Meghan Markle is “basically the breadwinner” in the Sussex family — and funds are “tight,” sources tell Page Six.
The Duchess of Sussex is focusing on growing her “As Ever” lifestyle range after recently parting ways with partner Netflix, those who know her say, while her husband, Prince Harry, is mainly focused on his philanthropic work, which is noble but doesn’t bring in much cash.
“Money is tight,” said a source in the know, as another told us that Markle and her husband, Harry, need at least $6 million a year for operating expenses in the billionaire enclave of Montecito, Calif.
Harry and Meghan during their recent trip to Australia.
Meghan Markle was seen eating a strawberry as she released a glossy video online Monday to market As Ever.
As Page Six revealed, the couple spends about $3 million of that on private security for the family, which includes children Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 4. They also have to make mortgage payments on their $15 million mansion.
However, Markle has a coterie of wealthy and powerful female friends, all of whom are on board to help her boost her finances.
The Duchess sold her wares while being pictured arranging flowers and staring out of a window.
Markle has a coterie of powerful female friends she leans on. Here she is with Sara Blakely and Jamie Kern Lima.
Markle also hobnobbed with makeup mogul Bobbie Brown and her BFF designer Misha Nonoo in the Hamptons.
Indeed, a video Markle posted on Instagram Monday to promote As Ever, featuring the mom of two eating a strawberry and wistfully staring out of the window, while wearing a $63,000 diamond necklace, which was liked by Lauren Sánchez Bezos and Markle’s close pal, IT Cosmetics founder Jamie Kern Lima.
We were told how Kern Lima flew Markle to the G9 Ventures Summer Summit, hosted by investor Amy Griffin, in the Hamptons in July 2024, ahead of Markle’s business launch.
Last month, Markle, 44, joined AI-powered fashion discovery platform OneOff as both an investor and a featured participant, whose personal “exclusive edits” will be available to browse and buy.
Markle – seen with Gemma O’Neill – was paid to join the “Her Best Life” podcast’s retreat in Sydney on April 17, 2026. She only stayed two hours, according to reports.
Prince Harry, meanwhile, did not get paid to deliver the keynote speech at the InterEdge Summit in Melbourne, Australia.
She joins other investors and featured celebrities like Suki Waterhouse, Emma Chamberlain, Kate Hudson and Shay Mitchell on the platform.
This enables fans to shop her wardrobe, including outfits from her recent Australia tour. The move, which earns her a percentage from sales, drew criticism for potentially prioritizing profits over her philanthropic work.
More than two dozen products from the Aussie tour sold out, according to Markle sources, with OneOff cofounder and chief executive officer Emir Talu telling WWD, “OneOff surpassed 1-plus million views of outfits on the site in the first three days since Meghan launched her page on the platform.”
While in Australia, she also hosted a girls’ weekend, where guests paid up to $3,199 to attend the Her Best Life Retreat in Coogee, Sydney — despite only staying for two hours.
The Sussexes made their recent Australia trip work for them – with moneymaking jobs, commercial meetings and charity events.
Netflix and Markle severed their As Ever partnership in April after we revealed her tie-in show, “With Love, Meghan” was not returning for a third season. Markle sources let it be known that she had been left to “carry the whole thing by herself” — much to the annoyance of Netflix staffers.
There have also been rumors that Markle has been speaking to Hollywood bigwigs about starting to act again. Sources this week even said the former “Suits” star, who made a cameo appearance in the upcoming movie “Close Personal Friends,” was looking for a steady role on a TV show, but this was roundly denied by Sussex insiders.
Page Six has reached out to reps for the Sussexes for comment.
Harry, 41, meanwhile, was not paid for a speaking engagement at Melbourne’s InterEdge Summit during the quasi-royal Australian visit.
During the Australia trip, Markle announced she had joined AI-powered fashion discovery platform OneOff, where her choice of clothes are available to buy. She gets a percentage of the sales.
Harry is still working with mental health startup BetterUp, sources confirmed.
Markle posted cute photos of her trip to Disneyland this weekend with son, Prince Archie, daughter, Princess Lilibet, and Harry, alongside her mom, Doria Ragland.
But his passion projects are his Invictus Games project for wounded soldiers and his philanthropy work. Harry also joined Silicon Valley mental-health startup, BetterUp, in 2021 as chief impact officer, earning a rumored $1 million annual salary.
