London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 22, 2025

How have Meghan Markle and Prince Harry become financially independent?

How have Meghan Markle and Prince Harry become financially independent?

One of the reasons Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided to quit as working members of the Royal Family is that they hoped to achieve ‘financial independence’.

In a January 2020 statement, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their intention to stop receiving funds from British taxpayers – as the Royal Family do for their duties – and start earning their own income.

It read: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex take great pride in their work and are committed to continuing their charitable endeavours as well as establishing new ones.

‘In addition, they value the ability to earn a professional income, which in the current structure they are prohibited from doing.

‘For this reason they have made the choice to become members of the Royal Family with financial independence.’

Harry and Meghan have started earning their own income


At the time, it appeared the couple’s hope was to continue carrying out duties on behalf of The Queen while achieving this goal.

But plenty has changed in just over a year. The duo have been stripped of all remaining royal patronages and are due to speak to Oprah in a CBS special about their new life.

So, are Meghan and Harry finally financially independent? And what does that mean?

Are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle now financially independent?


The couple are now reportedly financially independent from the Royal Family.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were previously receiving 5% of their income from the Sovereign Grant – which is funded by the taxpayer.

As of their 2020 split with the Royal Family, they no longer receive this official contribution.

Meghan and Harry paid back the Sovereign Grant for Frogmore Cottage


In January 2020, they also expressed their intention to pay back the Sovereign Grant for the £2.4 million refurbishment of their UK home, Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.

In September 2020, this intention was fulfilled. An official statement said: ‘A contribution has been made to the Sovereign Grant by The Duke of Sussex.

‘This contribution as originally offered by Prince Harry has fully covered the necessary renovation costs of Frogmore Cottage, a property of Her Majesty The Queen, and will remain the UK residence of The Duke and his family.’

So, they no longer receive any taxpayer money.

When they were working royals, 95% of the funding for Harry and Meghan’s office came from income allocated by Charles, Prince of Wales – generated through his private estate, the Duchy of Cornwall.

Prince Charles funded Harry, Meghan, William and Catherine’s offices through the Duchy of Corwall


Newsweek reported in September 2020 that Prince Charles was no longer funding the couple with the Duchy of Cornwall.

Therefore, it seems the couple have achieved their financial aim, thanks to savvy business deals with Spotify and Netflix.

What work will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle do to achieve financial independence?


It is understood the Duke and Duchess of Sussex won’t receive any money for their Oprah With Meghan And Harry special.

An Oprah rep told Page Six: ‘A spokeswoman for the Oprah Winfrey Network confirmed that the couple won’t be collecting a pay cheque and said that no donations are being made to their charity.’

But the couple have taken on a variety of projects since cutting ties with ‘The Firm’.



Most notable is their Archewell Foundation – however this is a not-for-profit, charitable organisation.

Classed as a ‘501(c)(3) organisation’, the IRS (US taxman) website states the organisation is exempt from paying federal income tax as ‘none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual’.

Normally, non-profit organisations pump any earnings they incur back into the work itself. So, the couple won’t receive any profits from this venture.

However, there are also the Archewell Audio and Archewell Productions umbrellas of the organisation – which appear, based on their website, to be separate entities under the same branding.


Archewell Audio’s Spotify deal was said to be worth £30 million for a multi-year contract.

As for Archewell Productions’ Netflix deal – an exact figure has yet to emerge.

It’s also believed the couple brought personal wealth into their newly-independent lives.

Meghan, who starred in seven series of TV legal drama Suits, was earning – according to Fortune in 2017 – a reported $450,000 (£326,000) a year for her work on the show.

It’s not currently known whether she receives any royalties for reruns and streaming, either.

Currently, the couple are living with son Archie in California, where they have purchased a $14.7 million (£10.6 million) Montecito mansion.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
Explosive Email Shows Sarah Ferguson Begged Forgiveness from Jeffrey Epstein After Taking His Money
Corrupt UK Politician Ed Davey Demands Elon Musk’s Arrest for Supporting Democracy
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
Alibaba Debuts Open-Source Deep Research Agent with Benchmarks Rivaling OpenAI
Marcos Faces Legacy-Defining Crisis as Flood Projects Scandal Sparks Massive Tide of Protests
China’s Micro-Drama Boom Turns Stalled Real Estate Projects into Lavish Film Sets
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
'Company Got 5,189 H-1B Visas, Then Laid Off 16,000 Americans': US Defends New $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Golf legend tells Omar she should be 'sent back to Somalia' after her Kirk comments
EU Set to Bar Big Tech from New Financial Data Access Scheme
China Bans Livestreaming and AI in Religion Amid Crackdown on Shaolin Temple Scandal
Documents Reveal Mandelson Failed to Declare Epstein-Funded Flights as MP in 2003
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Harris Memoir Sparks Backlash from Democrats for Blunt Critiques in ‘107 Days’
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Japan’s ‘Death-Tainted’ Homes Gain Appeal as Prices Soar in Tokyo
Massive Attack Withdraws from Spotify Over Daniel Ek’s €600M Defence-AI Investment
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders Third Lethal Strike on Drug-Trafficking Vessel as U.S. Expands Maritime Counter-Narcotics Operations
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
Why Google Search Is Fading and AI Is Taking Its Place
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Federal Judge Dismisses Trump’s Fifteen-Billion-Dollar Suit Against New York Times, Orders Refile
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
DeepSeek Claims R1 Model Trained for only $294,000, Sparking Global Debate Over China’s AI Capabilities
SoftBank Vision Fund to Cut Nearly Twenty Percent of Staff in Bold AI Strategy Shift
Intel’s Next-Gen Manufacturing Gets a Lifeline from Nvidia’s Strategic $5B Deal
Erika Kirk Elected CEO of Turning Point USA After Husband Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
×