These are not the best times for Archewell, the foundation of Henry of England and Meghan Markle. If a few months ago, at the end of 2023, his tax return showed that he had lost most of his donations (going from 12 million to only two), now the issue is complicated on a legal level. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has issued a notice that the foundation is in debt and delinquent, so it practically has to cease operations until the situation is resolved. Unofficial spokespersons for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex claim that this is just an administrative problem, that they have paid but the money has not arrived on time.
It was on May 3 when Bonta made the notice, which the newspaper has now revealed Page Six exclusively and that People has confirmed. The prosecutor made the notice, according to the documents obtained by Peopleto note that the organization is “on the list of defaulters of the Registry of Charities and Fundraisers for not having submitted the required annual report or reports and/or the required renewal fees.”
The point is that, being part of that list of defaulters and non-payers, many doors are closed to Archewell, so it is urgent that if they want to continue receiving financing and, therefore, being active, the dukes solve the problem. affair. “An organization that appears on the list of defaulters is not up to date with its obligations and is prohibited from carrying out activities for which registration is required, such as requesting or disbursing charitable funds,” explains the note from prosecutor Bonta. “The organization may also be subject to sanctions and its registration may be suspended or revoked by the Registry. Once you submit the delinquent registration or registrations, you will be notified of the amount of late fees you owe,” the letter states. The issue could be really expensive for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex foundation if it does not take action in time.
Sources close to Henry of England and Meghan Markle, who have just made a trip to Nigeria to promote the Invictus Games – a competition created by the prince for war veterans – claim that everything is an administrative error, a matter of timing. That they sent a check within the appropriate time (in California it is still common to pay taxes and receipts by mail), but that it never arrived and that they have already sent another one and, therefore, they hope that it will be resolved quickly, in fact in about seven business days.
The prince and the duchess decided to create a foundation in 2019, and then they said it would have a branch in the United States. Finally, and after dissolving Sussex Royal, which associated them with the British royal family, they established it in 2020 and, according to these documents, it is legally located in Beverly Hills (next to Los Angeles) and not in Montecito, the town of Santa Barbara — about two hours north of the Californian city—where they live. When they decided to leave the British royal family at the beginning of that year, they knew they would settle in California, but not exactly where, so it makes sense that they established the foundation in and around Los Angeles and with the help of a nearby lawyer. Markle (a native of the city) to lend them a hand.
The first full year of the foundation’s life was a success. In 2021 they managed to raise more than 13 million dollars; Of those, eight had been donated by an individual, although it is not known who it was. However, in 2022 the accounts fell sharply to two million dollars (2,000,911, exactly), with donations made by only two people, whose identities are not revealed, although each of them donated approximately one million dollars. That became known at the end of 2023, when Archewell’s accounts for the previous year were made public. Then it also became public that the foundation had recorded a deficit in its accounts of $674,000.
In 2022, the organization had five employees – the Sussexes are its directors and do not receive a salary – including its executive director, James Holt, former press officer for Enrique and Meghan but also for their brother William and Kate, then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. If in 2021 Holt earned $60,000, in 2022 his salary rose to 227,400 euros per year (plus a bonus of 20,000), a more than considerable increase. The foundation still has assets and cash flow of $8.3 million. At least that’s what their latest accounts recorded. We will have to wait to know those of 2023 to see their evolution.
