Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be walking away from an estimated £5.5 million a year in Royal funds after they announced they would be ‘stepping back’ from their duties as senior Royals in a bid to become ‘financially independent’.
They will however be staying in Frogmore Cottage and have now stated that they will still be entitled to state security while they split their time between the UK and North America.
Their Windsor home was a gift from the Queen and they will be keeping hold of the property so they ‘always have a home in the UK’.
When it comes to their security the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are classified as internationally protected people and will therefore still be protected by the Metropolitan Police.
The couple had seemingly set up a dedicated page on their website, answering questions about funding and what their new lives would mean for their role in the Royal family.
After visiting Canada House earlier this week, the couple announced that they would be splitting their time between the UK and North America
The couple recently spent more than £2.4million of taxpayers’ money refurbishing their Frogmore Cottage home
The couple spent taxpayers money on the cottage on renovations. They will keep it so they ‘always have a home in the UK’
The couple had built a web page dedicated to answering all of the questions which could be raised after their announcement
But just how do the couple, who have an estimated combined net worth of £34 million, 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 million to Prince Harry from the Crown.
Her Majesty pays Harry and William jointly £5 million from the £82 million 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.
Meghan and Harry (pictured above on Tuesday) have an estimated joint net worth of £34 million
The Queen gives funds to Prince Harry and William which are split between the two brothers
He also received money from his father Prince Charles (pictured above) which is from the Duchy or Cornwall estate
A statement on their official website stated that while they take ‘great pride’ in their work, they also value the ‘ability to earn a professional income’, which under current rules they are prohibited from doing.
‘For this reason they have made the choice to become members of the Royal Family with financial independence. 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.
‘While the contribution from The Sovereign Grant covers just five percent of costs for The Duke and Duchess and is specifically used for their official office expense, Their Royal Highnesses prefer to release this financial tie.’
The £5 million 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 million from the Crown.
The above graphic, which appeared on the dedicated web page showed how the Crown Estate functions
The Duke and Duchess this evening took to Instagram where they announced they would be planning to split their time across the UK and North America
The brothers also claim a further £3.16 million 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 £1.2 billion Duchy of Cornwall estate. Charles paid £4.9 million to his sons from that pot last year.
The couple have significant personal wealth they could live on.
Prince Harry’s net worth is estimated to be around £30 million. He inherited more than £20 million from his late mother Princess Diana and around £7m from his great-grandmother the Queen Mother, who paid it into a trust fund him
Meghan has a net worth of around £4 million herself, having earned £40,000 an episode on Suits.
She also made £150,000 per film appearance and similar amounts from fashion collections modelling each year. Her ‘Tig’ lifestyle blog was worth £60,000 a year to her before she shut it down when she announced she was Harry’s girlfriend. And she is also believed to have a valuable property in Toronto.
When it comes to how the couple could make their own money, it is thought they may take to public speaking.
In order to bag the cash the couple may do after dinner speeches, or speeches at events which could rake in up to £380,000.
As well as this the couple have also recently trademarked their Sussex Royal brand on a number of merchandise items such as T-shirts and magazines.
Their website stated who would pay for their overseas visits from now on and how the cost of travel would be funded
The family spent Christmas in Canada and Harry posed for a picture with his little boy Archie
The £10 million property where Meghan and Harry spent six weeks over Christmas and New Year
British taxpayers however could still be picking up a £600,000 annual security bill for the family.
The couple famously spent their Christmas period at a £10.7 million home in Vancouver Island.
The couple have since announced that they will be splitting their time between the UK and Canada.
But living there could be more expensive than their lives in the UK.
The couple recently spent more than £2.4 million of taxpayers’ money refurbishing their Frogmore Cottage home – and buying a property of a similar standard in a Canadian city would cost significantly more.
Frogmore House was a gift from the Queen – but any Canadian home would likely be paid from their own pocket.
Harry, Meghan and baby Archie enjoyed all the luxuries on offer at a £10.7 million waterfront mansion in one of the most idyllic spots on Vancouver Island – and are even believed to have taken their two dogs over with them, too.
