A former minister has called for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to relinquish their titles and repay the £2.4million spent on renovating their official residence after they said they want to quit as senior members of the royal family.
Norman Baker, a former Liberal Democrat MP and a Home Office minister in the coalition government, said ‘you can’t be one foot in, one foot out’.
He also said the Duke and Duchess of Sussex should hand back the public money spent on overhauling Frogmore Cottage, the Grade II-listed property near Windsor Castle, which the couple intend to keep.
Meanwhile, MPs have accused Prince Harry and Ms Markle of wanting to ‘have their cake and eat it’ after they said they want to be able to earn a professional income while also retaining some royal financial backing.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their engagement announcement at Kensington Palace in November 2017
The couple will keep Frogmore Cottage (above) that was gifted to them by the Queen
Norman Baker, a former Home Office minister pictured in November 2014, suggested Prince Harry and Ms Markle should give up their official titles and repay money spent on renovating Frogmore Cottage
Mr Baker, who remains a member of the Privy Council, told the Express: ‘You are either a member of the royal family or you are not.’
He said that Prince Harry is ‘entitled in my view to absent himself and become a private citizen’.
‘But what he can’t do is becoming a private citizen, not doing royal duties and still have the state paying for him,’ he added.
‘He should give the money back spent on Frogmore Cottage and pay himself for the jets between the UK and America. And pay for his security.’
The couple said all travel arrangements in their private time ‘will continue to be paid for privately and not by UK taxpayers’ but security costs are likely to still be picked up by the public.
The bombshell announcement made by Prince Harry and Ms Markle last night has sparked a wave of questions over what their future status as members of the royal family will look like.
There is growing speculation over whether they will be able to retain their Duke and Duchess titles if they proceed with their plan to earn their own income.
They said in a statement published on their website: ‘We intend to step back as “senior” members of the Royal Family, and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.’
They did not address the issue of titles in the statement but they do appear to be planning to turn their ‘Sussex Royal’ moniker into a global brand, having trademarked it on more than 100 items.
The announcement has prompted intense scrutiny of the couple’s finances with the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage having been funded by the Sovereign Grant.
The Sovereign Grant is the annual funding mechanism that covers the work of the royal family in support of the Queen, including expenses to maintain official residences and workspaces, and pay for official royal travel.
The duke and duchess will continue to use Frogmore Cottage ‘as their official residence as they continue to support the monarchy, and so that their family will always have a place to call home in the United Kingdom’, they said on their website.
Expenses related to fixtures, furnishings and fittings at the official residence – a gift to the couple from the Queen but owned by the Crown Estate – were funded by the pair themselves.
Funding from the Sovereign Grant covers just five per cent of Prince Harry and Ms Meghan’s official office expenses and they have said they intend to stop receiving money from this source.
But 95 per cent of the funding for Harry and Meghan’s office comes from income allocated by the Prince of Wales, generated through his private estate, the Duchy of Cornwall. It is thought that this source of cash will remain in place for the couple.
One Tory MP said it looked like Prince Harry and Ms Markle were trying to ‘have their cake and eat it’.
Another said they should not benefit from any publicly-generated funding if they are stepping back from their senior roles.
They said: ‘That is going to be a concern of a lot of people. If they want to have financial independence, no one would quibble with that.
‘But the announcement they made was really quite sketchy.
‘We will have to wait for their full proposals but it will be rather worrying if they quit their duties while maintaining a large share of what they are enjoying from the Civil List. I don’t think that’s acceptable.’
Labour MP Margaret Hodge, a former chair of the Public Accounts Committee, told MailOnline the royal finances were too secretive and it was hard to tell how much the public was funding individuals.
‘I think it would be helpful to reassure the public if there was greater transparency around all the royal finances,’ she said.
Anti-monarchy campaign group Republic has urged Prince Harry and Meghan to give up their Scottish titles, namely the Earl and Countess of Dumbarton.
Documents published by the Intellectual Property Office have now shown how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex plan to expand their brand
They were given the titles, along with the Dukedom of Sussex, by the Queen on the morning of their wedding back in 2018, but the couple have never visited the Scottish town since that day.
Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, said: ‘My own view is that they should not be hanging on to all their titles if they don’t want to do the job.
‘They can’t have it both ways – keeping the perks but not wanting to stay and do the work. There’s a long history of royals taking titles and doing nothing else with them.
‘If I lived in Dumbarton I would be pretty miffed they had taken the title but not supported the community they claim to represent.’
The couple have an estimated £34million private fortune to fund their new life after quitting as senior royals, but could make even more through future commercial ventures.
Until now Prince Harry and Ms Meghan have been ‘prohibited from earning any income in any form’ – as they pointed out last night in a lengthy statement on their website.
Nicole Murdoch, a trademark lawyer based in Brisbane, Australia, said the decision to seek protections for the Sussex Royal brand appeared to have been a ‘defensive move’.
She said: ‘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.
‘Their royal titles are gifted by the Queen – will they lose their royal titles when they step back from Royal duties.
‘When the trademark move was publicised in December there was a lot of uncertainty over why they were doing it. But now it’s become very clear.
‘This was a strategic move and it happened in the middle of last year so it’s not some decision the pair made during their Christmas holidays.’