Prince Charles had a ‘very emotional’ first meeting with his granddaughter Lili and a special meeting with grandson Archie during Harry and Meghan’s trip to the UK, a royal source said.
The heir apparent and wife Camilla were “absolutely excited” to see the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children as they took a short trip from California earlier this month to celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee.
Harry, who retired as a senior working royal in 2020, has had a difficult relationship with Charles, sharing how he felt abandoned and how at one point his father stopped taking his calls.
The Sussexes left the monarchy in crisis after using an interview with Oprah Winfrey to accuse an unnamed royal of being racist towards their son before he was born, and the wider stance of not helping Meghan when she was born. had suicidal thoughts.
But a leading royal source said during Clarence House’s annual review briefing that it had been ‘great’ to have them back in the UK in early June.
‘It was fantastic to see them. It was great to have them back in the UK,” said the source.
‘The Prince and the Duchess were overjoyed to see them.
“The Prince obviously hasn’t seen his grandson Archie in a while and so it was very, very, very special to spend some time with him.
“He hadn’t met Lili, his granddaughter, so it was very emotional to meet her, something very, very beautiful.”
Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, better known as Lili, had her first birthday during her stay and also met her great-grandmother, the Queen, for the first time.
Harry and Meghan showed up at the Jubilee Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, but sat far across the aisle from Charles and the Cambridges, not taking part in any other public jubilee festivities.
The royal source said of the Sussexes’ financial independence: ‘Great credit to them. They said they wanted to move to financial independence and now they have.’
Harry and Meghan struck multimillion-pound deals with Netflix and Spotify after moving to the US.
Charles’ bill for the operations of William and Harry and their families, and other expenses, including capital expenditures and transfer to reserves, has fallen by £1.2 million in two years, with the Sussexes no longer included in the accounts.
The amount dropped from £5.61 million in 2019-20 when they were still working royals to £4.38 million in 2021-22, when Charles no longer finances the couple.
What part of this related to the Sussexes is not detailed.
Charles had continued to support the Duke and Duchess with a ‘significant amount’ until the summer of 2020 after ‘Megxit’, despite Harry claiming his family ‘literally cut me off financially’.
This year’s accounts showed that the annual private income of the heir to the throne from the Duchy of Cornwall was £23 million.
It rose by £2.6m or nearly 13% from £20.4m in 2020-21 as the duchy’s profits recovered after the pandemic.
As heir apparent, Charles is entitled to the surplus generated by the Duchy’s vast portfolio of land, buildings and financial investments.
Charles spent £3.3 million – a quarter of a million more than last year – on unofficial expenses for himself and his family, including salary costs of personal staff and part of the costs of gardeners and farm workers and the costs of Highgrove in Gloucestershire and Birkhall on the Balmoral Estate.
The official cost of Charles’ London office and Clarence House official residence was £107,000, while his official air and rail travel was £892,000 – both of which were funded by the taxpayer through the Sovereign Grant.
Charles and Camilla’s official travel expenses rose by £640,000, while royal trips abroad have picked up again as Covid restrictions eased. The prince paid nearly £5.9 million in tax.
The private estate of the Duchy of Cornwall was created in 1337 by Edward III to support his son and heir Prince Edward, known as the Black Prince, and all his subsequent heirs.
Spanning 23 counties in England and Wales, it includes the Oval cricket ground and 67,000 acres of Dartmoor.
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