Meghan Markle may be living a lavish lifestyle after marrying into the British royal family,
but Prince Harry's beloved wife was doing quite well on her own during her days as a
successful Hollywood actress.
Let's answer the question on everyone's minds: How much money is Meghan Markle really worth?
Meghan Markle wasn't raised as a royal, she did have a rather privileged childhood.
When she was young, her now-estranged father, Thomas Markle, worked in the entertainment
industry.
Naturally, the future actress often visited him on set.
She wrote for The Tig in 2016:
"My father was the lighting director on two television shows as I was growing up.
And there I was... surrounded by famous actors and their glam teams, multi-million dollar
budgets, and crew lunches that always included filet mignon and enough sweets to make you
think you were at Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory."
While Markle's family wasn't necessarily as rich as those around them in the business,
her father did win $750,000 when she was nine years old.
Her half brother, Tom Markle Jr., told the Daily Mail in 2017:
"That money allowed Meg to go to the best schools and get the best training,"
Following her private school education, Markle went off to study at Northwestern University,
where she majored in both theater and international studies.
It was obviously money well spent.
When Meghan Markle was still an aspiring actress, she needed a side gig to make ends meet, which
led to work as a freelance calligrapher.
She told Esquire in 2013:
"It was because I went to an all-girls Catholic school for like six years during the time
when kids actually had handwriting class.
I've always had a propensity for getting the cursive down pretty well."
Markle’s snazzy script skills even earned her a few celebrity clients.
Along with doing the invitations for Robin Thicke and Paula Patton's wedding in 2005,
Markle used to handle Dolce & Gabbana's holiday celeb correspondence.
Markle recalled:
"I would sit there with a little white tube sock on my hand so no hand oils got on the
card, trying to pay my bills while auditioning"
When asked if a person can make decent money by doing calligraphy, the duchess revealed,
"Oh, it's super-lucrative.
Because there are so few people doing it."
“Meghan took pen in hand and wrote a letter to Proctor and Gamble.
And just look at that penmanship.”
Along with a short stint as a briefcase model on Deal or No Deal between 2006 and 2007,
Meghan Markle also scored a range of acting gigs throughout her showbiz career.
Markle could be seen popping up on shows like General Hospital, Castle, The War at Home,
CSI: NY, Fringe, and 90210, with each job earning her decent paychecks.
This meant that she had established herself as a professional Hollywood actress.
Markle also nabbed a few larger roles thanks to films like 2010's Remember Me, which reportedly
earned her $187,000, as well as The Candidate, which came out that same year and saw Markle
taking home a reported $171,429.
Years of small parts on TV shows and movies paid off when Markle scored the part of paralegal
Rachel Zane on USA Network's Suits in 2011.
She started bringing in a regular paycheck at $50,000 per episode, and that amount contributed
to her annual salary of around $450,000.
Markle left the show in 2017, which means she had seven seasons to build up a bulky
bank account before retiring from the entertainment industry to become a full-time royal.
As Meghan Markle's star began to rise in Hollywood, so did her earning potential when it came
to profitable endorsement deals.
Celebrity Net Worth reports that along with making around $80,000 in annual sponsorships,
Markle teamed up with the Canadian retailer Reitmans to not only act as their brand ambassador,
but to also collaborate on two clothing lines that were sell-out successes.
Markle was apparently very involved in the creative process.
Reitmans' vice president of marketing and visual presentation, Monique Brosseau, told
WWD in 2017.
"The initial idea of developing a collection came from her.
It was an amazing idea so our designers, who are all based in Montreal, worked closely
with her.
She provided her vision and her ideas of what could be a work-to-weekend capsule collection.
They worked together to bring it to life."
One collection included styles that Markle's Suits character might have worn on screen,
such as a faux leather pencil skirt and cashmere blend poncho, which was a bestseller along
with faux leather leggings.
Brosseau also revealed that their customers' response to Markle's foray into the fashion
world was very positive.
She added,
"People come in and ask for the Meghan Markle collection specifically.
Actually, some of them bought the whole collection.
It was very well-received."
Like plenty of other famous figures, Meghan Markle launched her own lifestyle brand in
2014, called The Tig.
With the website's name taken from her favorite wine, Tiganello, the stylish celebrity used
her corner of the internet to cover topics like fashion, beauty, and travel, while also
offering up some of her own delicious recipes.
However, Markle shut down the website in April 2017 when her relationship with Prince Harry
became serious.
Along with explaining that her readers had made her days brighter and filled this experience
with so much joy, Markle told her followers:
"...keep finding those Tig moments of discovery, keep laughing and taking risks, and keep being
'the change you wish to see in the world.”
Meghan Markle has always been a fashionable woman, but before she married Prince Harry,
she was responsible for paying for her own wardrobe.
Pretty impressive considering she reportedly wore over $28,688 worth of clothing for her
first nine royal appearances alone, according to Elle.
For her December 2017 debut, Markle opted for a $550 Mackage Elodie coat along with
an ensemble that cost a total of $2,212.
