Meghan Markle upstages Princess Catherine’s Christmas video to tout Sussex ‘impact’

A report has revealed how many hours the Duke and Duchess of Sussex work a week for their Archewell Foundation.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry touted their “impact” on hate speech in Australia with a promotional video that stole the limelight from Princess Catherine’s Christmas message.

Just hours after Catherine and her three children Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, appeared in sweet footage volunteering at a baby bank, Meghan and Harry released their video to promote the success of the Archewell Foundation.

That’s despite deep-pocketed supporters fleeing the couple — with the loss of $US10 million ($A15m) in donations over the past year — amid the Sussex grievance tour in Netflix’s Harry & Meghan and the memoir Spare.

The slick 60-second montage of the Duke and Duchess — including visits to New York to speak at a mental health summit — was accompanied by the Archewell Foundation’s annual “Impact Report”.

The 25-page report for 2022-23 touts the foundation’s work to “restore trust in information”, which included the funding of research into “hate speech” in Australia.

“To improve our information ecosystem and better understand how information and media interact with wider societal trends,” the report said.

The Sussexes as they appear in the new video.

Archewell’s accompanying financial documents show Harry and Meghan work one hour per week at the foundation, while in the past year, only two donors contributed $US1 million ($A1.5m) each — down from the $US13 million ($A19.8 million) the foundation received in 2021.

While the foundation secured revenue of $US2 million in the past year, the expenses of $US2.6 million left a financial shortfall of $US674,485 ($A1m) in 2022-23. The year before the foundation reported a $US9 million ($A1.37m) profit.

Despite the losses, the Archewell’s Executive Director James Holt earned a 280 per cent pay rise to $US227,405, plus a $20K bonus, in 2022 (Total: $A377,000).

At 40 hours a week, Holt worked 39 hours more each week than 60 minutes put in by Harry and Meghan, who did not draw a salary from the foundation.

Of the foundation’s grants, there was $US262,895 ($A$401,735) issued for its initiative to restore trust in information with two research projects. One of those was the Australian social impact organisation, Purpose, for its report, Online Hate Speech in Australia: The Role of News Media and Pathways for Change.

The new video celebrates the success of the Archewell Foundation.

Scenes from the glitzy promo reel highlighting the Archewell’s “impact” include Meghan embracing military families, packing gift bags for expectant mothers, and visiting a Brooklyn school.

British media erupted over the “convenient timing” of the Sussex video as a “swipe” at Catherine, the Princess of Wales.

The Archewell Foundation has previously shared its annual videos in January.

“There’s that well-known saying of ‘anything you can do, I can do better’,” wrote The Spectator.

“In what can only be an attempt to upstage the official royal family’s latest offering, this seems to be the credo of Harry and Meghan as they release a new, wholly vainglorious video.”

Coverage of the Sussex video buried the holiday release of the royal family volunteering at a “Baby Bank”, where Princess Catherine and her three kids sorted clothes, toys and food for families in need this Christmas.

The family, sans Prince William, roll up to the Baby Bank near their Windsor home and unload gifts and donations for the holidays, as Catherine explains how they’ll be shared with the quarter of families with a child under five living in poverty.

“You’re the volunteers for this evening,” Kate says in the video.