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LONDON — Prince Charles continued to financially support the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after they stepped down as senior members of the British royal family, according to financial accounts released Thursday.
Prince Charles’s office, Clarence House, published in its annual accounts that Charles paid Prince William and Harry, and their families, a sum of $6.3 million. The annual report covers the period from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. It’s not broken down by family.
Prince Harry had previously told Oprah Winfrey that his family “literally cut me off financially” in the first quarter of 2020. He said that they had to use money left to him by his mother, Princess Diana, to help fund their security.
A spokesman for Clarence House told the BBC that “the Prince of Wales allocated a substantial sum” to Harry and Meghan last year, “to support them” with their transition in stepping down as senior members of the British royal family and relocating to California.
“That funding ceased in the summer of last year. The couple are now financially independent,” he said.
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A spokesperson for the Sussexes told the Press Association that it was inaccurate to suggest a contradiction, and that Prince Harry’s comments were “in reference to the first quarter of the fiscal reporting period in Britain, which starts annually in April.”
Buckingham Palace, meanwhile, also published its annual royal accounts, which included figures on ethnic diversity of its staff for the first time.
The figures showed that 8.5 percent of its staff members are from an ethnic minority background, far less than the population in London, where it is just under 40 percent, or the country in general, which the latest census estimated to be 13.5 percent.
Most of its staff is based in London, the British capital.
An official for the palace said “we recognize we are not where we would like to be and that despite all our efforts to target recruitment, train managers and build an inclusive workplace, the results have not been what we would like.”
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity according to protocol, added that “we are committed to improving this, hence we have started to publish diversity statistics to ensure we are open and transparent about our efforts to improve. We fully expect to be held accountable regarding our progress.”
The palace says it wants to reach a target of 10 percent in 2022. A recruitment and pay freeze was imposed last year in response to the financial pressures resulting from the pandemic.
In their stunning interview with Winfrey, the Sussexes claimed that an unnamed member of the royal family had voiced concerns about the color of their son’s skin, before he was born.
Following the interview, William insisted that the royals were “very much not a racist family.”
The annual report of royal accounts also offered an insight into the inner workings of the royal household. Last year, the queen received the equivalent of $120 million — equal to $1.80 per person in Britain — from the Sovereign Grant, the publicly funded contribution to the royal family’s work. The money is spent on things like paying for staff — the bill for 508 full-time employees came in at $33.7 million — and the upkeep of royal residences. Buckingham Palace is undergoing a major, multiyear refurbishment.
The accounts show that Harry and Meghan made a $3.4 million payment as a reimbursement for the renovation costs to Frogmore Cottage, their previous residence in Windsor. This also included 18 months of rent.
The annual accounts also showed that the royal coffers have taken a hit during the pandemic. The income from the paying public fell by half, compared to the previous year, as palaces were closed to the tourists and visitors.
This summer, for the first time ever, Buckingham Palace will allow paying visitors to picnic in the queen’s private 39-acre garden, starting in July.
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