Why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Said They Only Work One …

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle each listed just one hour's work per week at their Archewell Foundation non-profit in 2021, according to recently released tax filings, but it would be "unfair to criticize them" for that number as it is close to standard among directors of charitable foundations, Newsweek has heard. Harry and Meghan set up their Archewell Foundation in 2020, just months after they left their lives in Britain as working members of the royal family and moved to California with their young family. The couple said, at the time of their split from the monarchy, that they were seeking financial independence but would continue to place duty and service to others at the forefront of their working outputs.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry photographed in New York City, September 23, 2021.

The couple started their Archewell Foundation in 2020. Gotham/FilmMagic

The Archewell Foundation was soon joined by Archewell Audio and Archewell Productions, the content creation companies founded by the couple which were then all grouped under the umbrella of the Archewell organization. The foundation released its IRS 990 filings under public disclosure in March which detailed the financial particulars for the 2021 tax year--its first full year in operation. The figures revealed that the foundation raised over £13 million in donations, £3 million of which was re-distributed out in grants or donations to charitable causes supported by Harry and Meghan who act as Archewell's directors.

These donations included £300,000 to World Central Kitchen to develop four community relief kitchens in crisis areas, £250,000 to Harvard for expanding a fellowship programme at the Institute for Rebooting Social Media, £125,000 to the NAACP to fund the Archewell Foundation Digital Civil Rights Award, and £50,000 to the Loveland Foundation to provide mental health services for women of color. Alongside the hard financial data, Harry and Meghan also had their average working hours per week listed revealing that they registered one hour each, amounting to 52 hours each per year. This apparently low working output registered on the IRS 990 is "not unusual" for foundation board members, attorney Seth Perlman, partner of Perlman & Perlman LLP, told Newsweek.

"You'll typically see that listed for many directors," he said. "If you have four board meetings a year--that's what directors do, they hold board meetings--then that turns into basically 12 hours a quarter. Which is, you know, a sufficient amount of time and a typical amount of time for board members to act."

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle photographed in New York City, September 25, 2021.

The couple's Archewell Foundation received over £13 million in donations last year. Gotham/WireImage

On any potential criticism arising from the duke and duchess' one-hour per week listings, Perlman added: "It would be unfair to criticize them for that." As directors of the Archewell Foundation, Harry and Meghan's roles are close to supervisory in their duties, Perlman explained. "The position of directors is to establish the mission and the vision, make sure that they hire the right people to carry that out, determine the governance of the organization, make sure that the financials are being properly overseen and make sure they fully understand the financials of the organization and then, if they do make grants to approve those grants," he said.

"Those are the basic functions of directors, and they've assumed that position." Cliff Schneider, managing partner of Cohen Schneider Law, told Newsweek that Harry and Meghan's time spent overseeing the foundation would also be consistent with others who employ an executive director, such as Archewell's James Holt. "The foundation has an executive director and primarily makes grants to other organizations to support such organizations' operations," he said. "So, seeing that directors/trustees such as the duke and duchess spend roughly a few hours per month providing oversight, support, strategic direction and making board-level decisions would be consistent with expectations."

A number of other high-profile foundations list their directors' time in a similar way, such as the Obama Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Newsweek approached representatives of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as well as the Archewell Foundation via email for comment. James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London.

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