Six of her following appearances featured outfits that ranged from at least $1,199 to
$3,600.
And for Christmas service with the royal family that year, Markle showed up in a Philip Treacy
hat to complete a look that cost almost $10,000.
Fortunately, now that she's a duchess, Markle gets a clothing budget of a hefty $28 million
that comes from Prince Charles' Duchy of Cornwall.
While that is certainly a sweet deal, she also has to follow royal fashion rules, which
means that she's not allowed to accept any designer clothes for free.
One thing that Meghan Markle didn't have to pay for was her royal wedding, which was a
pricey affair.
Prior to the event, the royal family announced that they would be footing the bill for the
lavish ceremony, which took place in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19th, 2018,
as well as the post-nuptials party.
A full statement explained that:
“As was the case with the wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, The Royal Family
will pay for the core aspects of the wedding, such as the church service, the associated
music, flowers, decorations, and the reception afterwards."
Thankfully, the royals are one of the rare and fortunate families who could handle the
formidable fee.
Meghan and Harry's ceremony came in around $45.8 million.
Some of the costs for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's big day included more than $36
million for security and over $470,000 for the bride's Givenchy dress, which was designed
by Clare Waight Keller.
Nearly a year after becoming a member of the royal family, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
welcomed their first child into the world, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor on May
6th, 2019.
Markle gave birth to their baby boy at the American-run Portland Hospital in London.
According to The Sun, while the cheapest birthing package there costs around £15,000, it's
reported that some moms spend an eye-watering £500,000 — depending on the number of nights
they stay and other services they require.
The perks, which are akin to five-star hotel service for new moms include four-poster baby
cots, champagne-on-demand, and a lobster celebration meal in one of 36 private rooms, which offer
a nursery and a separate lounge area, as well as suites for guests.
With a baby now in the picture, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry did what many parents do
when their family expands: they relocated into a new home.
For the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, that meant moving out of their two-bedroom Nottingham
Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace to set up a new home at Frogmore Cottage in
Windsor.
However, the royal residence first needed to be converted from the five-unit complex
that it was into a single-family abode.
The total cost for the upgrade?
Around $3.05 million, which came from the royals' public funding.
It's certainly a step up from the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home Markle was renting in Toronto
while filming Suits.
Her Toronto home went on the sizzling hot real estate market in 2017 for a cool $1.395
million, according to The Globe and Mail.
While speaking with the publication, real estate broker Daniel Freeman said that although
Markle was living in the house when she first started dating Prince Harry,
"There are no traces of royalty in the house, except that it's a very fine residence.
[... ] She had good taste."
“Actually I do.”
As they say, there are only two things certain in life: death and taxes.
It's a fact that remains true even if you're a duchess.
While Meghan Markle is now a part of the British royal family and is no longer living in California,
she's still an American citizen, which means that she's required to pay American taxes.
“Can we claim each other’s kids on out tax returns?
We’re married.”
“We got tax returns?”
The director of financial planning and wealth management at Francis Financial, Avani Ramnani,
explained to Business Insider:
"U.S. citizens, green card holders, and permanent residents are required to file tax returns
with the IRS every year no matter where they reside.
This is a special tax return called the expatriate tax return.
U.S. citizens, including Meghan Markle, get taxed on international income earned outside
the U.S."
However, all of this could apparently change if Markle opts to become a dual citizen of
both the country where she was born and the nation where she now resides or if she chooses
to renounce her U.S. citizenship altogether, which could take upwards of five years.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, part of the balancing act that Markle must juggle
these days reportedly involves an impressive $5 million fortune.
Despite being a very wealthy woman and a former Hollywood star who's also now a member of
the British royal family, it doesn't sound like Markle is the type of person to let her
financial status, high profile clout, and massive influence change her true nature.
Instead, she made it clear in her Elle essay that she wants to use her privilege to make
a positive impact on the world around her.
Markle wrote:
"With fame comes opportunity, but it also includes responsibility — to advocate and
share, to focus less on glass slippers and more on pushing through glass ceilings.
And, if I'm lucky enough, to inspire."
We love an inspirational duchess.
Meghan Markle may be a millionaire, but she still doesn't have quite as much money as
the other members of the British royal family.
Her husband, Prince Harry, has an estimated net worth of $40 million, largely thanks to
a trust that was set up by his late mother, Princess Diana, before she tragically passed
away in 1997.
Markle's brother-in-law, Prince William, is also thought to have a $40 million fortune.
Meanwhile, his wife, Kate Middleton, is reportedly sitting at $10 million, which the Duchess
of Cambridge earned in part on her own while working for her parents' successful party
supplies company.
However, the money that this younger generation is banking pales in comparison to the elder
royals.
Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, reportedly has a $100 million net worth.
As for Queen Elizabeth herself, the long-reigning monarch is said to have around $600 million
to her name, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Top that off with the property, jewels, and artistic treasures that are also in the royal
family's possession, and their overall worth is practically priceless.
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