Meghan Markle, Prince Harry Spending $6M a Year to Keep Up Luxury Montecito Lifestyle
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are bleeding cash, an insider alleges.
After fleeing the royal family in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex set up home in one of Southern California’s most exclusive enclaves. But living the good life in Montecito – where the average home for sale costs more than $6 million – doesn’t come cheap. The Sussexes are feeling the pinch as a result.
‘Money is tight’ for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, source claims
“Money is tight,” a source told Page Six, adding that Meghan and Harry need at least $6 million per year to cover their various bills. Those expenses are likely high even for the celeb-friendly neighborhood just outside of Santa Barbara. Not only are the pair paying a mortgage on their $15 million mansion, but they are also spending $3 million per year on private security.
Shouldering those expenses falls largely on Meghan, who is “basically the breadwinner” of the family, the insider said. The former Suits star is making ends meet in a variety of ways, including through her troubled deal with Netflix, her As Ever lifestyle brand, speaking engagements, and through partnerships such as her one with OneOff, an AI-powered fashion discovery platform in which she’s both an investor and participant.
“Meghan has a sense of how careful they need to be …. Harry – raised in a world where everything was provided – reportedly lacks basic awareness of what things cost,” royal expert Dan Wakeford recently wrote in his Celebrity Intelligence newsletter (via Sky News).
Duchess of Sussex has said she needs to work for ‘practical reasons’
As Meghan keeps a close eye on the books, Harry is apparently doing little to actively contribute to the household’s finances. He’s mostly focused on his philanthropic work. However, the Prince does have significant inherited wealth from his mother, Princess Diana, and his great-grandmother, the Queen Mother. But he’s said in that past he sees that money as a resource for his own two children. And some sources claim Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet won’t see a dime of that money.
“The inheritance has largely been spent on the house and the legal trials,” an insider allegedly told Wakeford, adding that Meghan and Harry are “wildly unhappy.”
Though keeping up her and her husband’s luxurious lifestyle comes at a price, Meghan has said she relishes her financial independence and enjoys working.
“I need to work because it fills my cup. Also we need to work for practical reasons,” she said on The Jamie Kern Lima Show in 2025. “You need to work, pay your bills, you need to work.”
For more news and exclusive interviews, follow Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s Instagram.
