Prince Harry's £8 Million Payday, Explained

The prince's trust fund just matured this week.

By Michael Hein

Prince Harry turned 40 years old on Sunday, Sept. 15, and a special inheritance makes this birthday even more significant for him than for most people. Prince Harry's great-grandmother set up a trust fund that paid out the last of its money to him on his 40th birthday, and according to a report by The Times the grand total could be up to million British pounds – or just under $10.6 million in the U.S. Here's an explainer on that payment and why it is making so many headlines.

This story starts with Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, grandmother of King Charles III and great-grandmother of Prince Harry and Prince William. She is generally referred to as the "Queen Mother," which helps avoid confusion with her daughter Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen Mother lived to be 101 years old and got to spend time with her great-grandchildren. She set up a family trust fund for several of them in 1994, arranging it to pay out to them at certain milestones throughout their lives. However, she left specific instructions so that the money is not distributed equally.

The trust fund reportedly started with £19 million in 1994, though its value likely changed over the years due to inflation, interest and other factors. The details of the fund were never made completely public, but the basic idea was for her great-grandchildren to get a payment when they turned 21 years old, and another when they turned 40. That included at least Prince Harry, Prince William, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, though reports do not mention her other great-grandchildren.

The issue is that the Queen Mother reportedly instructed that more of the money go to Prince Harry than to his older brother, because she reasoned that Prince William would have more income from his royal assignments, while Prince Harry should be compensated, in a sense, for being limited in the royal succession. Sources told The Times that the two brothers were to receive £6 million when they turned 21 and £8 million when they turned 40, but it's unclear how this money was split.

With Prince Harry's 40th birthday approaching, several reports have tried to pin down the exact dollar amounts at play here. Insiders told Closer that Prince Harry would receive £7 million, which would mean Prince William only received £1 million on his 40th birthday. However, The Times points out that Prince William saw a huge payday in September of 2022 when his father acceded the throne. He became the Duke of Cornwall, which reportedly paid him £23.6 million in 2023.

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Reports say that Prince William is privately angry about this division of ancestral wealth, and he's not the only one. Many critics have written about how this set-up is explicitly used to shield money from taxation. They feel the royals should not be avoiding inheritance taxes in this way. The heir himself is reportedly frustrated to see Prince Harry benefiting from his royal lineage because he feels Prince Harry has abused those connections since leaving royal duties behind in 2020.

"As far as William's concerned, the fact that Harry is essentially being rewarded after the terrible treatment he's shown them all, not to mention the stress he caused towards the end of Queen Elizabeth's life, is just wrong on so many levels," Closer's source said. "He can't block Harry's inheritance, nor is he going to try to, but that doesn't mean he can't sound off and make his feelings known."

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