Prince Harry and Meghan need to ‘prove their authenticity’ as a power couple, says expert

It was reported that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's US charity Archewell raised less than £50,000 in 2020 after opening a bank account last January.

Between June 2020 and June 2021, the charity – which raised a total of £37,000 – spent more than £55,000 on legal fees including attorneys' costs.

While Archewell was set up back in April 2020, the lawyers said it did not open its bank account until January 2021.

Now, royal expert Duncan Larcombe tells OK! that Meghan, 40, and Harry, 37, will be working hard to prove their worth as a couple as they strive to turn their charity around after last year's low figures.

Filings seen by the Daily Mail say that Archewell stated to the US' Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that it raised less than $50,000 (£36,947) in 2020.

"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," he told OK!.

"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."

Duncan added that as the pressure on them transforming their charity, there is also the pressure of proving their authenticity to the public as a "power couple".

"This puts pressure on them," he shared.

"It’s 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.

He added: "So if their focus has been on having enough money to become financially independent as they said, they’ve achieved that.

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"If they really want to prove their authenticity as a power couple doing good then the focus needs to be more one raising money for charity rather than the Sussex family coffers."

The Duke and Duchess – who are parents to son Archie, two, and baby daughter Lilibet – set up the non-profit organisation in April 2020 following their decision to quit their royal duties and move to the US.

OK! previously approached Meghan and Harry's representatives for further comment.

But while the pair decided to move to America to be a family, it's going to be a busy time for the couple as they are said to be moving from their luxury LA mansion in Montecito.

After living in their incredible home for 18 months, they are now reportedly looking elsewhere to live in a better location.

"They are thinking of selling their house there. However, it won't be on the market because of who they are,” a source told the Mirror. "It's only being shown to people who are confirmed with funds and are serious buyers."

The source added: "They want to stay in the neighbourhood or nearby but they aren't over the moon about the house and the location.”

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