Prince Harry is set to receive a huge payout on his 40th birthday later this year, according to a report. The Duke of Sussex will turn 40 on September 15. In striking contrast to his elder brother Prince William, who received a ceremonial bell concert at Westminster Abbey on his 40th birthday, Prince Harry will inherit millions on his milestone birthday, thanks to arrangements made by his late great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. 

According to the Times, the late Queen Mother established a $90 million trust fund for her family, which listed that the Duke of Sussex would receive his share when he turned 40. Prince Harry will reportedly rake in around $8.5 million from his share, which is more than Prince William is slated to get.

However, Prince Harry would still have to pay taxes on his inheritance, while his elder brother would benefit from the tax-exempt Duchy of Cornwall – a private estate that funds his public, charitable and private activities. 

“William will benefit from the vast wealth of the Duchy of Cornwall, a private estate that funds the public, charitable, and private activities of the king’s heir,” a source said, per New York Post. “As a result, Harry is likely to receive slightly more than half of the 14 million pounds allocated for the brothers,” they added. 

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With an estimated current net worth of about $60 million, Prince Harry’s upcoming inheritance would be a welcome addition, the outlet noted. 

Following their exit as senior working royals, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle settled in Montecito, California. Their net worth was largely boosted because of the several high-profile projects they’ve taken on since quitting royal life in 2020. These projects include a Netflix original, Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir Spare, and Meghan Markle’s 12-episode podcast, Archetypes. 

According to the Post, Prince Harry is even considering publishing a follow-up book. The duo are also in for a big payday with the forthcoming launch of Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard. 

King Charles allegedly held a private meeting with David Beckham after being unable to meet with his son Prince Harry during his visit to the United Kingdom earlier this week. According to The Times, the 49-year-old former England football captain had a “private meeting” with the 75-year-old to discuss King Charles’ charity, the King’s Foundation. on Friday. “Beckham is understood to have visited Charles to learn more about his charity, the King’s Foundation,” the outlet said.

The Duke of Sussex arrived in the UK on May 7 for events marking the anniversary of his Invictus Games. His spokesman had said that he won’t meet his father, who is undergoing cancer treatment. “In response to the many inquiries and continued speculation on whether or not the duke will meet with his father while in the UK this week, it unfortunately will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full programme,” said the spokesman.

The statement said, “The Duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”

However, according to news agency AFP, it was expected that the pair would meet at some point during his latest trip.

Meanwhile, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are on a brief tour of Nigeria to promote the Invictus Games, an international sporting event that the Duke of Sussex started a decade ago for troops injured in action. During their first trip to Nigeria, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited the school as one of their first stops. They were invited to Nigeria by the country’s highest-ranking military official, the Chief of Defence Staff.

Meanwhile, at a reception for military families in Abuja, Prince Harry spoke in Nigeria of the tragic loss of the “brave souls” in the country’s military who had lost their lives in conflicts and said he felt “goosebumps” after seeing plans for a new centre to rehabilitate injured troops.

He said he had on Friday met 50 wounded soldiers during a trip to northern Kaduna and could see that the injuries were defining their lives, but there were some who had smiles on their faces. Nigerian forces are fighting jihadists in the northeast of the country and armed kidnapping gangs in the northwest. “What this proved to me, what this reminds me of, is the power of seeing what is possible post-injury,” said the 39-year-old, adding that “seeing the plans for the new Invictus Centre gives me goosebumps.”

London:

Prince Harry is set to return to the United Kingdom next month to commemorate a significant milestone of the Invictus Games, the sporting event he established a decade ago, CNN reported.

Scheduled for May 8th, Prince Harry will deliver a reading at a ceremony in London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, marking ten years since the inception of the Invictus Games. His last visit to the UK was in February, following the announcement of his father King Charles’ cancer diagnosis.

Reflecting on his swift trip, Harry expressed his gratitude for being able to spend time with his family during such a challenging time. However, it remains unclear if he will have the opportunity to meet with his relatives during his upcoming visit.

Since relocating to the United States with his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, in 2020, Prince Harry has made occasional visits to the UK, including attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 and his father’s coronation last year, as reported by CNN.

As for Meghan’s attendance at the Invictus celebration, it remains uncertain, particularly considering the proximity to their son Prince Archie’s fifth birthday on May 6th.

Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles, who is undergoing treatment, will resume public duties soon. While his schedule will be managed carefully in consultation with his medical team, he is expected to welcome Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako for a state visit in June.

The Invictus Games, initiated by Prince Harry after his service in Afghanistan, serve as a platform for supporting the recovery of wounded, injured, and sick service personnel and veterans.

