I am not 100% sure how all of this works, but apparently there was some added revenue generated from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 2018 wedding, likely from the broadcast rights? Perhaps? And somehow, this money just turned up about six weeks ago or so and it amounts to £90,000. Instead of tucking that money away in a rainy-day-royal fund, Prince Harry and Meghan asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to take the money and donate it to Feeding Britain, an organization for which the Archbishop acts as president.
Prince Harry and Meghan have arranged for money generated from their wedding broadcast to go toward feeding hungry children during the coronavirus pandemic. The couple pledged just over £90,000 to the charity Feeding Britain for its programs across the UK, which provide families in need with hot meals and food packages. The funds have been called a “godsend” by the organization’s national director, Andrew Forsey, and come from excess profits from the BBC’s royal wedding broadcast.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, who presided over the Sussexes’ May 2018 marriage, is President of Feeding Britain. Harry and Meghan told him they wanted the money to be donated to the organization during a phone call held around the time schools across the UK were closing their doors to most children. A spokesperson for Harry and Meghan said they are “delighted” to see the money go to “such a great cause.”
It had been agreed at the time of Harry and Meghan’s wedding that if there were any excess profits from the BBC broadcast, that money would go to a charity nominated by the couple. They were notified about the funds around the time the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold. It is understood the Sussexes thought it was fitting that funds generated from their wedding go to a charity supported by the Archbishop, who played such an important role on the day.
Forsey says that this donation will help Feeding Britain to sustain their programs until schools reopen. “The social and economic consequences of coronavirus have sent shockwaves across the Feeding Britain network. Families living in poverty, who were already struggling to access and afford food, have been put at even greater risk of hunger,” he told T&C. He added that the money, which is expected to arrive this week, “will keep breakfast, lunch and dinner, so three square meals, on the table of many tens of thousands of children across our network.”
My guess is that Harry and Meghan were always going to donate any revenue they got from the BBC broadcast and they were only recently informed about it. Meaning, they couldn’t have kept it themselves, and there was always going to be a charitable donation anyway. I 100% support all of the food-bank and feeding-children charities always, and this sounds like a great version of several American organizations (like Feeding America). Perhaps the Sussex Squad will donate to Feeding Britain too?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and WENN.
That’s a LOT of money. Good for them! I know all organizations addressing hunger are so vital to our communities right now.
Yes, it’s quite a donation and an especially good choice for these times. All these people complaining about the why or how it was done should write or call the Archbishop. I imagine he’d have a few good words on the spirit of giving versus the sin of jealously to set them straight.
What were people complaining about? It’s for a good cause.
@L4frimaire,
Trolls and haters are complaining about any little thing their little, tiny minds can conjure–when are they going to pay back Frogmore renovations, when are they going pay their own security, when are they going to stop taking $$$ from Chuckie. Just look at @V the troll having a go at it in comment #25. It’s the same nonsense on SM, too. They think every thing the Sussexes do or don’t do is their business. Why they’re still following them only a psychiatrist would know.
Good! It sounds like it wasn’t “their” money to begin with but I don’t know how all that works; but its a nice sized donation to an organization that really needs it right now.
Agreed! It’s awesome that they had a plan for it prior to the wedding and even better that the funds can make an impact during the pandemic. While I think they are doing their best to make concrete contributions during this global crisis, I think they have to be cautious about what organizations they support as they set up their foundation so that this doesn’t “distract” from their “mission work” focusing on conservation, women’s empowerment, and youth efforts. This is a great and worthy cause though!
Exactly. No need to “guess” on this one. It is all laid out in the article and was part of the terms the Royal family arranged for their wedding broadcast.
Regardless, great use of the funds!
And oh how quickly and easily and without major thinking the Sussexes made this happen. Everything they do is bam! I imagine all the millions that certain wealthy Britians are begging the Cambridges to take into their foundation to determine the best use of it will be distributed sometime this decade.
This was a great and thoughtful donation.
Lovely! My king and queen.
Bravo to them on their actual call-to-action!
