Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are currently estimated to be worth around £22million ($30million). Having skipped a prenuptial agreement in favour of merging their finances in 2018, the pair amassed Harry’s £19million ($25million) and Meghan’s £3million ($5million).

Much of Meghan’s fortune came from her acting career and various endorsements – some £382,000 ($500,000) each year.

Meanwhile, Harry’s largely came from an allowance he still collects from his father, Prince Charles, as well as an investment inheritance from his late mother, Princess Diana.

When earlier this month Harry and Meghan announced they would be stepping back from senior royal duties, it was agreed they would no longer receive public funds, and would become financially independent.

Questions soon arose over how the pair would achieve this.

It has been revealed Harry will continue to receive money from Charles, sourced not through his personal fortune of over £100million, but, instead from the money he collects from his Duchy of Cornwall.

The duchy taxes anyone living on the land owned by Charles – an area that spans from the rocky shores of Cornwall to the edges of south London, as well as a supermarket warehouse north of London.

It has been passed down to Charles, having been created in 1337 to provide the royal heir of the time with an income.

According to the New York Times, a spokeswoman for the duchy said in a statement Parliament had “confirmed its status as a private estate” and the Treasury had agreed its tax status did not confer an unfair advantage, adding “the prince has always ensured it is run with the interests of its communities as an equal priority”.

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Yet, according to a lawmaker in 2013: “If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, you sort of assume it is a duck.

“The Duchy of Cornwall looks and behaves like a corporation.”

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The New York Times cites several cases that reveal practices that have been described as “medieval” in nature.

For example, a couple who bought a house on the Isles of Scilly – which the duchy encompasses – who were forced to sign a lease “bequeathing the property to Prince Charles’s estate upon their death”.

Another example comes from Alan Davis, who leaves his bungalow on the south west coast of England each month to pay his duchy rent check of £12.50 ($16).

Several publications have now reported that Harry will continue to receive £2million ($2.6million) from Charles’ Duchy of Cornwall.

The duchy says its capital gains are reinvested in the estates business, removing the need to tax them, and that only companies paid corporation tax.

Charles does pay voluntary tax on his duchy, only after deducting what analysts believe to be about £7.6million ($10million) that he deems official and charitable spending.

He has also written off tens of thousands of pounds, according to the New York Times, that he pays for gardening at Highgrove, his country house.

This is done on the basis that members of the public are sometimes invited in.

The duchy also has the right to be consulted on legislation that affects its interests.

Governments have over the years interpreted this right to include bills about hunting, road safety, children’s rights, marine access and wreck removal.

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