The next edition of the games is scheduled to take place in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada, in February 2025, featuring over 500 competitors from 20 nations participating in adaptive sports. Additionally, winter sports, including Alpine skiing, snowboarding, and Nordic skiing, will be introduced for the first time, in partnership with First Nations communities as part of efforts towards truth and reconciliation, CNN reported.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

London:

Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloid papers bugged Prince Harry’s landline phones and accessed the messages on the pager of his late mother Princess Diana, the British royal’s legal team told London’s High Court on Thursday.

Harry, the younger son of King Charles and the late Princess Diana, and more than 40 others are suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) over accusations of unlawful activities by journalists and private investigators on its tabloids, the Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, from the mid-1990s until 2016.

In a ruling last July, Judge Timothy Fancourt said Harry could take his claims of unlawful information gathering to trial, but his allegations of decades-old mobile phone hacking were thrown out for being filed too late.

In a hearing at the High Court on Thursday, Harry’s lawyers sought to amend his lawsuit in light of that ruling, and to add other, new allegations.

These include further claims that the Sun ordered private investigators to target his then girlfriend and now wife Meghan in 2016, and accusations of widespread bugging of his calls.

“The claimant also brings a claim and seeks relief in relation to the interception of landline calls, the interception of calls from cordless phones and analogue mobile calls, and the interception of landline voicemails, as distinct from phone hacking,” his lawyers’ said in court documents.

The claim also includes allegations relating to Diana who “was under close surveillance and her calls were being unlawfully intercepted by (NGN), which was known about by its editors and senior executives”.

NGN is objecting to the addition of what it called a “huge number of new allegations” for numerous reasons including that they were made too late, lacked evidence, and related to phone-hacking claims which had already been dismissed.

“They cover time periods falling outside the scope of the current pleading and the generic statements of case, and in many cases relate to allegations which have been well-publicised for as long as 30 years,” NGN’s lawyers said in court filings.

In 2011, NGN apologised for widespread phone-hacking by journalists at the News of the World, which Murdoch shut down following a public backlash. NGN has since settled more than 1,300 claims but the group has always rejected allegations of any wrongdoing by Sun staff.

On Wednesday, lawyers for Harry and the other claimants told the court that Murdoch and other senior executives were involved in the cover-up of widespread wrongdoing, and they had given false evidence to courts, parliament and a public inquiry.

NGN says some claimants are simply using the lawsuits, expected to go to trial in January next year, as a means to attack the tabloid press, and that allegations against its current and former staff were “a scurrilous and cynical attack on their integrity”.

Since stepping down from royal duties in 2020 to move to California, Harry has turned his focus onto battling the British press which he says has intruded into his private life since he was a child, spreading lies about him and those close to him.

In December he won a lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspaper over allegations of phone-hacking and unlawful activities, with the judge agreeing senior figures had been aware of what had been going on.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan Markle’s biographies on the Royal Family’s official website have been updated. The couple’s biographies have been removed and merged into a single joint profile, as per a report in People Magazine.

Before this, both had individual biographies on the royal family website, which acts as a digital hub for news and updates on the monarchy. Their statement on the page says, “As announced in January 2020, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have stepped back as working members of The Royal Family. The couple married in St George’s Chapel, Windsor on 19 May 2018 and have two children: Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.”

Under the headings “About the Duke of Sussex” and “About the Duchess of Sussex,” the page breaks down Harry and Meghan’s biographies, recapping notable moments like Prince Harry’s ten years in the British Army and the founding of the Invictus Games alongside Meghan Markle’s seven seasons on ‘Suits’ and lifestyle blog The Tig. Earlier, both had longer biographies including Prince Harry’s page mentioning his role of “supporting the Monarch.”

The Royal family’s website also mentions a link to their new website which was launched in February by the couple. In a new rebranding move, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s website has the latest news about the couple as well as links to their Archewell Foundation organization and Archewell Productions hub.

Their website which was earlier called Archwell will now be referred to as, sussex.com. The homepage features a photo of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Germany at the 2023 Invictus Games closing ceremony in September. According to the statements issued by The Office of Prince Harry & Meghan, The Duke & Duchess of Sussex, the couple aims to showcase their passions and endeavours, asserting their identities beyond traditional royal responsibilities.

“The reality behind the new site is very simple – it’s a hub for the work the Sussexes do and it reflects the fact the family have, since the King’s coronation, the same surname for the first time. That’s a big deal for any family. It represents their unification and it’s a proud moment,” an insider said.

However, the couple was slammed for using their royal titles and the Royal Coat of Arms on their new Sussex.com website. “Prince Harry and Meghan’s Biographies are immaculate! Come on”. said a reader. “This signifies their Hollywood failure and inability to succeed in their numerous business ventures. So they are falling back on the only thing they know to do and what can make them any money, trading off their royal titles. This is pathetic and demonstrates, yet again, why the titles must be removed,” an X user wrote. 

