Meghan Markle ‘immediately ruffled feathers’ says commentator

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their shock exit from the Royal Family last January, where they revealed their intentions to become “financially independent”. The pair formally stood down two months later and moved to California to live away from the royal fold. Over a year on from the split, Prince Charles now bears no responsibility for their finances – something an expert has said will come as a total “relief” to the heir to the throne.

Royal biographer Ingrid Seward told the Daily Mail: “I imagine Prince Charles will be relieved as they will be off his payroll now, and the British public will be relieved because they can pay back what they owe now on Frogmore Cottage, so it’s a win-win situation.”

In his tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, Harry claimed his father had cut him off financially after he stood down as a senior royal.

The Duke added he stopped receiving financial support “in the first quarter of 2020” and said his family “literally cut me off financially”.

He told the chat show host: “I’ve got what my mum left me, and without that, we would not have been able to do this.”

But it has since emerged Prince Charles gave his son a “substantial sum” to support Meghan and Harry with their transition away from the Royal Family.

But the Sussexes maintain what Harry said in the Oprah interview was correct and insisted there was no difference in timeline as Harry was referring to the fiscal reporting period in the UK, which runs from April to July.

Harry and Meghan’s spokesman said: “You are conflating two different timelines and it’s inaccurate to suggest that there’s a contradiction.

“The duke’s comments during the Oprah interview were in reference to the first quarter of the fiscal reporting period in the UK, which starts annually in April.

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“This is the same date that the ‘transitional year’ of the Sandringham agreement began and is aligned with the timeline that Clarence House referenced.”

A senior Clarence House spokesperson refused to be drawn on the matter and said: “I wouldn’t acknowledge that they are dramatically different. All I can tell you are the facts.”

They added: “As we’ll all remember in January 2020 when the duke and duchess announced that they were going to move away from the working royal family, the duke said that they would work towards becoming financially independent.

“The Prince of Wales allocated a substantial sum to support them with this transition.

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“That funding ceased in the summer of last year. The couple are now financially independent.”

Meghan and Harry have signed a number of lucrative commercial contracts since leaving the Royal Family, notably with streaming channels Netflix and Spotify.

The couple came under fire for their costly refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage when they were working royals.

The Sussexes are estimated to have spent £2.4million of taxpayers cash renovating the property, which remains the couple’s UK base.

But in September last year Harry’s spokesman said the couple had paid the bill in full by making a contribution to the Sovereign Grant.

The duke’s spokesman said of the repayment: “This contribution as originally offered by Prince Harry has fully covered the necessary renovation costs of Frogmore Cottage, a property of Her Majesty The Queen, and will remain the UK residence of the duke and his family.”

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