Prince Harry faces backlash for 'exposed lie' on £4.45M support from Prince Charles

An annual report from Prince Charles, released Thursday night, had royal fans questioning if Prince Harry may have lied in his Oprah interview. They doubted that he told the truth when he said his family stopped funding him since he and Meghan Markle stepped back as senior royals in March 2020.

The Duke of Sussex had told Winfrey in March that he was "cut off in the first quarter of 2020." This led many to believe that he meant January to March, as these months fall in Q1 of the calendar year. However, the annual Sovereign Report released by Clarence House showed that Prince Charles still monetarily supported him until the "end of the first financial quarter."

He "allocated a substantial sum to support them," a source said according to The Sun. The Prince of Wales gave the Sussexes and the Cambridges a share of £4.45 million in that same period. The report labeled the amount as "funding the activities" of the two families, which is typically divided between the brothers. The money was said to cover the four months of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's "transition period."

But Omid Scobie, co-author of "Finding Freedom" and a friend of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, clarified that Prince Harry meant Q1 of the U.K.'s fiscal year which is April to June. He said the report coincides with what the duke told Winfrey, that the money stopped after June 2020. This means he was still under the royal family's bankroll from January to June.

Despite the clarifications, the Sovereign Report still prompted backlash with netizens calling out Prince Harry for lying and misleading people. One wrote on Twitter, "Haz misled the TV audience. This spin nonsense of fiscal year is a transparently desperate attempt to dig the Markles out of their own self-inflicted mess."

Another wrote, "The 1st qtr of 2020 is Jan to March! Absolutely no-one in the UK talks about 'fiscal calendars' except, maybe, a tax man! If Harry meant April to June, he'd have said 2nd qtr. This is hiding behind words to wriggle out of, yet another, exposed lie."

Prince Harry said in his Oprah interview that after his family cut him off financially, he had to rely on the money left to him by his mother. It is believed that Princess Diana left him a £7.5million inheritance after her death in 1997.