Prince Harry Believes His Mom, Princess Diana, Saw the Royal Rift Coming and Made Sure He Had a Nest Egg

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stopped receiving financial support "in the first quarter of 2020" from the royal family.

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By Asmita S

March 9, 2021

Posted March 9, 2021

Princess Diana was a protective mother and made sure that her baby, Prince Harry, would have an escape hatch if he ever needed one, her youngest son believes. Among the bombshell revelations he made was the admission that his family pretty much washed their hands off of him and his wife, Meghan Markle, when they decided to step back.

Harry revealed that his royal family cut him off financially in early 2020 and he is relying on what his mother left him. The royal family stopped financial support "in the first quarter of 2020," he told Oprah Winfrey, as per Insider.

"I have what my mum left me and without that we wouldn’t have been able to do this," he said about his life in Los Angeles, according to The Telegraph. "Touching back on what you asked about what my mum would think of this, I think she saw it coming," he was quoted as saying by Insider. "I certainly felt her presence throughout this whole process," he added.

Princess Diana had also decided to step back from public life in 1997 before her death. As a result, she too had to give up many things like protection, the lack of which might have resulted in her death. She left her sons £6.5 million each when she passed away. The money was invested and grew to be around £10 million, which Prince Harry received on his 30th birthday, according to the Telegraph.

Harry and Prince William also inherited her wedding dress, designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel and made of thousands of pearl. The brothers received other items as well, which Diana had written in her will. Those items included 28 other dresses, designer suits, and evening gowns that belonged to her, two diamond tiaras, the original text of the Earl Spencer’s tribute to his sister at the funeral in Westminister Abbey, and the score and lyrics of Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin's version of Candle in the Wind, played by Sir Elton at Diana's funeral.

The 36-year-old dad compared his wife's situation to that of his mother. "You know, for me, I'm just really relieved and happy to be sitting here, talking to you with my wife by my side because I can't begin to imagine what it must've been like for [Diana] going through this process by herself all those years ago," the Duke said. "My biggest concern was history repeating itself," he added.

He also added that his mother would not have liked how his decision to have an independent life was received by the royal family. "I think she would feel very angry with how this has panned out, and very sad. But, ultimately, all she'd ever want is for us to be happy," said Harry, as per Insider.

Harry isn't the only one who has savings. Markle had earned $5 million from her role in Suits and through other endorsement deals. The couple entered multi-million dollar deals with streaming platforms Spotify and Netflix, for which they were criticized. When Winfrey asked them to respond to the label of "money-grabbing royals," Harry said, "This was never the intention."

He is not the only royal to have spoken about the disenchanting life. Before him, his mom had spoken about how stifled she was in the royal family. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, former wife of Prince Andrew, also spoke to Winfrey in 1996 making her own set of revelations about royal life.

She said that living in the palace was no fairytale. "You didn't marry the fairytale, you married a man," she said at the time, as per People. "You fell in love and married a man, and then you have to come to terms with the fairytale. Now it's not a fairy tale, it's real life."

The Duchess of York had found it especially hard to live by the rules of the Buckingham Palace. "The palace from when you look at it from the outside, the windows have to be open in only a certain amount so they are all in line, and I'd come in and throw open all the windows," she said. "And no, that was wrong."

She also spoke about how the British tabloids, which were hosted by the royal family in the palace and thus could be influenced, were cruel to her. "I must explain that the British press at the moment is completely and utterly cruel and abusive and so invasive," the mother of two said. "It is very cruel and very painful when you are going to try and find the feelings within to be on such a public stage," she had said.