How Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are raking in their fortune now
After stepping back as working royals, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had to fend for themselves. This is how they did it.
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s departure from The Firm was as savvy as it was swift.
Publicly, they were to start a new life in California, away from the strict protocol, rigour and prying eyes they had come to despise so intensely.
Privately, they knew stepping back as members of the British royal family meant they had to fund their new life, largely cut off from the sovereign purse after Megxit was executed in January 2020.
But what is not widely known is how the entrepreneurial couple hatched their plan for financial independence while living under the reigning Queen’s realm.
Secretly, in the months before they cut royal ties, they simultaneously masterminded a financial strategy that would maximise their capital, investments and commercial engagements.
They wanted to become an integral part of the US celebrity fabric – a global power couple, with big bankability.
A News Corp analysis of the exiled royals’ work and investments reveals the sharp business acumen that has led them to a combined net worth of $A140 million.
“Harry and Meghan will always have a currency. What they did very deliberately and quickly when they exited the royal family was get as much money as they could to create their own war chest because they knew the revenue streams would dry up,” brands and culture expert Nick Ede said.
Some of that chest is known – deals with Netflix and streaming giants, the controversial memoir Spare and Prince Harry’s inheritance from his mother, Princess Diana.
Ede, who was close to Meghan Markle when she visited England between 2013 and 2017, said the broader kitty included commercial arrangement and lucrative public speaking engagements, for which the Duke can command $US300,000 an hour ($A450,000) or $US5000 a minute ($A7460).
Salaries from past acting and army roles have helped bankroll the couple’s property portfolio, luxury cars and flights on private jets.
Indeed, Ede predicts Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could become the world’s highest-earning celebrity couple in a decade, with a fortune potentially stretching to $1.5 billion ($A1 billion).
“Meghan is highly ambitious and doesn’t hide it. She’s charismatic, engaging and kind, but knew what she wanted and was always going to get it,” he said.
“Together their net worth is around £90m ($A140m) but she’s planning more endorsements, movies, she’s bringing back her blog The Tig, and is putting her name to altruistic and holistic brands – she alone, without Harry, will be worth more than a billion dollars (US) in less than 10 years.”
Royal commentator Robert Jobson said the couple’s star quality was greater in the US than in Britain, especially since the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Their wealth is not a matter of public record, they are deeply secretive people, but their royal titles alone keeps them marketable,” Mr Jobson, whose book Our King: Charles III: The Man, was released this month.
“They’ve got star quality and enjoy a hard core following in America, particularly since Black Lives Matter.
“They have big bills, a mortgage and security bills – but they’ve become a celebrity royal couple now and money attracts money … everything they have done has been successful.”
ARCHEWELL PRODUCTIONS
The Sussexes’ media company, Archewell Productions, makes various programs for Netflix in a lucrative arrangement worth millions of dollars.
The Harry & Meghan documentary series, documenting their lives within The Firm, and Spotify podcast deals netted them a reported $US100m ($A150m) before considerable expenses. Serena Williams was Meghan’s first guest on her Spotify podcast Archetypes.
In the first full year of operation, Archewell Productions reported an incredible $US13m ($A19m) in revenue and spent a total of $US3.98m ($A6m).
The foundation is producing a Netflix documentary this year entitled Heart of Invictus, documenting defence service members’ road to competing at the Invictus Games. The Duke is producing and starring in the documentary for which he is being paid as part of his Netflix deal.
Celebrity TV host Oprah Winfrey has offered Prince Harry his biggest post-royal role as presenter and executive producer of a six-part Apple TV+ series on mental health. Apple has declined to say whether the Prince is receiving a salary.
He was appointed chief impact officer for professional coaching and mental health firm, BetterUp in March 2021. The executive job has an average starting salary of $US100,000 ($A150,000) but he is likely earning more.
The Sussexes have also become “impact partners” and shareholders of a US ethical money manager Ethics – co-founded by Australians Johny Mair and Doug Scott in 2015. This year they recruited Hollywood deal-maker Adam Lilling to strike big movie deals.
