Harry claiming that Meghan can make her own clothes...

[GeordieGoals]

"He asked, “How much could it possibly cost to house and feed Meg? I wanted to say, ‘She doesn’t eat much, you know! And I’ll ask her to make her own clothes, if you like’.”"

(Page 370)^
^
For me, this was one of the strangest passages in the whole book. How could a self-made millionaire (Meghan) be so poor she would either need to have her FIL buy her clothes or she'd have to make them herself?

I'm not slagging off Meghan here BTW, as these are Harry's words, not hers. Why didn't Harry take responsibility for buying Meghan what she needed? Any decent husband would get a job to support his wife rather than see her not eat much and make her own clothes!

Googled more and there was lots of speculation the engagement dress was loaned. No one seems to know either way.

Yes, that's why I wrote $75k

Since Charles pays for majority of Catherine's clothes, until shown otherwise I'll go with the same assumption he paid for Meghan's.

Especially in the context of Charles saying he couldn't keep up with Meghans extravagant wardrobe.

He was being sarcastic. Slightly concerning that not many people realise this. Or in fact they do realise but are just feigning ignorance so they can have another pop at Harry.

If Harry had sarcastically said she won't cost much, she can live in the cellar and eat leftovers - people would be arguing he was serious.
Are people on MN really as stupid as many appear to be?

Yes it's obvious he was being sarcastic but rather pathetic no? A grown man who inherited millions of pounds stomping his feet because the amount spent on his (allegedly already super successful and rich) wife didnt meet their expectations. They wanted to be equal to W&K which isnt the way it works, which whilst unfair also affords the 'spare' freedoms the heir doesn't have. The only thing that would make me question whether he was being sarcastic was that he does talk about her as if shes the second coming, stands to reason she could also make her own world class clothes from scraps.

I know.

They don't seem to print any free dress patterns.

So Harry was too smart to be understood?

Maybe Charles did not want to pay extravagant sums for Meghan's clothes in the same way you wouldn't want to pay for outfits if your prodigal son brought home a divorced actress he'd had a passionate fling with for all of five minutes and you could see that it wasn't exactly love's young dream.

@Ladyfird You have just made that all up. What Harry said was in response to Charles saying he could not afford to support Meghan. Not the amount, just could not afford anything.

I agree it was sarcasm. Don't know how he has the cheek. She spent a fortune on clothes. Her handbags alone would have cost more than an average salary. They were very nice though!

I would not want to pay for her on that scale (or any other scale) in those circumstances. I'd be happy to pay for a teenage sweetheart or devoted, long term partner of my DS.

She was a working Royal. The Queen got taxpayers money to pay for the costs of all working Royals.

Whenever a wealthy person can access wealth and inheritance too easily, an opportunist will appear and make all the right noises to secure it.

You can track the entries in the Duchy of Cornwall’s accounts for Charles’ spending over time on his sons’ expenses (which came to include his sons, their wives and their children until he stopped funding Harry post Megxit). The expenses were 40% higher for the financial year that Harry and Meghan were married (and before Archie was born) than they had been previously. Given that It’s quite possible Charles looked at Meghan and her spending habits and expectations and was a little concerned, and tried to raise the topic with his son. Whether that conversation went as reported in the book is anyone’s guess.

What have I made up? Did you actually read my post or...? Whilst they were royals they had travel, accommodation, security and the like paid for, do you think she was charged rent and given invoices for the security bill? Harry (who's account of what happened generally has been proven to be dubious) is using this to try and highlight Charles was being spiteful because he thought meghan would be as popular as Diana. A bit weird for someone who was thrilled to walk her down the aisle, but even if so, he doesn't actually say what it's in relation to but it's been suggested since by his sources it was around clothes. Seems like money poorly spent anyway the state of the wedding garments.

I think this has to be looked at within the context of how all (female) Royals are funded for their wardrobes.
I don't recall seeing quibbles about the cost of the Queen's outfits - all of which I presume would have been custom-made? She was seldom (if ever?) seen in the same outfit twice and always looked immaculate - those Angela Kelly hats she wore in later years were superb. Of course she needed a working wardrobe and was famously parsimonious in private (e.g. the electric bar fire/Tupperware cereal containers etc).
So, Royal women (in particular) need working wardrobes to "look the part." Those holding the purse strings know and expect that so IF they were objecting in any way to one particular member's bills/expectations, it is more than likely that they were standing out from the expected norm and were too high.

They do have a hand made look dont they? More honestly referred to as couture and assuredly sewn by an army of outworkers.

He didn’t say she made her own clothes, he’s saying that with no income where they asking her to do that. Wasn’t the criteria for marrying him that she had to stop all her own work and websites and rely on royal handouts? When she was capable of earning her own money?

The Queen had encouraged her to carry on in her acting career.

Billing unlimited expenses for clothes and jets and keeping expensive freebies made service seem more attractive. She overdid it.

I'd like to know more about Harry's claim that Meghan "shared" the forbidden freebies with staff members. All of them? Routinely? Or just on occasion the bits she didn't want?
What a fab boss.

@Poppingboba The Queen and Charles wanted her to earn her own money and still be a working Royal.
And it is so cheeky to criticise her costs when William was talking an enormous amount of private helicopter flights for personal visits. The costs were so high even the Queen was alarmed at how it would look.

"And it is so cheeky to criticise her costs when William was talking an enormous amount of private helicopter flights for personal visits. The costs were so high even the Queen was alarmed at how it would look."

Right, so excess spending was noticed and commented on and, presumably, reined in. The difference is, I don't recall William stropping about it and writing a whingeing book about how unfair it was.

😂😂😂😂 Absolute bastards.

No she didn't. The Queen said if she wanted to carry on acting, that she was welcome to. She was being welcoming and didn't want Meghan to feel like she had to give up something she loved. She wasn't saying, you need to go get an talkover gig to keep the royal show afloat!! 🙄

On 2019 Meghan spend £947 000 on clothes - paid by Charles from the Dutchy of Cornwall.