To be financially independent might be a complicated matter for the royal family, as the public is recently learning from the royal drama involving Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Prince Harry's uncle, Prince Edward, once tried to assert his financial independence in early '90s but his mother, the Queen, eventually had to bail him out.
According to Daily Express, Prince Edward was removed from the Civil List in 1992 along with his sister, Princess Anne, and brother, Prince Andrew. The Civil List would be later renamed as the Sovereign Grant but the arrangements are the same in that the Treasury funds the official duties of the royal family.
To sustain his lifestyle as he was not named in the Civil List, Prince Edward used to have a separate job from his royal duties, as did the woman whom he would marry in 1999 -- Sophie, the Countess of Wessex. However, Sophie had to give up her job at a PR firm after she was embroiled in the Fake Sheikh sting. Around the same time, Prince Edward also resigned from Ardent, his TV production company, when Prince Charles took issue with Ardent's filming of a younger Prince William in college for a documentary.
Ardent eventually shut down in 2009 as it was bleeding money. With no more private income to support their lifestyle and household, Queen Elizabeth, allegedly, gave Prince Edward and Sophie tax-free allowances.
The Earl and Countess of Wessex were also made "working royals," which meant that they could receive funding from the Sovereign Grant. Prince Edward's lifestyle and royal residence, on the other hand, is funded by the Duchy of Lancaster. The Queen pays for the maintenance and upkeep of Bagshot Park, the home of the Wessex family.
Russel Myers said, in the podcast Pod Save the Queen, that Prince Harry and Meghan's decision to earn private income and give up the Sovereign Grant could become disastrous as well. The royal expert said that the Sussex couple only have to look towards the Wessex pair's failures, or even Prince Andrew, the Duke of York's business relationship with questionable financiers like Jeffrey Epstein.
However, Prince Harry and Meghan each have assets and values that might be able to sustain their new lifestyle. The Duke of Sussex has a reported net worth of $40 million from his mother and the Queen Mother's inheritance. The Duchess of Sussex's net worth, on the other hand, is reportedly $5 million from her earnings as a TV actress.
