Tax Documents Show Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Only Worked on Their Nonprofit, Archewell, for One Hour Per Week in 2021

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published 2 April 2023

According to 2021 tax filings from Archewell, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s nonprofit, the couple worked on the foundation for just 52 hours that year—averaging out to one hour per week, per Page Six.

But there’s potentially a reason for the shockingly low number: The Daily Mail reports that one hour per week is the standard amount that nonprofits disclose for board participation and should be reported as such. In addition to Harry and Meghan reporting just 52 hours per year, other officers for the foundation who reported the same amount of working time include Executive Director James A. Holt, Treasurer Secretary Catherine St-Laurent, President Richard Genow, and Treasurer Andrew K. Meyer, according to the papers. One can assume that there is no way that this entire group of six people only worked one hour per week per person and still kept a functioning nonprofit afloat, and that each worked far more than the filing would leave a casual reader to believe. (The more you know.)

But numbers are interesting, and the report said that the nonprofit only allocated $163,085 on salaries, which also seems very low. Executive Director Holt was apparently paid only $59,846, with $3,832 on other benefits. If you go off of the aforementioned one hour per week ratio, Holt earned a staggering $1,224 per hour in 2021. (The nonprofit is but one arm of Harry and Meghan’s business empire, meaning that salaries could also potentially come from the for-profit side of the business, like Archewell Audio, which produced Meghan’s “Archetypes” podcast, and Archewell Productions, which generated Netflix’s Harry & Meghan docuseries.)

The filing also states that two independent contractors received more than $100,000 in compensation from Archewell that year. The foundation handed out over $3 million in grants after raising $13 million from “two wealthy benefactors,” one of whom is rumored to be Oprah Winfrey, reports The Daily Mail. Harry himself apparently donated $3 million of the $20 million advance he earned from Spare to the nonprofit, and OK reports Archewell raised less than $5,000 from the public.

Archewell was founded in 2020—the same year Harry and Meghan stepped back as working members of the royal family—as an “impact-driven global nonprofit” aiming to put “compassion into action; uplifting and uniting communities locally and globally; online and offline.”

Harry was in the U.K. this past week to appear in court over a phone hacking lawsuit he, Elton John, and other celebrities brought against the publisher of The Daily Mail. While in London, reports The Mirror, Harry stayed with friends, with royal expert Christopher Andersen reporting that Harry “apparently has no plans to try and smooth things over with his brother, William, or his father, the King” while in town. As Charles’ Coronation looms in just over a month, RSVPs to the ceremony are reportedly due in tomorrow, with no official word on Harry and Meghan’s attendance at the event.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.