He’s still listed on their website, and sources confirmed he still works there. However, in August 2024, the Daily Beast reported that, according to some staffers, Harry’s duties with the company were nebulous, and one former employee told the outlet that the prince’s day-to-day responsibilities included “zero things.”
The report came amid tumultuous times for the company, which had laid off approximately 16% of its workforce after, according to two of the outlet’s sources, the company failed to meet last year’s revenue projections. Moreover, the company faced a “revolt” by the coaches who are contractors after modifying their pay.
Harry, meanwhile, hopes to bring his family back to the UK in July for a one-year countdown celebration for the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham, if the government signs off on providing their security while in his home country.
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Will Meghan Markle Soon Have a Stepmother Just Two Years Her Senior?
Thomas Markle, 81, has revealed his desire to remarry Rio Canedo—a 46-year-old Filipino nurse who is exactly two years older than his daughter, Meghan Markle.
At the age of 81, after years of illness, loneliness, and a rift with the world’s most famous daughter, Thomas Markle has unexpectedly rediscovered his joy for life. The man who once stood on the sidelines of Meghan and Prince Harry’s royal wedding is now smiling with a completely new woman, and according to those close to him, he genuinely wants to marry her.
Met in the Recovery Room, Loved Like a Fairy Tale
Thomas Markle met Rio Canedo at a rehabilitation center in Cebu, Philippines, where he was undergoing treatment following surgery to amputate his left leg below the knee due to a life-threatening blood clot. The two met in December 2025, when Rio was one of the nurses directly caring for him.
Interestingly, Rio had absolutely no idea who he was when she first took him on as a patient. She recalled: “I heard that he had a reputation for being difficult. But when we worked together, he was a true gentleman—polite and funny. In the Philippines, Meghan and Harry are not that big of a deal.”
From patient and nurse, they gradually grew close. Rio cared for Thomas under a strict sugar-free regimen, hiding boxes of chocolates brought by visitors and reminding him to stay hydrated. That meticulous care seemingly touched the heart of a man who had experienced too many losses.
“I Will Marry Her If It’s Good for Her”
Thomas shared that he feels “happy and fortunate” beyond anything he could have ever imagined when thinking about spending the rest of his life by Rio’s side. According to a source close to the family, he told friends that he is ready to marry her immediately.
When asked about the possibility of marriage, he did not deny it: “I will marry Rio if it benefits her. But we haven’t discussed that yet. Right now, we are just enjoying life.”
Rio is a divorced woman with two adult children—a 22-year-old daughter studying pharmacy and a 16-year-old son. She herself is exactly two years older than Meghan Markle, a detail that has drawn considerable attention from many.
Reconciled with Himself, Though Not Yet with His Daughter
Thomas’s romance unfolds against the backdrop of his continued, complete estrangement from Meghan for many years. The father and daughter have not been in contact since just before Meghan’s 2018 wedding to Prince Harry. To this day, Thomas has never once met his son-in-law Harry, or his two grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet.
He once stated that he did not understand why his daughter “cut contact” with him. But instead of continuing to suffer, Thomas seems to have chosen a different path.
“I didn’t expect to find joy and happiness again at this age. For years I felt lonely and sad, but now I am enjoying life. After so many difficulties, I truly feel blessed to have found such a special person,” he shared.
To those who criticize this 35-year age gap, he bluntly responded: “Haters are going to hate, and to be honest, I don’t care. Life is meant to be lived. Nothing is more important than love.”
Thomas is currently in the United States to be fitted with a high-tech prosthetic leg and to spend time with his daughter, Samantha. According to a close source, he and Rio still video call nearly every day, and he hopes to one day bring Rio to visit the United States. A wedding may still be a ways off, but according to people who know him, it is something he is genuinely thinking about.
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle face renewed criticism over ‘half-in, half-out’ royal role: experts
Experts say the couple’s trips to Nigeria, Colombia, Australia and Ukraine resemble official royal engagements
Eight years after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot in a fairy-tale Windsor wedding, they are still doing things their way.
Since their bombshell royal exit in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have rewritten the rulebook with Hollywood deals, tell-all interviews and headline-grabbing moves, reportedly drawing growing concern from palace aides and senior royals.
“There is a huge difference between what the monarchy has to offer and what Harry and Meghan are currently doing,” royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital.
