Meghan and Harry’s ‘Megxit’: The big questions and what’s next
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in London on January 7, the day before they quit as senior royals. Photo: Getty
Even as the British press clutches its pearls over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s stunning ‘Megxit’ decision, two main fascinating questions are still to be answered.
“They have no idea where they are going to live, have no idea how they are going to make their money,” a source told the Daily Mail.
“They have no clue.”
Meghan and Kate Middleton at Wimbledon in 2019. Photo: Instagram
While the couple blindsided the rest of the senior royals including the “devastated” Queen in making their big news public – Prince William was said to be “incandescent with rage” – they were open about the move on their new Sussex Royal site.
In a section about funding, Meghan and Harry, whose wax figures have already been removed from Madame Tussauds, answered their own questions about how their home, security, travel, living expenses and staff have been and will be paid for in future.
A slog through it shows the big takeaway is the Sussexes – clearly stung by the public argument last year they should show off their baby and Frogmore Cottage home because royal life is funded by taxpayers – want to earn their own money.
As they “work to become financially independent” and “work externally”, Harry and Meghan wrote, they will “no longer receive funding” through the Sovereign Grant. That allocation was almost $10 million annually.
So how are they going to support themselves and baby Archie? Meghan could play herself in The Crown, it was suggested, or they could follow the Obamas’ example and strike a deal with Netflix for ‘woke’ docos.
For now, it’s unlikely they’ll be rationing the quinoa or having to buy non-organic baby soap. Harry’s personal fortune is estimated at nearly $60 million, built largely on inheritances from his late mother and great-grandmother. Meghan made almost $8 million from her Suits role.
They will also still receive millions each year from the Prince of Wales via the Duchy of Cornwall, which means they keep their HRH titles and wealth while building independent working lives.
Still, the money doesn’t seem to be the point for the Sussexes, whose screeds of information made it clear they don’t want to be bought. They do want freedom to raise Archie and do what they want.
“Celebrities tend to use their status to launch products and I think that’s essentially what will happen. They’re going to try some sort of business ventures,” Dr Brent Coker, a consumer psychologist at the University of Melbourne, told The New Daily.
“As humans, we need a challenge. Their role in the royal establishment was defined for them and they may want to find a more fulfilling and independent role.
“It could also be Meghan wants to continue her acting career because she might have derived satisfaction from that.
“Who knows what Harry will do, but I can only imagine how it would have been for him being one of the boys in the army, then losing that excitement. He might want to find that feeling again.”
The couple could also take paid roles with like-minded organizations but their trademarking last year of the Sussex Royal name could be on the money about a business venture.
Documents published on the website of the Intellectual Property Office said the trademark – filed in June and published in December – covers more than 100 items.
On the list: magazines, calendars, posters, greeting cards and clothing including pyjamas, hoodies, bandanas, gloves and socks.
“They have thought this through,” said Brisbane intellectual property and trademarks lawyer Nicole Murdoch, who added the couple may have filed the trademark applications as a strategic move. (Kate and William did the same thing last year with their own Royal Foundation.)
“This could be because they may lose their titles as part of leaving the royal family. So this is a defensive move to allow them to continue using the titles or a name that alludes to the titles.”
Meghan and Harry at their last family outing, a Remembrance Day concert. Photo: Instagram
During their almost eight weeks off in November and December, Meghan planned the US launch of the Sussex Royal foundation with her old Hollywood publicist Keleigh Thomas Morgan.
The PR adviser heads up Los Angeles power agency Sunshine Sachs, whose clients include Leonardo DiCaprio and Natalie Portman.
The plan, reportedly, was for Meghan to reach out to celebrity supporters including George and Amal Clooney, Oprah Winfrey and Serena Williams for money for the foundation. Ms Thomas Morgan would then build build business relationships.
Meghan “sees Hollywood and American business circles as key to fundraising,” a source said.
As for where Harry and Meghan will settle down, Canada is the hot tip. The duchess lived there for seven years filming Suits and the couple loved their Vancouver Island getaway at Christmas.
They borrowed the $10.5 million, eight bedroom home of a mystery benefactor in a deal brokered by music producer David Foster.
Security will obviously be paramount. The couple’s bodyguards will reportedly be paid for by British taxpayers.
