King Charles III pays Prince Harry's palace 'nemesis' up to £150k compensation

Sir Edward Young, who was named in Prince Harry's security battle with the Home Office, has been given a substantial payout for service rendered to the late Queen Elizabeth II. The payment was made after he left the royal household this year.

The Royal Family on its website released its annual Sovereign Grant Report, which showed under the accounts section that the former aide "received a compensation payment of £145,000-£150,000 [$183,000 to $190,000]" in March 2023. It also revealed that the royal family received £86.3 million ($109 million) of public funding for the financial year 2022 to 2023.

"The Rt Hon. Sir Edward Young left the Royal Household on 15 May 2023 and received a
compensation payment of £145,000-£150,000, which was accrued in these accounts at 31
March 2023. All pension payments relate to the defined contribution scheme or are payments in lieu of pension," reads the report.

Newsweek called Young Prince Harry's "nemesis" and said the payout is part of his "redundancy package" after His Majesty merged his household with that of his late mother's following her death in 2022. Young worked for 19 years within the royal household. First as former principal private secretary to Queen Elizabeth from 2017 until her death in 2022 and then as joint principal private secretary to King Charles III.

He held the most senior position among the royal aides. He controlled the royal diary and oversaw important events. He was also the main liaison point for the private secretaries of other royal households.

The former palace aide had issued a statement regarding his departure from his royal role. He said he was "honoured to have served two sovereigns through historic times, and grateful for all the support and friendship of colleagues along the way."

He added, "I am deeply touched by their kind words and tributes as I venture beyond the Palace gates, but look forward to staying in close contact in years ahead."

Aside from his compensation, King Charles III also granted the 56-year-old a peerage, made him a Lord-in-Waiting, and appointed him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

His peerage gave him the new title of Lord Young from Sir Edward Young. It also grants him a seat in the House of Lords, the upper house of the British parliamentary system, where he will be able to vote to pass or veto laws discussed by the House of Commons.

Young stepped down from his royal duty after Prince Harry released his memoir "Spare" on Jan. 10, 2023, in which he likened three prominent royal aides to Queen Elizabeth II as insects: "The Bee. The Fly. And the Wasp." He said these courtiers are "all middle-aged white men who'd managed to consolidate power through a series of bold Machiavellian maneuvers."

The Duke of Sussex did not provide names but other publications were quick to associate Young with The Bee whom he described as, "Oval-faced and fuzzy and tended to glide around with great equanimity and poise, as if he was a boon to all living things. He was so poised that people didn't fear him. Big mistake. Sometimes their last mistake."

Prince Harry referred to The Bee in his memoir as the instigator behind the cancellation of his pre-arranged meeting with Queen Elizabeth II in January 2020. The said individual allegedly blocked him and Meghan Markle from seeing his grandmother.

Young's name also appeared in Prince Harry's legal complaint against the Home Office in 2022 over his request for security in the U.K. It was revealed that the office consulted members of the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC), of which Young was a member, in its decision to strip the duke of his security detail after Megxit. The duke's lawyer contested that the royal aide should not have been part of the committee given the "significant tensions" between him and Prince Harry.