That’s awesome! An important cause to support.
Wonderful news!
Yes. We need to hear more news like this especially at times like this.
That’s really awesome, they’re not even in Britain anymore and already doing way more than those do nothing Cambridge’s!
Why….compare? These people aren’t saints for doing this. They most likely couldn’t keep this money anyway. There was going to be a charitable donation anyway. This doesn’t make them special.
Because the money is going to an organisation who really needs it during the pandemic.
You might not care for it but the people who are going to benefit certainly do.
to Sofia:
Who says I don’t care? I’m not saying that. But, why the big headline? They could have quietly done this. They couldn’t keep this money anyway.
You know what? It’s all good. I need to stop being on this site. Three posts a day about these people. Not my thing. Apologizes for posting.
@Tammy: and yet I doubt you would give this sort of arguement to the Cambridge article where they talk about gathering money that’s not their money yet haven’t actually done anything.
Or do you just outrage for the Sussexes
@Tammy sorry that a nice story isnt your cup of tea!
@Tammy
How do you know for certain they “couldn’t” keep this money? It sounds like they somehow profited from the broadcast of their wedding, so that money would be theirs to spend as they choose, and they chose charity.
I also think it’s been announced because it highlights a charity, so it brings attention to it in hopes people would learn/be more motivated to donate there as well. It’s one way to bring attention to a charity.
Are you also this critical when the Cambridges announce stuff they give? ‘Cause nothing they do is done quietly, they make sure the public knows just how charitable they can be as well. Makes me wonder what they did with the profits from their televised wedding.
Because Meghan and Harry were not appreciated by Harry’s family AND British establishment while William and Kate are championed for doing the bare minimum. That’s why the comparison is worth mentioning.
Please donate to your local food banks, so many people World Wide are suffering.
I donated to one of Archie’s birthday chosen charities.
Apology accepted Tammy. Glad you learned your lesson.
So lovely & uplifting to see their wedding pictures again 💕💕💕
That’s a really good gesture.
I really don’t understand how royal weddings work, though. “It had been agreed at the time of Harry and Meghan’s wedding that if there were any excess profits from the BBC broadcast, that money would go to a charity nominated by the couple. ”
So I guess there’s always a profit? But this is ‘excess’ profit? Which I’m not sure what that means. Did some of the money go towards wedding costs, or did the non-excess go to the BBC? Is this like ad revenue or something? And why did it take almost 2 years for them to be told what kind of funds were available? It’s just all very strange. And I don’t mean that in a shady way – it’s just something I never would have even thought about before.
Either way – I really like that they picked a cause that’s close to the Archbishop – that’s a really nice touch. And I’m sure it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Yeah I was confused by that as well. Wish I knew how it worked? Maybe the royal family works out deals with networks where they get a certain percentage of profits from their televised weddings? I wonder.
Yeah – it’s just something I guess I never considered. It only makes sense that money could be made off of a televised event. I think I just considered coverage of Royal weddings to be more of a news thing and less of an event in the way that a pay per view fight or sports event like the Superbowl with crazy costs for running ads or whatever would be.
I think it’s money generated from Ad revenue as well as licensing fees that were paid to them by other networks (if they paid for them) and for the “official” YouTube channels to put up clips or something.
I don’t think the BBC paid a dime for their wedding or ANY wedding. And the donation has just happened now, doesn’t necessarily mean they money just became available. It could be the BBC told them a few months back it was available but since they’ve had a busy few months it was probably low down on their to do list compared to what else they had to do. So now while they’ve got some time to breathe they probably sat and thought “okay what do we do?”. And probably thinking of a charity took some time as well.
As for how long it took, it could have taken the BBC a while to get their books in order or something.
Ahhh that makes sense. I’m sure other networks would have had to pay to use the footage – and I’m sure there were a lot of networks doing just that.
Thanks for the explaination, Sofia. That makes a lot of sense.
And I’m sure it could also have been tied in partially to the role changes – they had so much going on in a short amount of time and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some legal i’s to dot and t’s to cross.
