Prince Charles gave Harry, Meghan ‘substantial sum’ when they moved to the US

Despite claims they were ‘cut off’, royal accounts show Prince Charles continued to fund Prince Harry and Meghan after their move to the US.

Prince Harry and Meghan. Picture: AFP

Financial accounts from the royal family show that Prince Harry and Meghan were given “substantial” money by Prince Charles when they moved to the United States.

The accounts, released on Thursday show that Charles gave £4.5 million ($8.29 million) in total to Prince William and Kate and to the Sussexes during the last financial year from his Duchy of Cornwall income, reduced from £5.6 million which had been provided the previous year to the two couples.

The release of the sovereign accounts also show the royals had to dip into their sovereign grant reserves to meet payments during the pandemic after their income – mainly driven by tourists – fell by £10m and refurbishment costs to Buckingham Palace increased.

The accounts appear to contradict Harry’s pointed dig at his father during the Oprah Winfrey interview that he had been cut off financially. He told the global television audience that he had been forced to rely on the inheritance from his mother, Diana, the Princess of Wales.

“My family literally cut me off financially … in the first half, the first quarter of 2020. But I’ve got what my mum left me, and, without that, we would not have been able to do this,” Harry told Winfrey.

At the time royal aides raised eyebrows about the claim, and the accounts show Charles gave the Sussexes an amount described by Clarence House as a “a substantial sum” when they decided to move to the United States and abandon royal life. There was no breakdown as to the specific amounts given each to the Cambridges and the Sussexes.

The payments to Harry and Meghan ended in the middle of 2020, around six months after they had informed the royals of their bombshell decision. At the time Harry and Meghan insisted that they wanted to become financially independent.

A Clarence House spokeswoman said that Charles wanted to help the Sussexes with their new life: “The Prince of Wales allocated a substantial sum to support them with this transition.”

Meghan and Harry have since signed multi media deals ranging from US$30m to US$100m and have settled into a lavish US$11m home in Montecito, California.

Clarence House also made clear that the timing referenced by Harry and the reporting period in the accounts “aligned”.

The accounts show that the Sussexes returned £2.4m, as promised, which had been used to refurbish their England home, Frogmore Cottage.

Charles‘s Duchy of Cornwall profits fell eight per cent to £20.4 million as a result of the pandemic. But he also paid more tax, voluntarily, of £5.02 million.

The Queen’s accounts show that her income, mainly from opening Buckingham Palace to tourists, plunged from £20.2 million the previous year to £9.4 million in 2020/21. A planned upgrade of Buckingham Palace escalated to £49.5 million as some works were brought forward to take advantage of having no visitors.

The Sovereign grant, which is income surplus from the Crown Estate slightly increased to £85.9 million.

The Keeper of the Privy Purse, Sir Michael Stevens, said there had been an overspend of £2.3m, drawn from the Sovereign grant reserve, mainly because of the increased Buckingham Palace costs.