LONDON — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have repaid the two.four million lbs, or $three.two million, in taxpayer funds that funded the renovations of their residence on the grounds of Windsor Castle, the couple mentioned on Monday.
Immediately after they gave up their royal duties in January, the couple, regarded formally as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, had pledged to pay out taxpayers back for the 2019 refurbishment of the residence, Frogmore Cottage. However they are now residing in California, they have stored their household in Britain.
James Holt, a spokesman for the couple, mentioned Harry had repaid the funds to the Sovereign Grant, the public fund that goes to the royal relatives. The contribution “fully covered the required renovation expenses of Frogmore Cottage,” the spokesman mentioned.
The couple’s announcement came much less than a week following they signed a megadeal with Netflix to build documentaries, documentary series, function movies, scripted exhibits and children’s programming beneath a new manufacturing firm. It was not right away clear how substantially the couple would be paid.
The pledge to repay the money came as element of a severance deal following the duke and duchess abruptly announced in January that they would phase back from royal duties, also agreeing to forgo public funding of their pursuits and no longer use their most unique titles, His Royal Highness and Her Royal Highness. The agreement permitted them to retain the household, which was offered to them by Queen Elizabeth II.
Leaving in element to grow to be financially independent, Harry and Meghan have been residing in the Los Angeles spot because March. They signed a deal in June with the Harry Walker Company for speaking engagements, with per-speech costs estimated at $one million.
Even just before the royal split, the couple had been criticized for utilizing taxpayer money for the renovations. Searching for extra area just before the birth of their son, they moved out of a cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace in April 2019 and converted many households that had been utilized by estate staff into a single, greater household.
The value tag struck critics as extravagant, and public investing on the royal relatives has prolonged been a supply of contention.
“It was some thing that stored looming, rearing its unsightly head, and now that can be place to bed,” mentioned Penny Junor, a royal biographer.