New Delhi:

Former member of the UK royal family Meghan Markle on Friday spoke out against the “seemingly endless toxicity” prevalent on social media platforms. The keynote speaker for a high-profile panel commemorating International Women’s Day, Ms Markle shared her personal experiences of facing “bullying and abuse” during her pregnancies with Archie and Lilibet.

Ms Markle expressed her concern about the dehumanising nature of online interactions. She remarked that people have “forgotten our humanity” in certain sections of the media and the digital sphere.

“The bulk of the bullying and abuse that I was experiencing on social media and online was when I was pregnant with Archie and with Lili,” she said. “You just think about that and really wrap your head around why people would be so hateful – it is not catty, it is cruel.”

The 42-year-old former actress revealed that she now consciously distances herself from such negative comments for the sake of her wellbeing. 

Prince Harry and Ms Markle have faced heightened scrutiny since stepping back from the Royal Family, with public appearances becoming less frequent as they focus on their philanthropic endeavors through the Archewell Foundation in California.

“If you’re reading something terrible about a woman, why are you sharing it with your friends?” she asked. “If it was your friend, or your mum or your daughter, you wouldn’t do it. I think that is the piece that is so lost right now (with) what is happening in the digital space and in certain sections of the media – we have forgotten about our humanity and that has got to change.”

During the panel discussion, Ms Markle also revisited a formative experience from her childhood, where a letter she wrote at the age of 11 led to a change in a sexist advertisement for dishwashing liquid by Procter & Gamble. Encouraging advocacy and speaking up, she reminded the audience that “your voice is not small, it just needs to be heard.”

 

London:

Prince Harry lost a court challenge against the UK government on Wednesday over a decision to change the level of his personal security when he visits the country.

The youngest son of King Charles III launched legal action against the government after being told in February 2020 that he would no longer be given the “same degree” of publicly-funded protection when in Britain.

“The ‘bespoke’ process devised for the claimant in the decision of 28 February 2020 was, and is, legally sound,” High Court judge Peter Lane said in his 52-page judgment.

Harry sensationally left Britain in 2020 with his wife Meghan, eventually settling in California in the United States.

The prince told a hearing at London’s High Court in December that security concerns were preventing visits back to the United Kingdom.

“The UK is my home. The UK is central to the heritage of my children,” he told the court in a written statement read out by his lawyers.

“That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe.

“I cannot put my wife in danger like that and, given my experiences in life, I am reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm’s way too,” he added.

Harry’s mother Princess Diana was killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris in 1997 as she tried to escape paparazzi photographers.

Lawyers for the government rejected claims that Harry was “singled out” and treated “less favourably” or that a proper risk analysis was not carried out.

– Non-working royal –

James Eadie, for the interior ministry, told the court that it was decided Harry would not be provided the same level of protection as before because he had left life as a working royal and mostly lived abroad.

In May 2023, Harry lost a bid for a legal review of another government decision refusing him permission to pay for specialist UK police protection himself.

The interior ministry argued then that it was “not appropriate” for wealthy people to “buy” protective security when it had decided that it was not in the public interest for such taxpayer-funded protection.

London’s Metropolitan Police also opposed Harry’s offer on the grounds that it would be wrong to “place officers in harm’s way upon payment of a fee by a private individual”.

It is one of many legal cases launched by Harry.

Earlier this month, he settled a long-running lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), whose journalists he accused of being linked to deceptive and unlawful methods, but vowed to continue his legal battles with several other UK media outlets.

Harry is one of seven high-profile people, including Elton John, bringing legal action against the publisher of the Daily Mail over allegations of unlawful information gathering.

He and actor Hugh Grant are also suing News Group Newspapers (NGN), part of Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire and publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News Of The World tabloids, over similar claims.

However, Harry, last month dropped his libel case against UK newspaper The Mail on Sunday over an article on his legal battles with the UK government.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Prince Harry. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Prince Harry was not improperly stripped of his publicly funded security detail during visits to Britain after he gave up his status as a working member of the royal family and moved to the U.S., a London judge ruled Wednesday.

Justice Peter Lane said in the High Court that the decision to provide security to Harry on a case-by-case basis was not unlawful, irrational or unjustified.

The Duke of Sussex claimed he and his family were endangered when visiting the U.K. because of hostility toward him and his wife on social media and relentless hounding by news media.

His lawyer argued that the government group that evaluated Harry’s security needs acted irrationally and failed to follow its own policies that should have required a risk analysis of the duke’s safety.

A government lawyer said Harry had been treated fairly and was still provided protection on some visits, citing a security detail that guarded him in June 2021 when he was chased by photographers after attending an event with seriously ill children at Kew Gardens in west London.

