Prince Harry ‘gets millions in birthday boost’ – and why payout dwarfs Prince William’s
As Prince Harry reaches his milestone 40th birthday today, he is set for a bumper payday of millions of pounds - and there's a specific reason why the payout is more than what Prince William got when he turned 40 two years ago
It’s a big day for Prince Harry today – not only has he reached a landmark birthday, he also looks set for a bumper pay day running into millions.
The Duke of Sussex turns 40 today and will reportedly celebrate the milestone by spending time with wife Meghan Markle and their two children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet before embarking on a ‘lads holiday’ with close pals.
No doubt Harry will be showered with gifts as he celebrates – but his birthday also reportedly means he will get another payment from a lucrative trust fund. That’s because he has now reached the reported age to get a windfall from a fund set up by the late Queen Mother when he was 10 years old.
Harry’s great-grandmother is said to have deposited around £19million in a fund in 1994 to leave a tax-free lump sum for her great-grandchildren. The Queen Mother, who was 94 at the time, distributed the money between her younger relatives with a first payment to be made on their 21st birthdays and a second when they reached the age of 40. Those who are also believed to have benefitted from the pot of cash include Harry’s estranged brother Prince William as well as cousins Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie as well as Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall.
Details of the trust fund haven’t been made clear but interestingly, sources close to the Palace said they assume Harry would have been left with a bigger share of the trust than his brother. It is said that the Queen Mother left a larger share of the cash to Harry than compared to William as he is the second born. As the heir to the throne, it was known that William would one day inherit the Duchy of Cornwall estate and its assets. This eventually happened two years ago upon the death of the late Queen, when William became heir to the throne and Prince of Wales.
A former Palace aide told The Times: “There was a trust fund set up at the time. It was a way in which the Queen Mother could set aside money for when her great-grandchildren were older and a way of passing a slice of her estate down in a tax-efficient way. It was a way in which some of her estate could be ring-fenced for them.”
