Prince Harry will receive £8m when he turns 40 after the Queen Mother set aside a lump sum for her great-grandchildren 30 years ago.
In 1994, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, when Prince Harry was just ten years old, created a trust with 19 million pounds to distribute among all her grandchildren.
They were supposedly due to receive the first payment on their 21st birthday and the second payment on their 40th birthday, with palace sources claiming Harry received a larger amount than William.
A former palace aide told the Times: “A trust fund was set up at the time. It was a way for the Queen Mother to set aside money for when her great-grandchildren were older and a way to pass on a portion of her estate in a tax-efficient way.”
In 1994, Queen Elizabeth II (bottom right) set up a trust with £19m when Prince Harry was just ten years old to distribute to all her grandchildren.
Each brother will receive £6m when they turn 21, rising to £8m when they turn 40, which Harry will celebrate next week on 15 September.
Harry has seen his net worth skyrocket since taking the big step across the pond.
They continued: “It was a way to ensure a part of their heritage.”
Each brother will receive £6m when they turn 21, rising to £8m when they turn 40, which Harry will celebrate next week on 15 September.
Prince William and Prince Harry, along with their cousins the Princess Royal’s children Zara and Peter Phillips and the Duke of York’s daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, along with Princess Margaret’s children Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, were thought to be beneficiaries of the fund.
The fund was reportedly set up to help the Queen Mother avoid paying inheritance tax on her generous gift to her great-grandchildren.
In April, it was revealed that Prince Harry had already made £22m from his book Spare, after it became the UK’s best-selling non-fiction book after being published by Penguin Random House in January 2023.
Harry used the tell-all book to make several claims about his family, including that William called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”, and that Charles refused to allow Meghan to join Harry in Scotland when the late Queen was dying.
In 2023, royal author Tom Bower claimed Meghan had been “shocked and disappointed” after realising Harry had “very little money” – an estimated £35million.
Speaking about the Duchess’s misconceptions about the royal family, the author, who wrote the 2022 book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors, described the former Suits actress as “obsessed with money”.
The fund was allegedly set up to help the Queen Mother avoid paying inheritance tax on her generous gift to her great-grandchildren.
The Duke of Sussex has described himself, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge as “trapped” within the system.
The Duke is said to keep a low profile among the eucalyptus trees and bougainvillea-covered paths of Montecito…
The expert said: ‘Their big surprise and disappointment was that Prince Harry had very little money.
“She had imagined it would be worth hundreds of millions, if not billions, and now she has to make up for it.”
While still working royals, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were primarily funded by King Charles’ Duchy of Cornwall estate.
Following the couple’s decision to leave the Firm, it was reported that Charles’s £1.2bn estate in the Duchy of Cornwall was paying his youngest son around £2.3m a year on average.
However, the couple said this sum covered 95 percent of their office expenses.
The remaining five per cent of their annual income comes from the taxpayer-funded £82m annual Sovereign Grant, which is given to senior members of the royal family.
Since leaving the company and moving across the pond to the US, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s joint bank account has swelled to over £100m, despite their dwindling popularity.
Following their unpaid interview with Oprah, a series of lucrative deals and jobs followed.
First came the £25m Spotify deal for Archewell Audio, then an £81m Netflix deal for its fiction series and then a £32m four-book deal starting with Spare, now an international bestseller.
Harry is living the American dream, writes Jan Moir, but turning 40 brings him to a crucial crossroads in his life.
Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, visit Canada House on Tuesday ahead of their announcement that they would be “stepping back” from the royal family physically and financially.
Large payments have also been reported for speeches and appearances at various events in the United States, including a JP Morgan summit.
Every prince needs a castle and it seems the couple bought well, securing a £7.5m mortgage on their £11m nine-bedroom, 13-bathroom mansion in Montecito, California.
Harry and Meghan also stand to make money through the lucrative after-dinner speaking circuit.
Speakers at the GDA, whose clients include Nicole Kidman and Diane Keaton, said the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would attract much higher fees than regular celebrities, even without their HRH titles.
Last November, wealthy Americans spent up to $1m (£800,000) a ticket to rub shoulders with Prince Harry and Markle at a glitzy gala in New York.
