Canadians say they’ll welcome Harry and Meghan with open arms

Canadians say they will welcome Prince Harry and wife Meghan with open arms should they choose to relocate to Canada after quitting the Royal Family – as long as they don’t have to pay their security costs.  

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed on Wednesday they planned to split their time between the United Kingdom and North America after stepping back from senior roles in Britain’s Royal Family.

It sparked immediate speculation the couple had their sights set on Canada after just returning from a six-week vacation in Vancouver with their son Archie.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has remained unusually silent following Harry and Meghan’s announcement.

He recently wished them a ‘quiet and blessed’ stay in the country during their vacation and said they were ‘among friends and always welcome here’.

Every day Canadians were overwhelmingly supportive about the country potentially becoming Harry and Meghan’s new home – as long as they didn’t have to fork out the costs for their tight security. 

‘As long as we Canadians do not have to pay for Meghan and Harry’s security costs, I don’t really care about the rest,’ one person tweeted. 

Another tweeted: ‘My hope is that Meghan and Harry decided to go the ‘no drama’ route of raising their child in a more peaceful, less-public environment. Canada welcomes them and we will very much respect their privacy.’

‘Dear Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Canada loves you. We don’t have the Orange Cheeto. You were happy at Christmas. Canada is waiting with open arms to welcome you back,’ another tweet said, referring to President Trump. 

‘Certainly we here in Canada will welcome them as we always have.’

One person urged the couple to move to Montreal where privacy laws were stricter: ‘Welcome to Canada. Come to Montreal where paparazzi cannot take pics of you and publish them.’ 

The couple have not revealed where in North America they plan to make a second home but they cited their baby as a reason why they decided to live part of their time outside Britain. 

The couple have close ties to Canada with California-native Meghan describing it as her ‘second home’ after the UK.

Meghan lived in Toronto for six years while filming Suits and it is the city where they enjoyed a secret five-month courtship before their relationship was revealed to the world in October 2016.

They just spent Christmas in Vancouver with their eight-month-old son Archie. The couple spent six-weeks in a $14 million waterfront mansion on Vancouver Island.  

The message about the couple’s plans also appeared on their official Instagram feed, along with a link to a website, sussexroyal.com, where followers could find more information. 

Meghan and Harry enlisted a Toronto-based media company to help create that brand new website.  

The couple have close ties to Canada with California-native Meghan describing it as her ‘second home’ after the UK. They are pictured above together in Toronto in 2016 

Meghan lived in Toronto for six years while filming Suits and it is the city where they enjoyed a secret five month courtship before their relationship was revealed to the world in October 2016 

They just spent Christmas in Vancouver with their eight-month-old son Archie. The couple spent six-weeks in a $14 million waterfront mansion on Vancouver Island 

The website elaborated on why they are seeking financial independence from the monarchy’s funding mechanism, known as the Sovereign Grant. 

A page on the site states the grant they are forsaking covers just 5 percent of the costs for the duke and duchess and is used for their official office expenses.

Meghan and Harry ‘value the ability to earn a professional income, which in the current structure they are prohibited from doing,’ the website states. 

‘Their Royal Highnesses feel this new approach will enable them to continue to carry out their duties for Her Majesty the Queen, while having the future financial autonomy to work externally.

Harry and Meghan also detailed that they would still have armed security even after stepping down from senior roles. 

‘The provision of armed security by The Metropolitan Police is mandated by the Home Office, a ministerial department of Her Majesty’s Government, responsible for security and law & order. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are classified as internationally protected people which mandates this level of security,’ the couple wrote. 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s new life will be funded from their $45million private fortune 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be walking away from an estimated $7.2million in Royal funds after they announced they would be ‘stepping back’ from their duties as senior Royals in a bid to become ‘financially independent’.

But just how do the couple, who have an estimated combined net worth of $44.5million, fund their lavish lifestyle which in the past has included their six-week Christmas break to Canada and solo trips to the US, such as when Meghan flew to America to watch Serena Williams play tennis.

In terms of what the couple receive from the Royal household, it is thought that the Queen gives around $2.62million to Prince Harry from the Crown.  

Meghan and Harry (pictured above on Tuesday) have an estimated joint net worth of £34 million

Her Majesty pays Harry and William jointly $6.55million from the $107.4million annual Sovereign Grant, which is funded by the taxpayer, and handed to the most senior members of the royal family.

The royal couple will no longer receive funding from the Sovereign Grant, which they claimed covered just five per cent of costs for the pair and is specifically used for their official office expenses.

The $6.55million from their grandmother the Queen is not broken down between the royal siblings – but William is believed to get slightly more so Harry and his family probably receive around $2.6million from the Crown. 

The brothers also claim a further $4.14million  a year in ‘non-official expenditure’ and is likely to be split in similar proportions. 

Another source of income for Prince Harry is his annual allowance from the profits generated his father’s $1.57billion Duchy of Cornwall estate. Charles paid $6.42million to his sons from that pot last year. 

The couple have significant personal wealth they could live on.