@Erin: I’m just guessing but it’s the explanation that makes the most sense to me. Profit being tied to ad revenue which is generated by viewership could explain why BBC didn’t bother getting the rights for Eugenie’s wedding because apparently the BBC didn’t think enough people would watch
Good news!
The Sussex Squad is doing an online fundraiser for donations to COVID-19 relief in honor of Archie’s 1st birthday which is also a nice thing to do.
Of course, the usual online haters are being nasty about it.
And have, so far, raised $30,000 (as of yesterday) for three charities supporting children. As people keep pointing out to those haters, maybe they could use their time and energy more constructively.
I’d like to contribute but right now anything I can spare is going to my local Food Bank, etc. But good on the SussexSquad for doing this. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
@JA – any giving is laudable! Thank you for your donations.
JA Lowcountry Lady – I’m part of the SussexSquad on twitter and giving locally is also really welcome!! So thank you too!! I gave at the beginning but have also been publicizing #ArchieDay each day (up until his b-day) to continue publicizing the effort. Other people are also giving locally and even sewing facemasks for critical workers. I love the Squad for being so creative!
How does one become a member of the SussexSquad?
@ Lady D. : I went on twitter and the Sussex Squad is there but it is a closed group – you have to apply and they get back to you. Take a look!
I’d like to be part of that too. Thanks for listing how!
Lovely and perfect timing.
Wow, they didn’t even need to funnel it through a foundation first, how about that!!
Did we get the Royal Foundation story because they knew about the Sussex donation?
What are the Cambridges doing? Uh, things! Lots of things! Details to follow later.
That’s exactly why we got that lame-ass story out of KP.
It’s funny how this website criticizes other celebs for ‘only’ donating $1million (see: Jack Dorsey twitter article), yet when Meghan and Harry donate $90k (with money that they probably couldn’t have kept anyway) they’re praised like the second coming. I used to love this site, but the constant slavering over this couple who can ‘do no wrong’ has become a bit much. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind H&M but the constant adoration and refusal to acknowledge anything less is getting a bit stale.
Don’t hate, donate.
Thanks for the smile @Standbyme2018 so true. That’s part of the purpose of this organization publicizing the donation, I’m sure, so that others will give too.
I agree but the bigger picture is this. Every celebrity, every billionaire, every member of a royal family should be donating right now. And it’s ridiculous that we then have to acknowledge and praise anyone who donates a tiny crumb of their multimillion dollar empire, like they are little children in need of validation. Any donations anyone makes is only a tax write off, they will actually lose money in taxes if they don’t donate.
People need to wake the F up.
Because they are one of the first royals to actually donate. Even if it’s not money they could keep, it’s money generated by them getting married.
I don’t see how that’s any different to the Cambridges having rich donors donate to their foundation and THEN it goes to the charities. I mean their friends’ money isn’t the Cambridge money yet they’ll be praised to high heavens about it.
You know, this is just a recognition of money going to charity that was already in the public domain (so to speak). They didn’t announce it. We don’t actually know that they haven’t donated their own money. We didn’t know about the money they had donated under Archie’s name last year until somebody at that charity spilled the beans.
I agree that rich people should be donating, and that it is the absolute very least they can do. I don’t think they were looking for accolades here (especially since it seems the money wasn’t actually theirs) – more likely a way to add their name to “news” for clicks.
You’re under no obligation to read the comments on articles about them, btw – save yourself the aggravation of having people see something special in them and move on.
I don’t think its just about the amount – it wasn’t their money anyway – but its more that they are using the donation to highlight a specific charity that really needs the extra money right now.
The “constant adoration” is response to the negatives H&M usually get by the Brish Media. This woman has been dragged by an enitre nation fro three years, and it continues it hasn’t stopped. I’m thinking that maybe the British Media and the Royal Family don’t know how to self-reflect, instead they blame one woman, ONE woman for making them look bad. Meghan is not perfect, she comes from a broken home, possibly had family around her that abused drugs as happens a lot with people of low socioeconomic backgrounds, but she has grown better than her family and turned her life into something beautiful. RF were born with all the advantages and still are lazy and behave like trash. In the west we love people that come from humble backgrounds, work hard and against all odd become self-made millionaires and billionaires, you guys turn your noses at people like that.
