Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Montecito home is a "humble cottage" compared to what California's super-rich can afford, a royal biographer has claimed.
Since quitting as working royals over two years ago and carving out a new life in California, the couple and their children Archie and Lilibet live in an £11million nine-bedroom home in Montecito. Reports have suggested they have a mortgage of around £7million and need £50,000 per month over the next 30 years to cover the repayments, property taxes and insurance. However, it has been suggested that the couple have been eyeing up property in the exclusive community of Hope Ranch, where homes can go for as much as £22million.
But responding to these reports, royal author Tina Brown has claimed that Harry and Meghan are not as well off as some in Hollywood, who are "super rich".
Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival and quoted in The Telegraph, the former Vanity Fair editor and author of the Palace Papers: "It's not very pleasant to be a D-list celebrity who, for them, doesn’t have enough money. It's a wholly different game to be with those super-rich people.
"In Montecito, where they live, their $14 million mansion is a humble cottage compared to what these other people have."
When Harry and Meghan quit as working royals, they said they wanted to be "financially independent" and the latest royal accounts published in June showed they have now achieved this.
Since stepping back from the royal family, Harry and Meghan have signed several deals that are thought to be worth millions of dollars.
One is with Netflix, thought to be worth up to £112million, and another is with streaming giant Spotify, which is claimed to be worth £18million.
In their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, Harry revealed he and Meghan had relied on his inheritance from his late mum Princess Diana in order to move to the US.
It is thought to have been a sum of about £7 million at the time of her death in August 1997.
He told Oprah: "I brought what my mum left me. And without that, we would not have been able to do this."
Meanwhile, Harry's upcoming tell-all memoir is also thought to be due to boost their earnings.
The new book was due to be released before the end of the year but could now be postponed until 2023 following the death of the Queen.
Reports last week suggested he was "desperately" trying to make changes to his tell-all memoir following his grandmother's passing.
It is now likely to be published next year, with senior royals including King Charles and Prince William said to be "increasingly uneasy" about the content of the memoir.
An insider has now claimed the Duke of Sussex is "desperate" to get the book "refined" in the light of his grandmother's passing, but warned that it "might be too late".
But according to Tina, it could be the case that the book won't "see the light of day".
She said: "They are now in this bind, where they’ve taken all this money and Harry has made this book deal where he’s supposed to spill everything about his horrible life as a royal, but now he’s actually tortured about it because he understands there is no way back if he does it.
"If the book continues, I don’t think there is any way for Harry to return. So my view has always been that the book won’t see the light of day."
