Prince Harry Won Hearts For His $1.4M Donation — Now Documents Reveal Where the Money Actually Came From
Prince Harry was the talk of the town after he announced a 'personal donation' of $1.38M to the BBC's Children in Need charity.
Prince Harry dominated headlines during his September 2025 UK visit when he finally reunited with King Charles. The same trip also made him the talk of the town after he announced a 'personal donation' of $1.38M to the BBC's Children in Need charity to support projects tackling violence against young people. While the contribution was widely reported as coming from the Duke himself, royal expert Richard Eden disputes the claim, citing documents that showed the funds were actually provided by a charity linked to the late Princess Diana.
Harry announced his donation during a visit to the Community Recording Studio in Nottingham, where he mingled with social action groups and local charities. Soon after, sources told the BBC that the donation was "from his [Harry's] own money rather than his Archewell organization." It would, as the Duke affirmed, "help changemakers in the city continue their mission to create safe spaces... and offer hope and belonging to young people." The generosity, however, raised some eyebrows, as just two months earlier, reports surfaced that Netflix had pulled out of the Sussexes' $100M five-year deal. Moreover, Harry and Meghan Markle had already lost their $20M deal with Spotify in 2023, raising fresh questions about the source of their funding.
Against that context, Eden wrote for the Daily Mail that the donation did not come from Harry's net worth from his lucrative interviews or memoir, but rather from the Glen Beg Foundation, a charity established in 1999, two years after Diana's death. It was set up using funds from the late Princess of Wales' Charities Trust, which was established by Diana in 1981, the same year she married the then-Prince Charles. As time passed, the foundation was financed by donations from organizations that she represented. After her untimely death in August 1997, the money in her trust was split equally between her children, Prince Harry and Prince William.
Named after hills on the Balmoral estate, the brothers' respective charities were established as The Broad Cairn Foundation for William and The Glen Beg Foundation for Harry. Charles's solicitor, Baroness (Fiona) Shackleton of Belgravia, was the only trustee to sit on both the charity boards. Eden revealed that documents filed at the Charity Commission confirm that $1.38M was transferred from the Glen Beg Foundation to Children in Need on October 10 last year, a month after Harry's announcement. When contacted by the outlet, a spokesperson from the Sussex camp declined to comment.
