Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s shocking move back to the UK is fueled, at least in part, by them having more money going out of their bank accounts than coming in, sources tell Page Six.
The royal renegades will return to Harry’s homeland — a place Markle has said was really “damaging” for her— before the end of the month, along with their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, who are already enrolled in new schools there.
“I am sure there are a lot of reasons [for the move], but I do think cash is a big one,” said one insider.
“They are not out of money,” stressed a source in the know — a sentiment echoed by another source as well, who pointed out that Harry has inherited a fortune from various relatives, adding, “They had more money than most even before Megxit!”
But, we are told, their expenses — including two mortgages on their $14.5 million Montecito, Calif., mansion, plus costs for household staff and a vacation home in Portugal — are so enormous that, as the insider said, “Anything that comes in instantly goes out.”
The couple, who have yet to announce how long their stay in the UK will be, also pay around $3 million a year for security.
As Page Six has previously reported, funds have been so tight that the Sussexes slashed staff. They are now down to four full-time members of staff, apart from their spokespeople. Previously, they are believed to have had around 17-18 staffers.
With their current costs, they need at least $6 million a year to live in the US, we’re told.
And, as Harry, 41, has been focusing on his philanthropy, Markle, 45, is basically the breadwinner in the family.
Although sales figures are not public, Markle’s As Ever lifestyle brand, including jams, honey and candles, is “doing well,” the source in the know claimed — adding that she will continue running it from Britain.
She and Harry have made more than $100 million from book deals and contracts with Netflix and Spotify.
But the couple now face a multi-million dollar legal bill after Harry lost his recent privacy battleagainst Associated Newspapers, the publishers of the Daily Mail. He was joined by claimants including Sir Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley.
A two-day costs hearing took place at the end of July, as Associated sought up to £34.5 million ($47 million) in legal fees, but the formal written costs judgment remains pending.
Harry could be liable to pay around $2.6 million.
Sources previously told us that Harry does not have that kind of money lying around, and Elton John, who was a close friend of his mother, Princess Diana’s, may step in to financially assist him. Markle is less than thrilled by the verdict and never wanted her husband to embark on the court action in the first places, friends said.
One Hollywood insider wondered Thursday if, “Once their legal bill is handed down, do they get to keep that Montecito house?”
However, we’re told that, for now, the Sussexes do not plan to sell or rent their lavish property.
Meanwhile, they already made cost-cutting measures that included scaling back their Archewell Foundation.
It is basically shuttered after the couple let nearly all the staff go and has been renamed Archewell Philanthropies, moving to a fiscal sponsorship model that outsourced most administrative operations.
Their US staff will continue to work from America following the Sussexes move, we’re told.
Harry made $20 million from Penguin Random House for his 2021 memoir, “Spare,” while their $25 million Spotify deal ended after just one season and 12 episodes of Markle’s “Archetypes” podcast — prompting Spotify exec and podcaster Bill Simmons to label them “grifters”.
Harry and Markle signed their Netflix deal back in September 2020 and breathless headlines proclaimed it to be worth $100 million.
Sources close to the contract, tell us, it was closer to $60 million — with a large portion set aside for overhead, not their own wallet.
We are told the Netflix exclusive deal hinged on one project, the “Harry and Meghan” documentary in which they would spill the beans on their fall-out with the royals. Everything else was secondary.
After losing the exclusive deal last September, they have pivoted to a “first look deal,” which means they have to go to Netflix with any ideas first. Netflix, instance, but the streamer refused to buy “Cookie Queens,” their most recent producing project.
With a first look deal, the studio or streamer typically pays overhead for the production company, even if zero projects come to fruition. That isn’t cheap, sources said.
The Sussexes have four projects with Netflix, which remain listed in development.
Archewell Productions is developing film adaptations of the bestselling military memoir “No Way Out: The Searing True Story of Men Under Siege” by Major Adam Jowett; and the romance novels “The Wedding Date” by Jasmine Guillory and “Meet Me at the Lake” by Carley Fortune.
There is also a scripted polo drama centered around the competitive world of professional polo.
Harry founded Travalyst, an independent, non-profit organization in 2019 and continues to provide his time and advocacy on a pro-bono support basis, according to its website.
His passion projects are the Invictus Games project for wounded soldiers and his philanthropy work. Harry also joined the Silicon Valley mental-health startup BetterUp in 2021 as chief impact officer, earning a rumored $1 million annual salary.
He’s still listed on BetterUp’s website, and sources confirmed he still works there.
However, in August 2024, the Daily Beast reported that, according to some staffers, Harry’s duties with the company were nebulous, and one former employee told the outlet that the prince’s day-to-day responsibilities included “zero things.”
Harry, who received $20 million from Penguin Random House for his 2021 memoir “Spare,” has griped about cash in the past
in 2020, he told Oprah Winfrey the royal family had “literally cut me off financially,” saying, “I’ve got what my mum left me, and without that we would not have been able to [move to the US].” Harry said.
In her will, Princess Diana left both Harry and his brother, William, £6.5 million ($8.85 million) to be held in trusts until their 30th birthdays, The Telegraph reported. Harry’s trust gathered interest, and he reportedly received £10 million ($13.6 million)when he turned 30.
However, Charles’ reps maintained he had funded their move to the US.
A spokesperson for the Sussexes later clarified that Harry’s comments referred specifically to the first quarter of the palace’s fiscal cycle.
According to official Clarence House financial reports covering April 2020 through March 2021, Charles allocated a combined £4.5 million (roughly $6.3 million at the time) from his Duchy of Cornwall to support the households of both Prince William and Prince Harry.
Harry is also believed to have inheritance from the late Queen Elizabeth II, who had an estimated personal fortune of $500 million, alongside the late Queen Mother.
Page Six reported Wednesday that Harry and Markle are moving to spend more time with King Charles, 77 — who is being treated for cancer — and other family members and friends.
As Harry told the BBC last May “I don’t know how long my father has left.”
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