Meghan Reportedly Thought She Was ‘Marrying a Billionaire’ as Sources Reveal She & Harry Are ‘Running Out of Money’
Maybe things weren’t all a fairytale for Meghan Markle. Royal expert and journalist Esther Krauke weighed in about how the royal family perceived Meghan when she entered the royal family and how the Duchess of Sussex’s expectations were probably not met when she married Prince Harry.
“We know that King Charles said something about him being whipped,” Krauke told The Sun. “We keep hearing things consistently coming out from courtiers and people that are close to the Royal Family.”
Markle had a great impression on the Queen upon first meeting her. “And much like the public, I think the Queen thought Meghan was a breath of fresh air,” she continued. Very intelligent, very well-spoken, obviously from her acting background. And she worked, she welcomed her. I think, like much of the country with open arms, I think where things went wrong was clearly the cultural clash.”
However, as things became clearer for the Suits acress in her role in the royal family, it turned out to be a rude awakening. “And I think in some ways Meghan thought she was marrying a billionaire, but was marrying a millionaire with like sort of a reduced status,” Krauke explained. “So that might have been not appealing eventually. But also I just I don’t think she fully understood or was even interested in what the role was supposed to become.”
Recently, it seems like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are running out of cash, even with a combined net worth of $60 million.
How does Prince Harry & Meghan Markle make money?
After leaving their royal duties, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been involved in their own ventures and businesses.
In September 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan signed a five-year contract with Netflix for a reported $100 million. They’ve produced a couple of projects for the streaming giant like their bombshell documentary Harry & Meghan and Heart of Invictus, which is about Harry’s charity. Markle also hosts her own lifestyle show With Love, Meghan which premiered in early 2025.
They also signed a $20 million contract with Spotify for podcasts, where Markle hosts Confessions of a Female Founder and Archetypes. She later joined a deal with Lemonada Media in 2025 after she failed to meet “productivity benchmarks” with Spotify.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, she also invested in a powdered latte brand called Clevr Blends. She has since been at hand with her brand As Ever which has been selling out their viral jams.
The couple is also heavily involved in their own charity Archewell Foundation. However, it seems like things are spiralling. Sources have told Page Six that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have let go of several of their staff members. “It’s the same old story – they cycle through staff as quickly as normal people cycle through toilet paper. Milk lasts longer than their employees,” said one royal source. The couple’s $100 million Netflix deal is also supposed to be up this year. “
“This isn’t strategy — it’s survival,” one source told celebrity gossiper Rob Shuter. “They’re running out of money, and now they’re running out of people.” Another royal source said that layoffs were inevitable for the former royal family members. “They don’t have the money to keep the team they built,” the source said. “They tried to recreate the royal court — but California doesn’t do crowns on credit.”
In her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, Markle got candid about her “fear” of not having enough money. “So many women, especially, we’re taught to not even talk about money,” the Duchess said. “And there’s lots of guilt mentality surrounding having a lot.”
“And at the same time, there’s a scarcity mindset that it’s easy to attach to, of like ‘I’ll never have enough,’” she said.
