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It’s been said that behind every great man is a great woman. In Prince Harry’s case, it’s three very wealthy women.
Prince Harry, sixth in line to the British throne, owes his fortune to three famous women: the late Princess Diana, his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and his wife, Meghan Markle, a self-made American-born former actress. Harry and Meghan announced Wednesday that they intend to “step back” as senior members of the royal family and “work to become financially independent.”
“This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity,” they wrote in a joint statement on their FB, +1.01% account @sussexroyal after “many months of reflection and internal discussions.”
Financial independence is a milestone Meghan Markle, a former actress, can more seriously claim to have achieved.
While the couple will likely gain not a small degree of freedom from the ribbon-cutting, handshaking daily duties of royal life in the U.K., and better shield themselves from the jaundiced coverage the couple have received at the hands of the British tabloids, their bid for financial independence is somewhat more complicated and will not require them to take up full-time jobs.
Prince Harry’s late mother Princess Diana — who died at 36 in a car crash in Paris in 1997 while being pursued by photographers — had long battled the relentless, prying eyes of the British red tops, which photographed and dissected her every move in the years following her 1981 marriage and divorce to Prince Charles. She had reportedly long dreamed of starting a new life to the U.S.
Achieving financial independence is a status that Meghan Markle, 38, a former actress, can more legitimately claim to have achieved. She has a reported net worth of $6.5 million (5 million British pounds) from her work on the USA Network legal drama “Suits.” Like most actors who appeared on television, Markle will likely also receive residuals from her seven seasons on that show.
Prince Harry, on the other hand, inherited a sizable fortune after the death of his mother. He inherited approximately 7 million British pounds ($9.2 million) from his mother’s estate, the U.K. broadcaster BBC estimated. His father’s side of the family are far richer — more than $88 billion, according to Forbes — including investments, properties, castles and land.
Prince Harry inherited 7 million British pounds ($9.2 million) from the estate of his late mother, Princess Diana.
To be fair, Prince Harry also reportedly earned a salary of $45,000 per year when he served as an officer in the Army Air Corps and approximately $52,000 per year while working as a helicopter pilot for the Army Air Corps, according to separate estimates by Forbes and Fortune magazines, based on publicly available figures for salaries in the U.K. army.
But Prince Harry’s father, Prince Charles — first in line to the British throne — earns nearly $23 million from the Duchy of Cornwall, a private estate with more than $1.3 billion in assets. The Duchy’s financial accounts for 2017 reveal a total income for the financial year ending March 31, 2017 of 37.2 million British pounds ($48.7 million), up 2.5% on the previous year.
It had been rumored the Sussexes were contemplating a move to Canada. Markle previously lived there while filming “Suits” and the couple spent Christmas and New Year’s in Canada, reportedly at a waterfront mansion on Vancouver Island. As Canada is part of the U.K. Commonwealth, it may be required to pay for security for the couple and their son Archie, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Markle told an ITV documentary last year that she had a difficult time adapting to life under the often critical media attention in the U.K. “I’ve really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip. I’ve tried, I’ve really tried, I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging. The biggest thing that I know is that I never thought this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair.”
