Almost every little girl dreams of becoming a princess that they see on their favorite fairy tale books and movies, however, what the books and movies miss out is what happens after the prince and the princess live happily ever after. In the real world, there is only two way for a girl to be a princess, first is being born royal and second, is by marrying a royal.
Kate Middleton is one of the best examples of being a normal girl becoming a princess when she got married to Prince William. Another normal girl will become a princess this year and that is Meghan Markle, who will be marrying Prince Harry this coming May at the St. George Chapel in Windsor.
Everyone thinks that it seems so romantic and all, but what people don’t realize is that it will be so complicated for Markle, the fact that she wouldn’t be a UK citizen for a couple of years is a start and that alone simply means that she will remain an American citizen for a couple of more years, which is why experts believe that the future Duchess might need to pay a huge amount of taxes the moment she says “I do”, continue reading to find out more about this.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are set to wed on the 19th of May 2018
Markle’s Wealth Before And After Marriage
Now people may be wondering why Kate Middleton didn’t have this kind of problem when she was getting ready to marry a price, that’s just because Kate was born and raised in Great Britain, whereas Meghan Markle isn’t.
Unlike Kate, she was also an actress and as we all know, celebrities make quite a fortune and according to Celebrity Net Worth, she currently gets $5 million. Her last project before being involved with the Prince was as Rachel Zane on the television show “Suits,” where she earned $50,000 for every episode and so she got $450,000 for an entire year.
This, of course, does not include all her sponsorships and endorsements that amounted to another $80,000. Markle also earned $171,429 when she became a part of the film The Candidate as well as $187,000 back in 2010 when she appeared in the film “Remember Me.” Markle may not be considered as an A-lister in Hollywood, but she is a celebrity nevertheless.
Markle on the set of “Suits”
Prince Harry on the other hand, well he’s a prince so he would have a fortune. He has a net worth of $40 million and aside from that, he inherited $13 million from his mother, the late Princess Diana when he reached the age of 30.
Aside from his royal allowance, he is also receiving more than $100,000 from the British Army Air Corps for serving as a pilot. His income and expenses for all his royal duties are all generated by his father’s private estate, in fact, last year, they paid almost $9 million for Prince Harry’s as well as his brother and his wife’s, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, expenses for their royal duties.
Meghan’s first Royal Christmas Parade with Prince Harry last December 2017
Future Duchess To Pay Taxes?
It is not every day that a simple woman from another country could be a royal by marriage because of her husband. Which is why Royal expert, Marlene Koenig said that this could be problematic for the future Duchess. Markle, who is a citizen of the United States, may be given the chance to choose whether to retain her U.S. citizenship as a dual citizen or not.
If she were to stay American by law, she will surely have to continue paying for her taxes, especially if she is given any form of income or allowance for being a part of the royal family. She would need to pay her taxes to the United States Internal Revenue Service since no one, not even a royal by marriage, can be exempted by this law. She would also need to file for a Form 8938, wherein she would need to document all her assets for that tax year if they are more than $300,000, and as a part of the royal family, surely it will be more.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle together with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge doing an interview for the Royal Foundation
Markle may be treated like a Duchess and may be referred to as one when she gets married to Prince Harry, but she would still be an American woman who is living in the United Kingdom with her husband. She would live there with a family visa and wouldn’t be able to get her British citizenship and permanent residency in 5 years. That would be the only time that she could apply for her dual citizenship, which make things even more complicated since they wouldn’t know if she has to pay her U.S. taxes in those five years while waiting.