“The “constant adoration” is response to the negatives H&M usually get by the Brish Media. This woman has been dragged by an enitre nation fro three years, and it continues it hasn’t stopped. I’m thinking that maybe the British Media and the Royal Family don’t know how to self-reflect, instead they blame one woman, ONE woman for making them look bad.”
^^^THIS!
@Hohoxo, you have not made a single complaint about the Cambridges. What is your real problem with the Sussexes?
@Hohoxo: Well then why don’t you take a crap on the Cambridges who apparently have done nothing with THEIR money, and they have wads more than the Sussexes. And while I’m at it what are you doing with your money? I’ve donated to a homeless shelter, the BCSPCA and a local and very famous park and petting zoo to keep their animals fed and gardens tended to. It’s not much but it’s at least SOMETHING.
That’s great! I’ll add it to my charities to donate to for #ArchieDay.
Same for me.
I really needed and awww and ahhh moment. I’ve been putting in food bank time, and other essential duties, and I appreciate when people can feel secure about meals – as do they. Lately there are more who feel a bit guilty, because they haven’t had to go to a food bank before, and I hope I’m putting their mind at ease. That’s the purpose and if it keeps them home more often that’s what’s up.
Lilly, you have a wonderful heart.
It is great that even two years after their wedding and with them now out of the country, the Sussex wedding is still generating money that can be used to help the UK. The Cambridge article makes sense now: whenever there is an article about the Sussexes, which shows a concrete plan for easily identifiable resources/funds, we get a vague “the Cambridges are talking about maybe possibly doing something that may or may not do anything but gosh they’re really, really, keen this time” piece right before or after the Sussex news.
I agree with you. This ALWAYS happens. And the Sussex’s will get criticized “How dare they donate money during the pandemic?! How Hollywood of them!”
I’m sure these two have donated their own money and helped in their own way during this pandemic, they just don’t advertise it And want the focus on the pandemic itself. The Archbishop said it was Harry and Meghan and their spokesperson just confirmed.
I’m CERTAIN that they have donated privately just like they did to a children’s charity during GLOBALSUSSEXBABYSHOWER
Meanwhile the keenbridges are lining up their next publicity stunt I mean zoom set up instead of joining their son’s godfather and donating to NHS🙄
I don’t understand why people are donating to charities selected by the sussexsquad for Archie’s birthday. It’s great that they’re donating, but at least where I live there are tons of local causes that desperately need help from people in the community. For example, my mom lives in a non-profit nursing home and they’re short of everything, including cash. I hope most people are also donating locally to support people who are suffering because of the virus.
Imagine being mad over people raising money for c harities. How dreadful! We’re donating because we’re part of the Sussex Squad and that’s what we want to do as a group. Stay mad and mind your business. It’s not our fault that Duchess DoNothing’s fake fans are as unproductive and selfish as she is.
If you follow the Sussex squad on Twitter or listen to their podcast, the are suggesting people donate to local charities as well. There are alot of people donating to local food banks and organizations for #ArchieDay.
Yes, they picked out 3 but you can donate to whichever charity you want. Local or not. Some are making masks and waiving rent for renters until they can get back on their feet. It’s an awesome thing they are doing.
Thank you TGosha and Marie. I don’t follow them so wasn’t aware.
What are you doing to help your Mom’s nursing home?
People are donating to the charities chosen for Archie’s birthday and their local charities.
Some people can do both, others can’t, at this time but are making masks or doing other worth while things to help.
They have also purchased over 80 thousand trees World Wide, for the Sussex Great Forest.
I understand your frustration – I do want to reassure you that I donate to both local and global causes. Where ever I feel I can do the most good. I chose charities that have minimum overhead and some are ongoing and some are emergency donations because of situations just like this one. Let’s all help where we can.
