Are Meghan Markle, Prince Harry Broke? Pair Reportedly Faces Massive Financial Pressure To Maintain Living Standards

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are under 'major' financial pressure to maintain their Montecito lifestyle, according to a Star Magazine report claiming the couple now need around $6 million a year just to cover their basic outgoings.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who quit royal duties and relocated to California in 2020, are said to be watching 'every dollar' as high living costs collide with a series of underperforming media deals.

For context, Harry and Meghan arrived in the US as arguably the hottest property in global celebrity. They landed headline-making multiyear contracts with Netflix and Spotify, gave a blockbuster interview to Oprah Winfrey, and published a best-selling memoir in Harry's Spare.The promise at the time was clear: freedom from the constraints of the Palace, funded by a lucrative, values-driven media empire.

The reality, if these latest claims are accurate, looks rather less glossy.

Meghan Markle's 'Breadwinner' Role And A $6 Million Break-Even Point

The new claims centre on the couple's vast costs in Montecito, the ultra-affluent enclave north of Los Angeles, where they bought a nine-bedroom, 16-bathroom mansion in 2020 for a reported $14.65 million.

A source quoted by Star Magazine says their core expenses now sit at 'at least $6 million annually' just to break even, a figure that allegedly includes a security bill of around $3 million a year, along with mortgage and interest payments on the 7.4-acre estate.

'Harry and Meghan are watching every dollar right now. Their cash flow, or lack of it, is a major concern, and it's been that way for a while,' the unnamed insider told the outlet, adding that 'their outgoings are absolutely huge' despite the couple still being 'multi-millionaires' with savings.

The same source paints Meghan Markle as effectively the family's main earner. Her As Ever lifestyle venture, together with a constellation of investments and brand alignments, is described as providing 'the bulk of their earnings' at a time when Prince Harry's work is said to be focused on philanthropy rather than profit.

None of these financial figures has been confirmed by the Sussexes or by independent documentation, so all such estimates should be treated with caution. The couple does not publicly disclose their income or exact costs, and their representatives have not commented on the specific numbers.

Deals Fizzle As Meghan Markle Leans Into Business

Some of the pressure appears to stem from the softening of the media gold rush that followed their royal exit. Their Spotify contract, reported at around $20 million, ended early in 2023. A larger five-year Netflix deal, valued at $60 million in trade reports, was reshaped into a less lucrative first-look agreement last year.

Meghan's attempts to build a sustainable business platform have been mixed. As Ever, her food and wine brand, has been heavily trailed as the core of her new identity, while her home-entertaining series With Love, Meghan is now expected to continue mainly as occasional seasonal specials after a quieter-than-hoped-for second season and 2025 holiday episode. Earlier this year, Meghan and Netflix also ended their financial involvement in As Ever, a step both sides insisted had been planned.

On paper, her strategy looks textbook modern celebrity. Meghan Markle has invested in and associated herself with a series of female-founded, wellness and style-focused companies, including Clevr Blends, Cesta Collective, Highbrow Hippie, Midi Health and, more recently, AI fashion platform OneOff, where fans can buy looks inspired by her wardrobe.

She has also cultivated a circle of wealthy and well-connected women, among them Lauren Sánchez Bezos and IT Cosmetics founder Jamie Kern Lima. US gossip outlet Page Six reported that Lima flew Meghan to a high-profile business summit on a private jet, the kind of image that reassures investors but plays less well with critics who see a duchess reliant on billionaire friends to prop up an overstretched lifestyle.

Behind the scenes, the picture is not necessarily as glamorous. 'Harry's way more focused on philanthropy and nobody would deny that it's what he does best,' the Star source said, before adding the pointed caveat: 'But that doesn't pay the bills and it's asking an awful lot of Meghan to keep propping them up for the foreseeable future.'

The same insider claims Harry is privately uncomfortable with the grind that comes with commercial reinvention in California. 'Harry admires Meghan's work ethic and determination but seeing her hustle for money like this does make him cringe,' the source said, suggesting he has long felt uneasy about 'the materialistic, superficial nature of Hollywood'.

That tension is said to have grown as Meghan gently edges back into entertainment, reportedly filming a cameo for the Amazon MGM Studios romantic comedy Close Personal Friends and a guest-judging appearance on MasterChef Australia during the couple's recent visit Down Under. There is, according to the insider, 'a lot of buzz that Meghan's pushing for roles,' a move that might ease the financial load but would almost certainly rankle at Buckingham Palace.

Nothing in these reports has been publicly verified by the couple, and there is no independent confirmation that Meghan is actively seeking a major acting comeback. Any assumptions about their long-term finances or marriage should therefore be taken with a grain of salt.

The timing, though, is awkward. Harry has been making tentative efforts to patch up relations with King Charles III, who is receiving treatment for cancer, and to rebuild some goodwill with the institution he left behind, ahead of the Invictus Games returning to the UK in 2027. Within that context, every fresh commercial tie-up or screen appearance by Meghan Markle is seized upon by critics as evidence that the Sussexes are still trading on royal titles to fund a life they can no longer comfortably afford.

The same anonymous source argues that, whatever private frictions exist, Prince Harry and Meghan can hardly afford to dismantle the brand they built together. A divorce, they suggest, would be the most expensive move of all and would risk exposing just how far the California dream lives up to its billing.

'Harry and Meghan are definitely worth a whole lot more together than apart,' the insider said, summing up the dilemma facing a couple trying to live like global royals while earning, increasingly, like exiles.

IBTimes UK has reached out to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's reps for comments.