Since marrying in 2018 and making their royal exit in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been attempting to carve out their own independent roles outside the monarchy. (Joshua Sammer/Getty Images)
“This was underlined by King Charles’ highly successful state visit to the United States and Princess Catherine’s two-day visit to Italy, her first official trip in over three years,” Fitzwilliams said.
“However, in attempting to have something similar to the ‘half-in, half-out’ position within the royal family, which Queen Elizabeth rejected, the Sussexes have shown that their brand still gets huge amounts of publicity.”
Meghan Markle, a former American actress, became the Duchess of Sussex when she married Prince Harry, a British prince, in 2018. (Ben Stansall-WPA Pool/Getty Images)
“What Queen Elizabeth II viewed as totally and utterly unacceptable has been adopted by the Sussexes as their modus operandi, blurring the line between being private citizens and wannabe celebrities while leveraging their royal connections,” British royals expert Hilary Fordwich claimed to Fox News Digital. “Each trip they make is styled to be rather like a faux royal tour as they seem to monetize almost every moment.”
The battle lines were drawn in January 2020 at the late queen’s now-infamous “Sandringham Summit,” where the Sussexes were handed a royal reality check.
The reigning monarch made it clear there would be no “half-in, half-out” arrangement — meaning the couple could not cash in on private ventures while still carrying out duties as senior working royals.
The late queen later doubled down publicly, declaring it was “not possible” for the couple to continue “a life of public service” outside the confines of the monarchy. But Harry, 41, and Meghan, 44, publicly said: “We can all live a life of service. Service is universal.”
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Queen Elizabeth II attend Day 1 of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, England, on June 19, 2018. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
In March 2020, the couple stepped back as senior royals, citing the unbearable intrusions of the British press and a lack of support from the palace. Since settling in the wealthy coastal city of Montecito, the pair have aired their grievances in interviews and documentaries. Harry’s 2023 memoir, “Spare,” which detailed deeply personal revelations about the House of Windsor, further strained his relationship with his family.
Copies of Prince Harry’s memoir “Spare” are displayed at Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street in London on Jan. 10, 2023, as the book went on sale in Britain. (Getty Images)
In the years since, the couple have made high-profile visits to Nigeria, Colombia and Australia to highlight their charitable causes. The quasi-diplomatic trips included heavily photographed appearances and meetings with officials.
While supporters saw the trips as an extension of their humanitarian work, critics — especially in royal circles — have blasted the “faux royal tours” as an attempt to replicate official royal engagements without the backing of the crown.
During an unannounced visit to Ukraine in April, Harry was asked about the label “not a working royal.” In response, he said, “No, I will always be part of the royal family … I am here working and doing the things I was born to do.”
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, delivered a speech during the Kyiv Security Forum in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 23, 2026. He also participated in a panel discussion featuring Ukrainian veterans at the 18th Kyiv Security Forum. (Andrii Khodkov/Apostrophe/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images)
“It was nonetheless impertinent of them to go on a visit to Australia in April, which was, in all but name, a royal tour as it is one of the king’s realms,” Fitzwilliams said. “Their mix of charitable events, including military-related appearances, also included commercial ventures, from Meghan’s wellness weekend to Harry’s speech on mental health.”
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, arrive to meet volunteer first responders from Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club during their visit to Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on April 17, 2026. (Jonathan Brady-Pool/Getty Images)
British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard told Fox News Digital she believes the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are “absolutely blurring the lines between private business and monarchy business.”
“Successful working members of the royal family work as a team, supporting the king in his many state and national duties,” she explained.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is seen whispering to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, as she smiles during their visit to Escuela Tambores de Cabildo in Cartagena, Colombia, on Aug. 17, 2024. (Eric Charbonneau/Archewell Foundation)
“They do not compete. Both Harry and Meghan realize that, despite leaving royal life years ago, their global relevance is determined by their royal status. They have appeared internationally in what many claim to be self-serving lookalike royal tours involving charity work in a bid to monetize their royal status. However, they are no longer working royals.”
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, participates in a Scar Tree Walk in Melbourne, Australia, on April 16, 2026, during a four-day visit with the Duke of Sussex. (Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)
Chard added, “The optics no doubt confuse people, blurring the distinction between the Sussexes and the official monarchy, especially as Harry considers himself a working royal.”
