It’s certainly very commendable and admirable that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are leaving the British royal family. The concept of a monarchy (even though they have long had no actual political power in Great Britain) is a remnant of the Feudalistic era.
It’s kind of silly that the charade of royalty continues today, but that’s another topic for another time and space. The Duchess and Duke of Sussex are doing the right thing by leaving this anachronistic non-sense behind, but the idea of doing it for “financial independence?” Please. Their heart is in the right place, but c’mon, don’t insult our intelligence. The very concept is legitimately impossible right now, and we’ll delve into why.
As the Northwestern graduate previously most synonymous with the television show “Suits” and the nobleman most famous for being unlucky in love prior to their union make their personal Brexit, they have, reportedly, an estimated net worth of $30-$45 million.
It’s pretty easy for anyone to say, “well, I’m going to be financially independent of my family now!” when you have that kind of starting point.
Let’s say the couple does absolutely no work for the rest of their lives. (Obviously, this is not the case, but just for sake of argument) Taking the low end of the that estimate, $30M, and you go with the most ultra-conservative investment strategy of all, putting it in U.S. Treasury bonds, let’s say you can get a very consistent, but extremely modest return.
We’ll go with 2% annually, and that yields an ROI of $600,000 per year. How lavish a life style is that? Well, you can claim to be a 1%er if you rake in $200,000 a year, so I think that statistic says it all. Again, it’s the right thing to do that they don’t want any financial handouts from the royal family, but they could literally not get out of bed to do anything and still make enough money to qualify as generational wealth.
Now let’s take a look at what Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will be doing for work. Well, what’s their most marketable asset?
Their celebrity status, which is derived from their having previously been in the royal family. (Meghan and Harry may be renouncing their royal titles, but you can acquire your own via Highland Titles. Also, a portion of the proceeds goes towards conserving nature and protecting wildlife).
Even if they wanted to do something not in the public eye, work a low profile job, how long could their boss keep that a secret, 10, maybe 15 minutes?
And again I find them people to be worth rooting for- what the diabolical British tabloid media did to them was deplorable. Even if you are put off by their over-exposure, remember they sometimes use their celebrity for good too.
If you don’t remember, or never heard about Meghan Markle doing this, watch below:
dont forget meghan did this.
this is the kind of person she is pic.twitter.com/Izqgp9Z95T— m (@ddarveyy) January 12, 2020
In terms of what the now ex-royal couple will be doing with their lives, well, you’ve see the video of Harry pitching Disney CEO Bob Iger on Markle getting back into voiceover work. Turns out, he should probably go to work as her manager because he pitched other rainmakers on this concept too.
How did he get access to all these top of the food chain types, in order to approach them? Because of who he already is! So again, it’s impossible to divorce the Meghan Markle and Prince Harry brand identity from the royal connections; period.
Also, and perhaps most overlooked here, Markle came into the relationship a woman of means. She made a ton of money from her acting career and launched her own clothing line in 2016. The NU alum was financially independent before entering the royal family.
So maybe it’s time to just stop using that phrase “Meghan Markle and Prince Harry financial independence from the royal family” for good.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.