People are doing it because the organizers looked for smaller orgs that may need funding right now. However, they/we also encouraged people to donate locally and some SussexSquaders were even sewing facemasks. Maybe research it a little before you start criticizing!
Holy cow that is a lot of vitriol in the responses. I get what Shiloh was saying and it was in no way a dig.
Thank you all for every donation, sacrifice and good thought.
I really miss the days of LAK and Sixer…
I don’t miss them. They don’t post here anymore so why keep bringing up their names? It’s beyond annoying. I for one appreciate the contributors that post here now with thought-provoking discussion and feedback.
@Melissa,
Do you miss everyone who went elsewhere to hate on Meghan, Duchess of Sussex or decided to quit CB? Bottom line, those people you named made a choice not comment on all CB threads, not just royals. Further, I didn’t read one comment above that was vitriolic. If questioning someone about their opinions (like what has Shiloh done to help?) when it’s obvious they were too quick to comment before having all the facts (which are readily available on SM), then some people are too sensitive to participate in discussions here.
@ Melissa : Damn but I miss LAK and Sixer too. There IS a hell of a lot of vitriol in comments for Harry and Meghan stories. It makes me leery of leaving a comment because I don’t want to come back and see some vicious response to it.
@Still_Sarah,
Vicious is relative. I’ve seen some comments from people you’re probably familiar with that are so vicious towards the Sussexes, Meghan in particular, and their fans that you would think they are possessed. So, who appreciates reading that mess but trolls and haters? Some people never have a kind or neutral thing to say about the couple or their fans here. The couple have hurt no one or done any wrong, legally or criminally. So, if all one can say about them is something negative, every time, who wants to keep reading that mess, either?
I miss them too. They had insightful comments
Shiloh I agree with you. The way things are now local charities are what need donations. Not some donation when you dont even know what its for just because a royal or a celebrity picked it. And someone telling you to mind your own business is just plain rude. Local charities need help now, not wait for some childs birthday
What part of “people are being encouraged to donate to their local charities in addition to the 3 suggested ones” do you not understand. And you really exposed yourself referring to a baby boy as “some child.”
@LindaS,
Why are you shortchanging people’s intelligence to determine, on their own, whether they will or will not donate to a recommended charity? Is it OK to donate to the Cambridge’s foundation or the United Way, or some other large non-profit that distributes donated funds, and let it decide to whom and where the funds will go? Did you not read that the SussexSquad advised people they can donate to any charity of their choosing, local or not? With your constant negativity towards them, you must really have a deep personal problem with the Sussexes and their fans, and it’s beyond me why you continue to follow their actions. Surely, it does not make you feel good or charitable.
You’re as bitter as ever, Linda.
dear shiloh you always find fault with the sussexes – if you want to donate locally then go ahead, no one is stopping you
I’d like to see the jealous Cambridges match the Sussexes’ donation to show that . . . Ah, whatever, they’d never do that.
Yep even though they’re multi-billionaires.
Probably not, but it won’t surprise me at all to read that the Cambs gave £90,000.01 to some charity or other in the coming weeks.
@booboocita
LOL! I think this is why we got the article saying how rich people so desperately wanted to donate to their foundation that they didn’t even have to seek them out, and how “keen” they were to do charity.
Fanastic! Such a quiet and humble couple, no pomp and circumstance and to a great cause, kids can’t help themselves so this is perfect!
It was the Charity that made the announcement.
So happy to hear this. What a great thing for them to do.
Kudos to the Sussexes, I can’t wait to see what they will do with their foundation!
It is great that they donated £90 000 that are not theirs for PR, and it would be even greater for them to donate £2 000 000 that Charles pays for their security to the same cause 😉 And they could start paying for their security from their own pocket 😉 I think that only then more people would start respecting them and believing their story of two hard-working humanitarians. Otherwise all this looks only like a PR move.
why shouldn’t they have security paid for by Charles? With all the negativity about them some over the top scary comments as well. Some will never respect them, the same ones that put out a petition to stop the wedding. And there are some who would still blast them no matter what.
