Here's The Real Timeline Of When The Palace Cut Meghan & Harry Off Financially

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry shared many surprising details about their royal exit during their March 7 tell-all interview with Oprah. One of the most shocking revelations viewers learned was that the couple was cut off financially by the Palace after stepping down as senior royals. Because of this, Harry said he and Meghan initially had to rely solely on Princess Diana’s inheritance to support themselves. He also revealed their deals with Netflix and Spotify were “never part of the plan,” but they became necessary for income. On Thursday, June 24, sources claimed Prince Charles actually gave the pair a “substantial sum” when they stepped back, leading some people to believe Harry lied about his family’s financial situation. So, when did the Palace cut Meghan and Harry off financially? Let’s look at the real timeline.

During the couple’s Oprah interview, Harry said, “My family literally cut me off financially... [I was cut off] in the first quarter of 2020. But I’ve got what my mom left me, and without that, we would not have been able to do this.” The Duke of Sussex added when he told his father, Prince Charles, about their royal exit, he stopped taking Harry’s calls. “By that point, I took matters into my own hands,” Harry said. “It was like, ‘I need to do this for my family.”

Since his father didn’t want to speak to him or defend Meghan when the British press intensely scrutinized her, Harry said it would be a while before they could make amends.

In June 24 royal expenditure reports, followers of the royal family learned Prince Charles provided Harry and Prince William’s families £4.5 million in the fiscal year beginning in April 2020. Although the report didn’t say how much money each son received, a spokesperson for Charles at Clarence House reportedly said the Prince of Wales gave “a substantial sum” to support Harry when he and Meghan stepped down from their senior roles. “That funding ceased in the summer of last year,” the spokesperson said. “The couple are now financially independent.”

Several publications that reported the news made it seem like Harry lied about when he was cut off financially from his family since, to many people, the Summer months are in the second quarter of the year.

However, a spokesperson for Harry and Meghan clarified that the financial report actually aligns with what Harry said previously in the Oprah interview. It turns out, the fiscal year in England ends in March and begins in April.

“The Duke’s comments during the Oprah interview were in reference to the first quarter of the fiscal reporting period in the U.K., which starts annually in April. This is the same date that the ‘transitional year’ of the Sandringham agreement began and is aligned with the timeline that Clarence House referenced,” the spokesperson said, according to Vanity Fair.

That means the first fiscal quarter is April through June, aka, the summer. In other words, the Palace financial report confirms Meghan and Harry were cut off financially precisely when they said they were.

So, Harry was telling the truth, after all.