Prince Harry, Meghan Markle need charity work to 'prove authenticity'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle need to step up their charity work if they want to prove that they are a power couple.

Royal expert Duncan Larcombe commented on reports that Archewell Foundation only raised less than £36,947 in 2020. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex launched the nonprofit organisation in April 2020 after they stepped back from their senior royal roles a month prior.

The couple stated the earnings in their tax return filings to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the U.S.A. Their now-defunct charity Sussex Royal reportedly had more than £280,624 in its accounts for the same year, but they spent at least £41,084 on legal fees, including to the firm Harbottle & Lewis.

"These figures demonstrate that there is a hell of a lot of work to do to turn this tiny foundation they've set up into a proper well-supported and established charity," Larcombe told OK! magazine.

He claimed that because of this, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will have to really work hard to prove that their heart and soul are in charity work. He added, "What we'll see this year is Harry and Meghan really throwing their heart and soul into achieving what they want to achieve with Archewell because now that the figures for 2020 are in the public domain, a very close eye will be kept on how successful they are this year in promoting and raising the coffers of Archewell."

Larcombe suggested that the pressure to raise more money for Archewell Foundation also puts pressure on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to prove that they are a power couple. He claimed that it is the "kind of publicity that they certainly would not want."

"...And the other thing is, if you were to publish similar figures for Harry and Meghan's private income for the same period, we were lead to believe it is in the tens of millions of pounds."

Larcombe acknowledged though that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have achieved their goal of "having enough money to become financially independent." But he suggested that the couple put more focus on "raising money for charity rather than the Sussex family coffers" if they really want to prove to the public "their authenticity as a power couple doing good."