As they continue to set their own path outside of the royal family, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s financial freedom plan is beginning to make sense. While it would certainly be easier to coast by on royal funds, there’s a major reason why the Duke and Duchess of Sussex fought for the ability to earn a private income following their royal exit—and it surprisingly has little to do with getting rich for themselves.
Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, specifically negotiated the conditions of their royal exit to include financial independence after they announced their plans to step back from the royal family in January. Queen Elizabeth II, along with other senior royals, agreed—if not at the expense of the Sussexes’ formal HRH titles and that pesky “royal” word ban that got their Instagram account deactivated. But those losses aside, Meghan and Harry gained the freedom to pursue their own income—and something else even more important.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will become privately funded members of The Royal Family with permission to earn their own income and the ability to pursue their own private charitable interests,” reads a page on their Sussex Royal website. Not only are the Sussexes going for new job opportunities—they’re looking to support and launch charities of their choice.
According to an as-told-to source with Vogue‘s royal expert, Katie Nicholl, the Sussexes felt that this freedom was incredibly important. Meghan particularly “struggled” with not being able to earn her own income, given her recent career as a working actress and blogger.
“One of the things she struggled with was not earning an income,” a source told Nicholl for the Sunday Times. “She has always worked and I think she felt unfulfilled. Having financial freedom was a big part of them wanting to leave.”
Meghan and Harry have already put their freedom to use: They recently announced the launch of a new charity, Archewell, named for their son Archie, who recently celebrated his first birthday party.