrove.

It shut down after the previous Prince of Wales admitted it was not financially viable.

“The Veg Shed has closed in response to shopper developments and a desire for buying remotely,” a spokeswoman for Clarence Home stated.

An announcement on The Veg Shed web site added: “This has been a tough determination for us to take, and we wish to apologise for the inconvenience this can trigger and wish to thank all our clients for his or her valued assist and customized.”

In 2022 Charles, 74, additionally briefly shut his award-winning restaurant due to employees shortages.

The Rothesay Rooms, close to Balmoral, which was run by the Prince’s Basis, advised clients it will re-open in the summertime.

Nevertheless, in November 2022 it was revealed it will be taken over by hospitality supplier BaxterStorey in early 2023.

The King’s charity nonetheless retain the lease of the venue and let it to the corporate for an undisclosed sum.

The restaurant was initially based by Charles in 2015 in a bid to drive tourism and employment to the world after a fireplace within the village, adopted by flooding.

Present axed

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle shut down their Sussex Royal firm in 2020Credit score: Mega

Harry’s new doc Coronary heart of Invictus did not make Netflix’s prime tenCredit score: Netflix

Prince Harry and spouse Meghan Markle formally shut down their UK-based Sussex Royal firm in 2020 after stepping again as royals.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex appointed a voluntary liquidator to wind up the London-based charity, which they renamed MWX Buying and selling in August final yr.

The transfer to dissolve the muse was in step with the late Queen stating that the couple can not use “royal” within the branding of their future ventures. 

Harry, 38, and Meghan, 42, went on to signal an estimated £18million cope with Spotify, however they parted methods in June after only one sequence of their podcast Archetypes.

US sources claimed the couple have been let go after failing to fulfill “productiveness necessities”.

It got here after Meghan’s animated sequence Pearl was axed by Netflix final yr on account of cutbacks.

In the meantime Harry, who appeared in Netflix’s six-part docuseries Harry & Meghan alongside his spouse in 2022, launched his new solo present Coronary heart of Invictus final month.

Nevertheless, it did not make the streaming big’s prime ten.

£19million lawsuit

Sarah Ferguson was a director of failed media funding firm Gate VenturesCredit score: AP

She has a string of spectacular companies to her title, however not all of Sarah Ferguson’s initiatives have been a cash making success.

In Might, it was reported the Duchess of York is going through a £19million lawsuit over her failed media funding firm Gate Ventures.

The 63-year-old was a director, alongside Ofcom chairman Lord Grade, earlier than it went into administration in 2020. Liquidators are stated to be in search of to recoup the cash.

Gate Ventures made greater than £500,000 of “unexplained” loans to the Duchess, in keeping with the Sunday Occasions. This additionally contains £232,000 to her tea and dinnerware firm Ginger & Moss. 

The publication reported that the mortgage has not been repaid and that her current provide of compensation was rejected as a result of it was too low.

Again in 2006 Sarah, the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, based life-style firm Hartmoor LLC within the US, set as much as assist along with her “profession in publishing, media and public talking”.

However it collapsed in 2009, leaving her with a debt of £630,000.

Extra crying over spilt milk

She was criticised for exploiting royal connections to advertise milk gross sales in China

Like Peter, Princess Diana’s niece Woman Kitty Spencer was additionally criticised for exploiting royal connections to endorse Satine Jersey milk in China.

The 32-year-old was seen posing in an emerald gown with a cup of tea in a photoshoot on the British Museum in 2020.

It was reported that the mannequin advised Chinese language journalists: “The day of the Royal Household normally begins with a cup of milk or a cup of tea.”

A press launch issued by the milk firm learn: “Kitty Spencer, niece of the late Princess Diana, made an genuine English breakfast tea with Jersey milk and shared the story of Jersey milk and the British Royal Household.”