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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have faced criticism for expressing grievances about their royal life while enjoying a significant fortune amassed through their Hollywood ventures. This contrasts sharply with Prince William, who now oversees the Duchy of Cornwall, a vast property estate worth more than ten times their Netflix deal. While Harry and Meghan have leveraged their royal connections to build a lucrative media empire, William’s wealth is primarily derived from the Duchy, a unique and complex inheritance. Although directly comparing their wealth is challenging, given William’s access to the Duchy’s long-term income and assets, likely, he and Princess Kate will ultimately amass greater wealth than Harry and Meghan’s media empire over time.
According to Newsweek, the Duchy of Cornwall provides a private income for the Prince of Wales- a role previously held by Charles but taken over by William in September 2022.
This change significantly boosted William’s income, quadrupling it from the portion he used to receive annually from his father. Up until the summer of 2020, William also shared the $5.7 million Duchy income with Harry and Meghan. Following the Sussexes’ departure as working royals, William’s income increased further, and it’s estimated to be nearly 10 times what he had during those years.
However, while William now enjoys a substantial income, he does not have full control over the Duchy’s assets. He cannot sell any properties within the portfolio, which is valued at 1.2 billion pounds. According to the estate’s annual accounts, William’s income for 2023-24 was 23.1 million pounds, up from 12.7 million pounds in 2022-23 (when he only inherited the estate partway through the year). This means he has already earned 35.8 million pounds since the succession and with another estimated 23 million pounds in 2024-25, his total income by April 2025 could reach 58.8 million pounds. Adding one more year’s earnings, William could approach 82 million pounds -potentially rivalling the upper estimate of the Sussexes’ reported $100 million Netflix deal in just a few years.
The Sussexes’ financial portfolio includes a reported $100 million Netflix contract, a $20 million Spotify deal, and a $20 million advance Harry received for his memoir, Spare. Additionally, Harry is the chief impact officer at BetterUp, and Meghan has invested in ventures like Clevr Blends, Cesta Collective, and Highbrow Hippie.
Unlike William, however, the Sussexes are not required to publicly disclose their finances, so their actual income is speculative. If their combined wealth is estimated at $140 million, it could potentially generate an annual income of $5.6 million, which is significantly less than the Duchy’s income.
William also benefits from taxpayer support, including security provided by armed police officers. In contrast, Harry faced significant financial pressure to fund private security after stepping down as a working royal. In Spare, Harry revealed he was quoted $6 million annually for security, a cost he described as overwhelming. He eventually found a cheaper option but did not disclose the final amount.
As he wrote in Spare: “I scrambled to find new security. I spoke to consultants and gathered estimates. I filled a notebook with research. The Palace directed me to a firm, which quoted me a price. Six million a year. I slowly hung up.”
The Sussexes also took out a $9 million mortgage to purchase their California home, which they may still be repaying if their interest rate is lower than the return on their investments.
Eric Schiffer, chair of Reputation Management Consultants, told Newsweek: “William has the opportunity to also play the stock market with the 23 million pounds he gets from an income standpoint.
“I think I would rather have the equity and the portfolio plus the income that can be managed and do it in a way that doesn’t require me to put out half-baked documentaries that make people cringe.
“Harry and Meghan are not required to disclose how their investments are performing, but my assumption is they have competent investment managers who are assisting them. They didn’t lose those relationships.
“I suspect they have quite a bit of wealth that has benefited from some nice investment returns over the last period of years given how the stock market has performed and other assets have done certainly in the United States.”
However, the experts believe that if Prince Harry has invested his money in the stock market, it may well be growing at a far faster rate.
