No money, come home. That seems to have been the thinking behind King Charles III reportedly withdrawing funding for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2020 “trial year.” After stepping back as senior working royals, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex found themselves in Canada without money. What reportedly spurred the withdrawal of funds, and what “couldn’t” be allowed to happen.
While Harry and Meghan were in the midst of their “trial year,” they hit a snag. Harry, per Vanity Fair, “saw his funding dramatically withdrawn” in the summer of 2020 (via Express).
A report from Byline Times, however, says that the wheels were in motion to cut off funding earlier. More specifically, in April 2020. Harry supposedly penned a legal letter. In it, he alleged one of Prince William’s aides leaked his and Meghan’s departure and refused to rescind his claim
“The removal of the transition funding, which Prince Charles knew was his son’s only lifeline to keeping safe,” a source told the outlet, “was considered a very effective way of trying to bring Harry and Meghan to heel in the UK. But it didn’t work.”
“The actual removal of the funding weeks later was about control,” a “well-placed source with knowledge of the matter,” added. It was “designed to force Harry and Meghan to come back to the senior royal family … where their security would be assured.”
Originally, Harry and Meghan were set to move to Canada, with their son, Prince Archie, 4, and work in what the outlet described as “public service.” All the while, they’d get roughly $860,000 in funding from the royal family for their “trial year.”
The royal family couldn’t have Harry and Meghan ‘dominating’ press coverage from Canada
“They threatened the removal of the funding to try and protect the royal household from a potential courtroom scandal with [Chris] Jones and [Dan] Wootton very publicly at the centre, [sic],” a source said.
Although that was the only thing going on. King Charles, who was then the Prince of Wales, couldn’t have Harry and Meghan “dominating” press coverage despite being thousands of miles away in Canada.
“The greater truth is that Harry and Meghan make better headlines than the King and Camilla or William and Kate,” a source said. “The idea of them still being in public service but abroad and out of the control of the institution and dominating the media narrative just couldn’t happen.”
Harry called losing security a matter of ‘life and death’ in ‘Spare’
In his January 2023 Spare memoir, Harry revisited the moment he learned his and Meghan’s “security was being pulled.” The pair were staying in Vancouver Island, Canada, with Archie. At the time, their location had already been revealed to the world.
Harry sat down with their head of security, Lloyde, who told him “he and the whole team had been ordered to evacuate.” Meanwhile, the “threat level” for the couple matched Queen Elizabeth II’s.
“So here were are, I said. The ultimate nightmare. The worst of all worst-case scenarios,” Harry wrote, noting his father wouldn’t take his calls. As for Prince William, Harry claimed his brother told him it had been a “government decision.” Therefore, “nothing to be done
March 31, 2020, Harry and Meghan would be without security. “What Meg and I were dealing with was indeed a question of life and death. And time was running out,” Harry wrote, saying he “scrambled to find new security.”
No security lined up, Harry and Meghan found themselves staying at Tyler Perry’s home in Los Angeles, California, before buying a home in Montecito, California.
