Los Angeles, California - Despite not attending the ceremony, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were still the butt of the joke at the 2024 Golden Globes.

Box office hits Barbie and Oppenheimer, as well as superstars such as Taylor Swift, Bradley Cooper, and Robert De Niro, had to endure the odd biting side blow from host Jo Koy at Sunday evening's ceremony for the coveted film and TV awards.

The royal dropouts also got their fair share of ribbing at the event, though they were not present at the Los Angeles event.

When Koy turned to the successful HBO series Succession, which went on to win four Golden Globes, he joked: "Succession has nine nominations. Just a great series about a rich, white, dysfunctional family, all scheming – oh, wait, that's The Crown. I'm sorry."

He then took a jab at the exiled prince and the relationship with his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, saying, "How great was Imelda Staunton in The Crown, wasn't she amazing? Her portrayal of the Queen was so good Prince Harry called her and asked her for money."

"Harry and Meghan Markle got paid millions for doing absolutely nothing. And that's just by Netflix," the 52-year-old comedian added.

While the Sussexes weren't there to weather the blow in person, Netflix's Co-CEO Ted Sarandos was, and he winced briefly before ultimately breaking a smile.

Koy's biting line against the renegade royal couple, which once again portrayed Harry and Meghan as Hollywood's "biggest losers" after a mixed year, was shared all over social media and called "brutal" by many users.

The Sussexes left the British royal family almost four years ago but have launched numerous projects of their own in the past year in particular – albeit not always successfully.

Meghan's podcast Archetypes was discontinued after just one season, and their collaboration with Spotify ended prematurely.

And while Harry's scandalous memoir Spare and Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan certainly brought in a lot of money, the couple may have lost some sympathy due to their harsh reckoning with the royal family.