Harry and Meghan placed on united entrance in behind-the-scenes 2024 video – as they reveal Archewell obtained $5m from thriller donor and paid out $1.3m to charitable causes
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have put on a united front in a brand new video set to their friend Chris Martin‘s music to promote the work of their Archewell Foundation.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have spent recent months focussing on more solo charity and business ventures, rarely appearing together since their joint tour to Colombia.
But despite reports of a ‘professional separation’, they are front and centre of a new behind-the-Scenes video of Archewell’s major moments of the past 12 months with Coldplay‘s Sky Full of Stars as the soundtrack to the near-two minute film.
It shows the couple together at a number of events as well as Meghan cooking with women plus footage of their trips across the US and abroad – mainly together and sometimes apart.
Last night the Archewell Foundation released its annual report and US tax return, which reveals income has reached $5.7million last year, mainly thanks to a mystery benefactor who gave $5million in a single donation plus $335,000 from five other individuals.
The Archewell Foundation handed out $1.3million in grants to good causes in the US and other parts of the world.
Expenditure on other costs such as salaries, event costs, legal fees and travel was $2million in 2023 with the Sussexes’ right-hand man James Holt, a co-executive director, paid a $228,500 salary plus $18,428 in benefits.
Co-executive director Shauna Nep, who is also close to the royal couple, earned a salary of $272,241 plus additional benefits totaling $26,356. Communications manager Deesha Tank was paid $140,000 plus $7,100 in ‘other compensation’, according to the US tax filings.
Harry and Meghan are directors but do not get paid a salary. The charity’s tax return says they work a nominal one-hour-per-week, which according to People is ‘a standard practice for directors of US tax-exempt organisations’.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released their annual report for their charity the Archewell Foundation, with a video of them together at various events in the US and abroad
Meghan hugs a young woman at one of the couple’s Archewell-related events with Harry out of shot to her left
Harry and Meghan together in Columbia for their most recent foreign tour
Harry and Meghan with member of the Muslim community in their new glossy video
James Holt, the couple’s most loyal aide, is a co-executive director and paid a $228,500 salary plus $18,428 in benefits
Founded by Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the Archewell Foundation is now in its third full year of operation.
It has continued to grow its two signature programmes – The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Network and The Welcome Project.
Following a successful pilot, The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Network launched publicly in August 2024.
Its mission is to unite parents with first-hand experience of the dangers social media poses to children.
Launched in 2023, The Welcome Project continues to empower refugee women through women-led programming. There are currently 15 active Welcome Projects across the US that are fostering connection and belonging through a range of activities including sewing, art, hiking, swimming, photography, storytelling and cooking.
Away from Archewell, Meghan is working hard on American Riviera Orchard amid trademark problems.
Having announced her new cooking and lifestyle business, American Riviera Orchard, with great fanfare back in March, the Duchess of Sussex began a search for a suitable Chief Executive Officer.
‘Meghan is interviewing candidates for the CEO role at the moment,’ a source told the Mail’s Richard Eden.
Despite having interviewed several candidates for the position, Prince Harry‘s wife was unable to find anyone who matched her expectations.
Now, insiders say she has found the perfect candidate – herself.
‘She is the CEO of American Riviera Orchard,’ a ‘source in the know’ told the New York Post.
In April, a California-based source told me: ‘The initial CEO search has not panned out so far.’
I reported that the Duchess’s difficulties had led to an intriguing new development: she had begun negotiations with Netflix about the U.S. streaming giant entering into a commercial partnership with American Riviera Orchard.
‘This is something new for Netflix,’ the source told me. ‘It would run the lifestyle business with Meghan, developing products as spin-offs from her show. ‘If a partnership is agreed, it’s likely that Netflix would install its own CEO to run operations.’
The Duchess of Sussex began a search for a suitable Chief Executive Officer in March
Meghan is said to hope that American Riviera Orchard, which will focus on home, garden, food and lifestyle wares, will be highly lucrative.
Meghan and Harry, pictured during a visit to Colombia last month, have also reportedly ‘struggled’ to find a CEO for Meghan’s new home goods and lifestyle venture
Her lawyer has applied to trademark the brand in the U.S. for various goods, including cutlery, recipe books, tablecloths, napkins, jams, edible oils, vegetable and dairy-based spreads (pictured: Heather Dorak posts a photo of her American Rivera Orchard Jam on Instagram)
Meghan is said to hope that American Riviera Orchard, which will focus on home, garden, food and lifestyle wares, will be highly lucrative.
Her lawyer has applied to trademark the brand in the U.S. for various goods, including cutlery, recipe books, tablecloths, napkins, jams, edible oils, vegetable and dairy-based spreads. The trademark application also appears to extend to a physical shop where items could be sold.
The Duchess, 43, unveiled the venture nine months ago by posting a glitzy video on Instagram in which she could be seen busying herself in a rustic-looking kitchen, arranging white and pink flowers and whisking something in a bowl.
She posted the video the day after I contacted her office for comment on her plans, which may have overshadowed an appearance by Harry, via video link, at an event that evening for the Diana Award, an organisation close to his heart.
