Harry had little access to money

[babsanderson]

Harry was given Nottingham Cottage a 2 bedroom cottage presumably rent free. He was given security paid by the taxpayers. He was also given a clothing allowance from Charles to pay for clothes for formal public occasions.

But he obviously had little access to money. He bought his casual clothes cheap from TK Maxx and talks about drying shirts on radiators.

When he told Charles he was going to marry Meghan Charles said he could not afford to pay for Meghan and Harry as he was already paying for William and Catherine. Charles suggested Meghan continued working to pay for Garry and Meghan. Meghan paid for furniture from Ikea and sofa.com to improve the furnishings in Nottingham Cottage.

Charles paid for Harry and Meghan's wedding. Although Meghan paid for her own wedding dress. The taxpayers paid for the security.

Remember Harry and Meghan were working Royals.

The taxpayers paid for the renovation of Frogmore Cottage. A cost that Harry and Meghna paid back when they left the Royal Family.

The Civil List used to give a defined amount to each working Royal. But that was changed and all the money went to the heir to dole out.

The Queen and Charles appear to be remarkably stingy towards their own child and grandchild.

The Frogmore lease is unusual in that it has to be renewed on, I think, an annual basis. Most other royal leases, as you say, are for decades.

This is another reason why I think that Frogmore was just a 'starter home' and that the plan was for Charles to gift them a much grander estate when he became king. But they left.

@NameOchangeO1 "I don't think it occurred to him to try to make Nott Cott nice. I think this is a capability gap rather than an issue with funds.
Happily, as an adult woman who had had a job and made a home for herself before, Meghan was able to purchase things to make their home more comfortable."

Yeah seems likely. I think his point was more about lack of institutional support – not being given inherited furniture, or the Palace people not calling up some bespoke furniture place for him – rather than funds?

Maybe William was treated better as the heir and given inherited furniture etc (which I think makes sense anyway, the whole monarchy is founded upon the bizarre concept of certain people being born "above" others).

But (admittedly only based on extracts I've seen) as Harry does seem to regard Meghan as a pseudo mummy, maybe it was also assumed by those around him that he wanted to be taken under Meghan's wing, and Meghan being new to the establishment just went with whatever brands she was familiar with.

Yes, he gives a number of reasons including no interest in clothes, convenience and money.

Boohoo

Quite possible. I suspect that by the time they were moving in there the problems were becoming evident and the royals maybe weren't keen to risk giving them a long cheap lease as well.

😂😂😂😂😂

That's true. I'm also not convinced that they 'turned down' a KP apartment either. I don't think they were offered one.

I read more like £15 million.

my DH saw William, Kate and Harry in a London club together about 10 years ago. The club charged £100 entrance (DH didn't pay for it, think his boss at his gap year job paid for it). Sorry i don't believe he is hard up at all.

I think he’s got money, but it just wouldn’t occur to him to spend his own money. He whinged about all the furniture his brother was given. They’re all freeloaders, holidaying at others expense. Look at the holidays on yachts etc. It just wouldn’t occur to him to spend his own money.

William, Harry and Kate will not have paid. Celebrities get in free to places like that because it attracts others to come and pay the entry fees.

Which is vastly more than the overwhelming majority of the country could ever dream of.

And yet you still maintain he was so hard up he 'had to' shop in TX Maxx?

One of the only things he does not complain of is a lack of money. Not even hinted at

Do you mean 'little access to money' apart from:

• the £17 million he inherited from Diana

• the several million he inherited from the Queen Mother

• *the large trust fund that the Queen and Prince Phillip set up for each of their grandchildren when they were born

• the trust fund Charles and Diana set up for him and William each when they were born?

Harry did not need to buy shirts at TK Maxx or dry them on radiators.

I think he is comparing himself to William who probably gets far more money than him. Its a hierarchy so he cant complain. I remember reading years ago Fergie moaned Diana had loads more allowances than she had. Still Frogmore is a bit down market compared to other royal residences.Thats Harrys trouble. Always comparing himself to William.

It wasn’t a - you need to read the book before judging - I was just wondering, because I can imagine it being meant one way and taken others.

He could have just been saying he’s a tightwad, he could genuinely be asset rich and cash poor.

Or he could be like the posters you get on here sometimes that have what is to me an eyewateringly astronomical income but claim it’s not and actually they’re struggling.

Hard to tell without context, but I don’t want to read the book, lol, so was being nosy.

I read an extract saying that Meghan thought Nott Cott was a bit of a frat boy crash pad and she was more dazzled by Will and Kate's apartment in Kensington Palace main bit because they had nice furniture and artworks around. Harry could have chosen to raid the royal art collection and buy some nice furniture or hired an interior designer to make it nicer. That his apartment was a shithole simply suggests he was a single man in his early 30s who was, like most single men in their early 30s, happy to live pretty basically without thinking about where they get their chairs or what goes on the wall.

They still charge £20 for a gin and tonic! This was ten years ago too.

I seem to remember Harry complained that Charles cut him off financially several months after he and Meghan left the UK, so Charles was obviously bankrolling him up to that point. Or is this another instance of Harry forgetting the previous narrative?

In the book he has nothing bad to say about Frogmore cottage. Liked the gardens. Didn't mention anything about wanting to live in Kensington Palace and being denied. There was an odd comment about Diana's garden at Kensington Palace being "closed to him and Willy forever" as it now belongs to the Duchess of Kent.

Plus interest

Op has any of this altered your opinion or are you still convinced Harry didn’t have access to money? Sorry but I just cannot get my head round this thinking at all, it’s blown my mind

Very interesting perspective and I so agree. It was unrealistic to expect that an established actress in her 30’s with her own, hard won, cushy lifestyle, would be happy with the setup. She was basically working, giving up autonomy, privacy and freedom for what ? Frogmore is nice but it’s hardly a good trade off or suitable for the women Harry was courting that swim in expensive circles. It’s the poor man’s version of Frogmore House/Anmer under a flight path and no towers or castle factor or even a pool. That stuff matter when you could have married a fellow actor that has mansions & sister in law has 3 houses.

Although I have always wondered as an Aussie - why these titles and honorary appointments matter so much. We have the Duke of Edinburgh Award here but I wouldn’t have imagined it had that much cachet !

I do agree

@Eyerollcentral It blows my mind that Harry could be going personally to the sales in TK Maxx and getting Meghan to buy Ikea furniture.
Maybe you are right and he had access to millions in inheritance so could have used that. But it would be very strange.