What are Harry and Meghan Markle giving up, forever?
Diana had foreseen it and was worried about her son "with his head in the clouds": but how and what the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will live is soon said (nothing but work!).
The news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are relinquishing their positions as senior members of the royal family to live between the UK and Canada, thereby also exempting themselves from the official duties imposed by their title, wasn't all that surprising. Just as it is not surprising the reaction of the British institutions, which now unofficially urge the two to urgently sell the titles because they cannot keep their foot in both shoes (and also to close the sussexroyal site that they have opened). But does Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have so much heritage to afford this step? In the Windsor house, a few months after the marriage of Diana's youngest son to the African-American actress, a storm was beginning to breathe in the air. The funny thing is that everyone was wondering: "Will a girl like her, born in an environment that could not be less aristocratic, be able to survive the court etiquette?", While instead the most ingenious idea is turning out to be to tear her away from off, the label, and take with him the proverbial mountain of Mohammed. "After many months of reflection and internal discussions, this year we have chosen to make a transition, starting to carve out a new progressive role within this institution", says the message on the Instagram profile of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, published without first notifying any family member. “We intend to step back as senior members of the royal family and work towards becoming financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty the Queen.” But what does all this mean in practice?
The first thing that comes to mind is: why marry a prince if you want to make him a commoner? Meeting Meghan Markle, one would probably ask. But these are just the couple's business, if love is true the titles don't matter, and no one like Harry has shown that aristocrats are intrigued by the lives of ordinary people as much as we mere mortals are fascinated by their secret life. Put yourself in his shoes and imagine you can't take the subway, or get drunk in a pub to sing your heart out at karaoke with friends. While Queen Elizabeth issues an official statement in which she informs that this situation is still under discussion, it is good to review that in the UK a noble title is not, as in Italy (after the abolition of the monarchy in 1946) something we you can only boast in worldly salons or television studios as commentators, or thanks to which you enter a fast track to participate in a reality show, and that's it. In the United Kingdom, titles have a precise legal and institutional value based on a precise system of honors. The five titles that the queen can assign, from the highest to the lowest, are: duke, marquis, count, viscount, and baron, which can then be handed down to the heirs, but also removed by the ruler himself. Above all there are the queen or the king, who can only pass on their role.
If the heir to the throne is a man, he becomes king and the consort, after having children, is the queen mother. If the heir is a woman, she becomes queen, but her consort does not become king (see Philip, prince forever). The sons of the ruler are automatically princes, and in turn their grandchildren, but not their spouses. And here we come to William and Harry. As we know, Harry has already decided not to give his son the title of prince, who is therefore only called Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. If he grows up he will be happy or not is another story, but time will tell. The duke instead ranks just below the prince and the monarch. He is the ruler of a territory, a duchy. Tradition has it that when a member of the royal family marries he is assigned a vacant duchy (that is, whose last duke died without leaving heirs) and that the right is also extended to the spouse only if the member himself grants it. For William and Kate it is Cambridge in the east of England, and for Harry and Meghan it is Sussex in southern England.
So, just as William made Kate duchess, Prince Harry also decided the same with Meghan Markle. Becoming duke and duchess means that from that moment on, people must turn to you with the treatment of your grace. Prince Charles's sons already have that of Royal Highness. But let's get to the money. As is known, the heritage of the English Crown derives from various sources. The most contested is the Sovereing Grant. Those who follow The Crown will have noticed an episode in which Prince Philip complains on TV because the "salary" to Queen Elizabeth is not increased. In effect, the Sovereign Grant is a payment made annually to the monarch by the government to finance his official functions. It was increased in 2017 and currently amounts to £ 88 million annually. In reality, it covers only part of the family's expenses, which amount to around 300 million pounds a year, including security personnel, ceremonies and state visits. The Sovereing Grant includes a salary for those close members of the royal family who choose to engage in socially useful commitments, such as patronage of humanitarian organizations, diplomatic meetings, and so on. Some members of the family, such as Prince Andrew's two daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, have given up on it both so as not to weigh on taxpayers' pockets and because with the first-rate education they have been given they have no problem finding a work that makes them feel useful and satisfied, while volunteering for many charity positions. Others, such as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Princess Alexandra (all elderly) practically work for the Queen, and feel it. And of course, Harry and William feel it.
What happens now that Harry gives up this "salary", which automatically lapses when he earns money from other non-institutional jobs, especially if they exploit his own noble popularity? Considering that the Sovereign Grant constitutes only 5% of the couple's income, practically nothing. Finance magazines like Forbes and Money sifted through the prince's bank account. Upon her death in 1997, Lady Diana left her children a trust fund. When each of them turned 25, they started receiving annual dividends of $ 450,000 a year and each of them finally received the full amount when they turned 30, or ten million dollars each. The two brothers also inherited Princess Diana's jewelry collection, an indefinite number of pieces even dating back to 1800, whose value is difficult to calculate. In addition, Harry, not needing to, saved his entire salary when he was a captain in the British Army, about $ 51,000 a year, for 10 years. That's not all: when the Queen Mother died, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, mother of Elizabeth, left her grandchildren and great-grandchildren £ 14 million in inheritance. That sum, over € 16 million, almost all went to Harry because when Charles becomes King William he will also become Duke of Cornwall, and that's enough.
It is assumed that an actress like Meghan (is she going back to acting now?) Has also set aside some of her suits salary, about $ 37,000 per episode. Much of this money was invested by the couple - and fruit - but it is estimated that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bank account currently has between £ 34 and £ 40 million. So there's nothing to worry about, they won't go hungry, and they can continue to pay an army of nannies for baby Archie and housekeepers for their house. Speaking of home, a bit of discontent is relieving him of the decision to stay at Frogmore Cottage, the 1801 residence in Berkshire that the Queen gave to his nephew and his wife for the wedding, while they will also have another "cottage" in Canada. The many disappointed subjects on social media accuse Harry of wanting to keep all the advantages of being born a prince, but of having shaken off duties. With this decision it will never happen, as we have seen in The Crown for Princess Margaret, that Harry in the absence of other members of the royal family is forced to go to an official meeting with a foreign head of state. What remains to be said? Buckingham Palace's historic cook, Darren McGrady, commented on Harry and Meghan's unprecedented step back and is certain that Diana would have been against this decision and was already worried about her younger son: “William is like his father, pragmatic, but Harry is like me, his head is in the clouds, ”he confided. And he added that Meghan is just an arrivalist who wants to be at the center of international attention. One hungry for popularity.
