In a new interview with The Cut, promoting her podcast Archetypes, Meghan Markle has talked about the many adjustments she and Harry had to go through after they decided to step away from their royal positions and responsibilities. In particular, Markle has spoken out about the difficulties of purchasing a $14 million house that she feared, that as now unemployed people, they couldn’t afford.
Described by journalist Allison P Davis, who went to Meghan and Harry’s home to conduct the interview, as evoking a “classic Tuscan villa, a Napa vineyard and a Beverly Hills country club”, the property certainly sounds very special.
“We were looking in this area (Montecito, California) and this house kept popping up online in searches,” Meghan explains, when asked about their relocation from London.
She then adds that, at first, they were reluctant to view the place as they didn’t ‘have jobs’ and its price tag was a cool $14.65 million. “We didn’t have jobs, so we were just not going to come and see this house. It wasn’t possible. It’s like when I was younger and you’re window shopping – it’s like ‘I don’t want to go and look at all the things that I can’t afford, that doesn’t feel good’.”
Reportedly, “Harry could’ve asked [Prince] Charles to contribute toward the cost of the house, but he chose not to,” a source exclusively reveals to Us Weekly. “Getting his dad financially involved would result in the royals having control over him. It would mean going backwards.” So apparently, they got a “huge mortgage”.
Still, from what we know about the deals that they signed after they left the Royal nest we can stop worrying about how the Sussexes will struggle to make ends meet. One source of income was from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s massive Netflix deal in 2020. According to Us Weekly, Harry and Meghan signed a deal with the streaming service at the time for $100 million. “Quibi had a huge offer out to Meghan Markle that was in the tens of millions,” a source said. “Netflix swooped in and their production deal is worth over 100 million.”
Reports also reveal that Harry and Meghan signed a deal with Harry Walker Agency in June 2020 for speaking engagements, with fees estimated at $1 million per speech. Topics for Harry included mental health and grieving. (Harry Walker also represents the Obamas.) In 2021, Harry and Meghan also launched a podcast with Spotify. Since they left the royals, Meghan and Harry have also worked with streaming services like AppleTV+ and Disney+.
In the interview with Oprah, Harry said that, “My family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford security for us…I’ve got what my mum left me, and without that, we would not have been able to do this.”
I’d say that Harry and Meghan can still sleep easy and not worry about the measly $14.65 million dollar house.
