HITTING BACK
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle try to claim they WEREN’T misleading with ‘cut off’ Oprah claims – but face backlash
PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle have tried to claim they WEREN'T misleading the public when they moaned Charles "cut them off" during their explosive Oprah chat.
The Duke of Sussex told the world he was “cut off financially” by the Royals when he sat down for his infamous interview with Oprah earlier this year.
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But Prince Charles’ annual report, released last night, showed his youngest son received a “substantial” sum from him after Megxit.
Figures show he gave both the Sussexes and Cambridges a share of £4.45million, despite Harry claiming he had been hung out to dry by the Firm.
Harry famously told Oprah he had been "cut off in the first quarter of 2020" - allowing the public to believe he meant January to March.
The annual Sovereign Report shows Charles kept funding him and Meghan until the "end of the first financial quarter", meaning they received dosh until the end of June.
The Sussexes were accused of misleading the public over the claims - with royal experts saying it now cast further doubt over their other bombshell allegations in the Oprah chat.
Now, in a sensational swipe back, Harry and Meghan have tried to deny any contradiction at all.
A spokesperson for the Sussexes said “it’s inaccurate to suggest that there’s a contradiction", and insisted Harry was talking about the first quarter of the financial year from April 2020.
They said: "The duke's comments during the Oprah interview were in reference to the first quarter of the fiscal reporting period in the UK, which starts annually in April.
"This is the same date that the 'transitional year' of the Sandringham agreement began and is aligned with the timeline that Clarence House referenced."
Pal Omid Scobie added: "Despite some confusing reports, Prince Charles and Prince Harry’s timelines for the period the Sussexes’ financial support ended are the same.
"Clarence House says funding continued until last summer (Q1 of the UK’s fiscal year is April to June) and Harry told Oprah the same."
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But royal fans and critics tonight hit back and blasted the pair for continuing to mislead the public.
They said the Sussexes never specified they meant the first fiscal quarter - and allowed the public to believe they had been cut off in the immediate aftermath of Megxit in early 2020.
One Twitter user fumed: "Perception is reality and the impression given [by Harry] was not the fiscal year. That is how the public interpreted it and it was not corrected.
Another added: "Haz misled the TV audience. This spin nonsense of fiscal year is a transparently desperate attempt to dig the Markles out of their own self-inflicted mess."
And another said: "The 1st qtr of 2020 is Jan to March! Absolutely no-one in the UK talks about “fiscal calendars” except, maybe, a tax man! If Harry meant April to June, he’d have said 2nd qtr. This is hiding behind words to wriggle out of, yet another, exposed lie."
It comes after Harry told Oprah back in March that he had been forced to make deals with Netflix and Spotify after saying he had been cut off by the Royal Family in the aftermath of Megxit.
"We didn't have a plan," he told the US chat show legend.
"That (the streaming deal) was suggested by somebody else by the point of where my family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford security for us."
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He told Oprah he stopped receiving financial support from his family in the "first quarter of 2020" and had to rely on money left to him by his mother, Princess Diana.
But he made no mention of the hefty sum from his dad.
Charles’s annual report, released by Clarence House last night, shows he gave the Sussexes and Cambridges a share of £4.45million in that same period.
The cash is listed as for “funding the activities” of Harry, Meghan, William and Kate, and is typically split between the brothers.
Palace sources refused to reveal the exact amount given to Harry - which covered the first four months of their “transition period”.
A source said he and wife Meghan were "allocated a substantial sum to support them" before funding "ceased in the summer of 2020".
Since the emergence of Charles' annual report, Harry has faced backlash for his claim earlier this year that he had been "cut off".
Harry's biographer Penny Junor said the the Duke's remarks would have "enormously hurt" his "generous" dad.
Harry is now largely funded by a £112million Netflix deal. He has a mortgage on his £11million mansion in Montecito, California.
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The Duke of Sussex is believed to have been left £7.5million after mum Diana’s death in 1997.
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It is thought he shared a £70million inheritance from the Queen Mum in 2002.
He also pocketed a £35,000-a-year Army wage for ten years, and was bankrolled by at least £2.3million from Charles every year.
Royal expert Dickie Arbiter says Prince Harry was being 'economical with the truth' when he said he'd been 'cut off financially'
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