BOOK DEALS
Prince Harry’s book Spare has been flying off the shelves and is reported to have earned him a £16m ($A29.82m) advance from publisher Penguin Random House.
While no figure officially confirmed the multi media deal, ET Canada reports Prince Harry’s book deal consists of four editions, with a total £35-40m ($A52-59m) price tag.
He has gifted $1.5 million of the proceeds to Senetbale, a charity that supports children and young people affected by HIV and AIDS.
Meghan Markle is also a published children’s book author.
The Bench, inspired by a Father’s Day poem she wrote for Prince Harry, was published on June 8, 2021, for which the Duchess reportedly received an advance of $US700,000 ($A1m)
The children’s book relays the relationship between a father and son from a mother’s perspective. It features illustrations by Christian Robinson and became a New York bestseller within a week of hitting the shelves.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Speaking engagements are a big money spinner for the couple. The Duke commands $US300,000 an hour ($A450,000). Prince Harry hosted a talk at a JPMorgan summit in Miami in February 2020, which earned him $A1.49m. Meghan Markle commands the equivalent of Michelle Obama ($A298,000 per speech). The couple remain active with New York-based Harry Walker Agency, the same company that represents the Obamas, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Stacey Abrams.
“Harry’s royal tag means he asks for $US300,000 (per hour) per public speaking engagement and together they can call for $US500,000 ($A745,692),” Ede said.
PR and branding expert Mark Borowski added: “They’ve got to keep driving that huge hamster wheel to earn money. Streamers other than Netflix have jumped on board but they really only really have traction in the US with the Gen Zs.”
REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS
The couple bought their first home together, an estate in Santa Barbara, California, in 2020 for $US14.65m ($A21.85m) – and it is now worth triple, according to estate agency Coldwell Banker Global Luxury.
The 4419 square-metre, nine-bedroom and 19-bathroom home is in celebrity locale Montecito.
The couple count A-listers Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Aniston and Adam Levine as neighbours.
BRAND INVESTMENTS
In December 2021, Meghan Markle announced an investment in a company called Clevr Blends, which makes “powered super lattes”.
“She’s pocketing at least $US200,000 from that. She’s invested in it, she absolutely knows what works in the current climate,” Ede said.
LIFESTYLE BLOG
Meghan Markle is resurrecting her successful lifestyle blog The Tig, which she switched off when she became engaged to Prince Harry.
At that time, despite only being around for three years, the site attracted sponsors and endorsement deals totalling $US80,000 ($A120,000) annually.
Her revamped blog could rival actor Gywneth Paltrow’s blog Goop, valued at $US250m ($A374.7m) in 2020.
FORMER JOBS
Meghan Markle contributed an estimated $US2m ($A2.98m) in after tax earnings from her work in films and television shows, mostly from her appearances in legal drama Suits.
Before she left acting to join the royal family, Meghan Markle had an estimated net worth of $US5m ($A7.4m)
The Duchess’s pay packet for each episode of Suits was $US50,000 ($A74,530) plus a combined $US360,000 ($A537,277) for her roles in the 2010 movies Remember Me and The Candidate.
Prince Harry, meanwhile, earned £50,000 ($A93,088) a year from his job as a captain in the British Army
He served in the British Army for 10 years, including seeing out two operational tours of duty in Afghanistan and qualifying as an Apache aircraft commander.
INHERITANCE
The pair have relied on inheritance from his mother’s estate
The Prince let slip in his interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, “I’ve got what my mum left me and, without that, we wouldn’t have been able to do this.”
Jobson estimates the fifth in line to the throne and his brother the Prince of Wales each inherited £10m ($A18.6m) from Princess Diana’s estate after her death in Paris in August 1997.
He did not bank any of the nearly £100m ($A186m) fortune left by his great-grandmother, the Queen Mother, Jobson notes.
Additionally, as a working royal, Prince Harry earned a salary that amounted to about £2.5m ($A4.6m) a year through the Duchy of Cornwall – a portfolio of property and financial investments managed by Prince Charles.
Clarence House confirmed that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle received a “substantial sum” from King Charles III to smooth their transition to financial independence, after leaving for the US.
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