They were also seen out hiking locally with friends, including actress Abigail Spencer, a friend of former actress Meghan’s from her days on the television drama Suits, with Meghan even offering to take a picture for one stunned couple they met who were struggling with their selfie stick.
They also posted a picture on Instagram of a delighted Harry holding his son, Archie, taken during their holiday to the delight of fans on New Year’s Eve.
Vancouver also has a high ‘hipster’ and in 2018 Goop, the controversial lifestyle brand founded by Gwyneth Paltrow, held its annual ‘wellness summit’ in the city with meditation sessions, workouts, and yoga classes, a pursuit loved by Meghan.
Vancouver is the most expensive city in Canada for cost of living – and the luxury they are used in the United States will cost them millions of pounds. Toronto is the second most expensive.
Other costs to the couple include their security and the family is understood to have up to six permanent Metropolitan Police bodyguards, funded by the taxpayer.
The officers are estimated to earn more than £100,000 a year including overtime.
The Duke and Duchess have the status of ‘internationally protected’ and therefore no break down of security can be issued by the Home Office for how much keeping them safe actually costs.
The Gov.uk website states: ‘No breakdown of security costs is available as disclosure of such information could compromise the integrity of these arrangements and affect the security of the individuals protected. It is long established policy not to comment upon the protective security arrangements and their related costs for members of the Royal Family or their residences.’
But when Harry was visiting Meghan in the early stages of their relationship, the security officers seen with him outside her apartment were thought to be Canadian, and therefore funded by Canadian taxpayers.
Whoever pays, the Sussexes would require police protection for the rest of their lives.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told MailOnline that a move abroad would be a ‘huge undertaking’ and the security costs would be vast.
Harry and Meghan are pictured in Toronto in 2017 as they leave the wheelchair tennis at the Invictus Games in 2017
Harry, Meghan and Archie are understood to have up to six permanent Metropolitan Police bodyguards, funded by the taxpayer. The officers (pictured) are estimated to earn more than £100,000 a year including overtime
He said: ‘The speculation that they could withdraw from public life has been going for some time.
‘It was given even more substance by that unwise documentary they gave where they spoke about the pressures they felt in the royal family.
‘But Harry has a duty to the Queen.
‘Moving abroad is a huge undertaking, they will have to find a location that wants you, the security costs would be vast and impossible to estimate.’
Harry and Meghan also claim staffing costs, which are currently estimated at just under £1million a year.
Her Majesty pays Harry and William jointly £5 million from the £82 million annual Sovereign Grant, which is funded by the taxpayer
Prince Harry and Meghan are pictured with their baby son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor
They employ a private secretary, who can earn up to £146,000, and a nanny for Archie who would also command a six-figure salary. London ‘super nannies’ who work for the capital’s richest and most powerful families earn an average of £104,000, according to industry sources.
At Frogmore Cottage they have a housekeeper – but no chef because Meghan loves cooking – two personal assistants and two palace orderlies probably earning between £20,000 and £30,000 each.
While the couple haven’t completely quit and while it’s unlikely that the Royals would cut them off from the purse, they could lose money if they were completely stripped of their titles.
The dedicated web page talked in detail about each part of their lives including their living arrangements
When Edward VIII abdicated he still received millions a year from the Duchy of Cornwall estate and it would be unlikely that Charles would cut off his youngest son from this seven-figure income.
Edward VIII gave up the throne because he wanted to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
He was king for 326 days before making a public radio broadcast where he said he wanted to abdicate so he could ‘marry the woman he loved.’
They would also keep their grace-and-favour Windsor home, Frogmore Cottage, because it was a gift to them by the Queen.
However, they would be expected to pay for renovations and some of its upkeep and any more taxpayer-funded works would be banned.
They would keep the royal protection officers who protect them 24/7.
The Prince of Wales (pictured, alongside William, George and The Queen is already moving closer to adopting a modern ‘Prince Regent’ role, which would see him control day-to-day royal affairs while his mother remains monarch