@V
Please stop with the security costs complaints; you’re trolling and it’s tiresome. Plus, the Sussexes didn’t make this announcement; read before commenting. More importantly, it’s none of your business and none of our business how their security is paid and when/how they become independent. And, as you well know, the goal post is constantly moved against their favor by the haters, anti-stans (stalkers) and traditional royalists. So, no, trolls will never respect them just like trolls will never complain about the Cambridges’ free luxury lifestyle, poor work ethic, and lack of personal contributions to charity.
Bitter much? Their track record on working with charities speaks for itself as does your sour grapes statement……
HIs dad pays for their security, which is right since he was born crazy famous, and can’t help constant stalkers and attacks. Harry has stated to The Firm that he won’t accept public tax money, so unless you have found a money trail that leads back to taxpayer funds and not back to personal Charles income, please shut your yap. Maybe if you have a problem with this, you being the British taxpayer, should demand more transparency from the RF, that is not something that Harry can help. End of.
@V – I hope their security costs come out of your next paycheck
@V, Charles is Harry’s father, not yours. Whatever Charles does for his son Harry and daughter-in-law Meghan and grandson Archie, is Charles business, again NOT yours. You don’t have any rights to tell Charles what he should do for his child, again Charles is NOT your father, he is Harry’s. Case closed.
As I understand it, the 90 000 is theirs. They made a decision at the time of the wedding that if their wedding generated those additional funds, they would give it to charity. It still was theirs to give or keep. Now that it is available, they chose the Feeding Britain because of the links with the Archbishop and it was desperately needed right now. But they were not under any obligation to earmark that revenue for charity in the beginning. And it was a grateful Archbishop and charity that shared the news, not Sussex PR.
@ Sid : why the nasty comment for V? “No one cares V” – no one cares about V? Why the personal attack on V? He/she has a different opinion from you and the others. I’m not some Will & Kate fan – I have always thought they were lazy and boring. But the personal attacks on other commenters is not appropriate IMO.
The online fundraiser connected to Archie’s birthday is fan driven https://twitter.com/_archieday_/status/1246935500235124738?s=21
Looks like it has been running for a while now and ends on 6 May. The focus is on 3 charities who support vulnerable children with meals etc but the organizers are encouraging individuals to donate to whoever they wish to support or to share their good deeds during this pandemic, like donating groceries to neighbours, using a hashtag.
I’m gonna donate to Feeding Britain like I have to my local food bank& woman’s refuge shelter. There’s also this smaller homeless charity Sophie Wessex visited last week that sounds like a great one to support. I have found out about some interesting orgs through the royals as hard as the tabloids make that.
Some tense responses today but it’s not that deep. charities large& small are really struggling& will be hit really hard by this pandemic so kudos to celebitches supporting in anyway they can 😊
Totally agree, ABrit Guest. No-one can do everything, we all just need to do the bit we can, and trust that others are doing theirs. Yes, kudos to all the celebitches out there making the world a better place. 😊
Good for them for arranging the money goes to a very worthwhile cause.
I’m pretty sure the Cambridges will copy paste this initiative of the Sussexes shortly. They wouldn’t allow, even for a second, the Sussexes to out-PR them this way. Cambridges will also donate money to a charity. And they will perhaps top that amount donated by the Sussexes. Why not? If it is to better the lives of many, then copy they should. It’s a good copy anyway. So why not?
I actually don’t mind if the Cambridge’s copy this, if it goes directly to a charity they care about and the funds can be used in a timely manner. It just seems like they have to go through many layers of courtiers to get anything done. That’s part of their job, to promote charities, so they should be doing it.
@Tammy. Apologies accepted. Can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen!
The Cambridge wedding was also televised. If the Sussex’s couldn’t keep the money generated from the wedding being televised then do we know what the Cambridge’s did with their profits? I don’t remember any news about a donation at the time.