Chard went on to say that six years after their royal exit, Harry and Meghan may be “running out of options” as independent royals.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is seen arriving at a charity polo game at the Ikoyi Polo Club in Lagos on May 12, 2024, during a visit to Nigeria with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, for the Invictus Games anniversary celebrations. (Kola Sulaimon/AFP)
“They announce new projects and supposed success with enormous fanfare,” Chard said. “Yet everything fizzles out. Jumping from one idea to another, from one flavor of the month to the next, there seems to be no clarity, consistency or essential golden thread to Harry and Meghan’s work, although Meghan, known as the 24-carat master rebrander, is continuously rebranding herself.”
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, take a selfie with well-wishers at a sailing event with Invictus Australia members in Sydney Harbour on April 17, 2026. (Jonathan Brady-Pool/Getty Images)
But not everyone agrees. Royal expert Ian Pelham Turner told Fox News Digital that Harry and Meghan have never hidden their intentions to leverage their global fame to amplify the causes they care about. In his view, the couple have been unapologetically executing that strategy from day one.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, are seen entering a car in New York City on April 23, 2025. (Raymond Hall/GC Images)
“I personally have always supported Harry and Meghan and called out the double standards,” he said. “Harry and Meghan wish to exercise their right to create a harmonious image of the royal family in America. I personally would prefer to see a much wider use of Harry and Meghan’s talents because when they do, they enhance the perceived values of the royal family.”
But as Harry and Meghan continue to do things their own way, the chances of peace talks with the other royals are becoming bleaker.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attend the wheelchair basketball preliminary match between Ukraine and Australia during Day 4 of the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, Germany, on Sept. 13, 2023. Harry has remained closely associated with the organization since its launch, making it one of his most prominent charitable initiatives after stepping back from royal duties. (Samir Hussein/WireImage)
“They are pushing the envelope and making it much more difficult for reconciliation to happen,” Sally Bedell Smith, author of the “Royals Extra” Substack, previously told People magazine.
“King Charles has given many signals he would like to reconcile with Harry,” Fordwich said. “However, Prince William is intensely protective of his family’s institution and long-term credibility.”
Two men in a London office watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s explosive Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan” on Dec. 8, 2022, as the bombshell project sent shock waves through the royal family. (Jonathan Brady/PA Images)
“But both are no doubt beyond frustrated regarding the Sussexes’ thwarting of the agreement made with Queen Elizabeth at the ‘Sandringham Summit’ not to be, as she so aptly put it, ‘half-in and half-out.’”
From left: Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex watch a flypast to mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force from the balcony of Buckingham Palace on July 10, 2018, in London, England. The couple stepped back as senior royals in 2020. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
“It doesn’t bode well at all for any future relationship with the family,” Fordwich said, adding that trust remains low despite efforts for a purported “Operation Thaw” to ease tensions.
Fox News Digital reached out to Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace for comment. A source close to Harry told People, “This idea that he’s going against the wishes of the queen by being half-in, half-out is nonsense. None of this is being done in the name of the institution.”
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attends the Annual Fifteen Percent Pledge Fundraising Gala honoring Tina Knowles at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, on Feb. 7, 2026. (Savion Washington/Unknown)
To some, Meghan appears to have her eyes set on being an influencer. People magazine reported that her fashion choices in Australia were linked to an AI-powered shopping platform, OneOff, which allows followers to purchase the looks — primarily by Australian designers — that she wore during the trip. The outlet noted that through the partnership, she earns a commission. Her page drew more than 1 million views within the first three days, and several items sold out.
She also appeared at a women’s retreat, where a $3,199 VIP package included a group photo with her. Guests received products from her As Ever line.
As Harry and Meghan look ahead, they appear focused on expanding their post-royal empire. Meghan has continued expanding her lifestyle brand, while Harry focuses on the Invictus Games and raising awareness about mental health.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex make funny faces while attending the wheelchair basketball event on day one of the 2025 Invictus Games at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Feb. 9, 2025. (Karwai Tang/WireImage)
They also appear to be betting big on Hollywood. Fox News Digital confirmed they are developing a feature film for Netflix, an adaptation of “No Way Out,” a book about British soldiers trapped during a brutal siege in Afghanistan.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, visit the Royal Children’s Hospital on April 14, 2026, in Melbourne, Australia. (Jonathan Brady-Pool/Getty Images)
The project is said to be deeply personal for Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan during his time in the British Army. Oscar-nominated screenwriter Matt Charman has reportedly been tapped to write the script.
“Harry and Meghan’s wedding anniversary should represent strength, resilience and unity,” Chard said. “You could say they are resilient, as they will keep going.”
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