The committee that made the decision to reject his security request considered the wider impact that the “tragic death” of his mother, the late Princess Diana, had on the nation, and in making its decision gave greater weight to the “likely significant public upset were a successful attack” on her son to happen, attorney James Eadie said.

Harry, 39, the younger son of King Charles III, has broken ranks with royal family tradition in his willingness to go to court to challenge both the government and take on tabloids in his effort to hold publishers accountable for hounding him throughout his life.

The lawsuit was one of six cases Harry has brought in the High Court. Three were related to his security arrangements and three have been against tabloid publishers for allegedly hacking phones and using private investigators to snoop on his life for news stories.

In his first case to go to trial, Harry won a big victory last year against the publisher of the Daily Mirror over phone hacking allegations, winning a judgment in court and ultimately settling remaining allegations that were due to go to trial. While the settlement was undisclosed, he was to be reimbursed for all his legal fees and was due to receive an interim payment of 400,000 pounds ($505,000).

He recently withdrew a libel case against the Daily Mail over an article that said he tried to hide his efforts to continue receiving government-funded security. Harry dropped the case after a judge ruled he was more likely to lose at trial because the publisher could show that statements issued on his behalf were misleading and that the February 2022 article reflected an “honest opinion” and wasn’t libelous.

Harry failed to persuade a different judge last year that he should be able to privately pay for London’s police force to guard him when he comes to town. A judge denied that offer after a government lawyer argued that officers shouldn’t be used as “private bodyguards for the wealthy.”

London:

Prince Harry paid tribute on Thursday to the late Queen Elizabeth as he returned to Britain to attend an awards ceremony a day before the first anniversary of his grandmother’s death.

Harry only occasionally comes back to Britain since his move to California with his wife Meghan after the couple stepped down from their official royal roles in 2020, and then fell out with the other Windsors, including his father King Charles and elder brother Prince William.

“As you know, I was unable to attend the awards last year as my grandmother passed away,” he said in a speech at the annual ceremony staged in London by WellChild, a charity supporting children suffering from serious illnesses, for which he is a patron.

“As you also probably know, she would have been the first person to insist that I still come to be with you all instead of going to her and that’s precisely why I know exactly one year on that she is looking down on all of us tonight, happy we’re together continuing to spotlights such an incredible community,” he said.

The timing of the annual WellChild ceremony and other events meant that both Harry and Meghan happened to be in Britain when the queen died at her Scottish home, Balmoral Castle, on Sept. 8 last year.

Harry pulled out of last year’s ceremony following news the queen was seriously ill, and travelled north separately from the rest of the royal family, indicative of their recent feud.

He said in his memoir published in January that his father had told him that Meghan was not invited. Kate, William’s wife, also did not go to Balmoral.

The royal family will not be gathering together to mark the anniversary on Friday, and media reports said Harry would not be seeing them during his trip. He is due to head to Düsseldorf in Germany for Saturday’s start of the Invictus Games.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

In newly released audio tapes of Princess Diana, her former husband King Charles expressed his sadness after they learnt that they were expecting a boy and not a girl, when Prince Harry was born, as per ABC Good Morning America. The then Princess of Wales recorded her conversation with her close friend James Colthurst in the 1990s for her biographer, Andrew Morton. She made seven hours of audio in total. Mr Morton later utilised the tapes to create and release ‘Diana: Her True Story’, a book that was published in 1992.

According to ABC’s Good Morning America, ‘Diana: The Rest of Her Story’, a new documentary, will include the footage, which was made public the day after the 26th anniversary of her death. She said in the clip that her husband spoke to her stepmother, Raine Spencer at their second son’s christening. “Because at Harry’s Christening, Charles went up to mummy and said, ‘You know we were so disappointed, we thought it would be a girl,'” The Princess added, “And mummy snapped his head off and said, ‘You should realize how lucky you are to have a child that’s normal.”

“Ever since that day, the shutters have come down. That’s what he does when he gets somebody answering back at him,” Princess Diana said in the tapes.

She also spoke about her strained relationship with her stepmother in the audio clips. Princess Diana added, “I was so angry. I said ‘I hate you so much. If you only knew how much we all hated you for what you’ve done. You ruined the house. You spent Daddy’s money. I have said everything I possibly could. Raine said, ‘You have no idea how much pain your mother put your father through.'”

The late Princess responded, ‘Pain, Raine? That’s one word you don’t even know how to relate to. In my job and in my role, I see people suffer like you’ve never seen. And you call that pain? I said, you’ve got a lot to learn.’ I remember really going for her gullet.” She also stated that her siblings did not get along well with their stepmother and all of them called her “Acid Raine”. They frequently sang, “Raine, Raine, go away!”, as per the outlet.