Prince Harry to inherit millions from late Queen Mother on his 40th birthday

Prince Harry is set to receive millions of pounds from the late Queen Mother when he celebrates his 40th birthday on September 15, according to reports.

The Duke’s great-grandmother is understood to have put aside around £19 million into a trust fund for her great-grandchildren - then the equivalent of around two-thirds of her fortune, in 1994.

Reports at the time in the Observer suggested that William and Harry would claim the inheritance in two payments - on their 21st and 40th birthdays.

At the time it was not known whether the deposit, made when the late Queen Mother was 94, would be subjected to inheritance tax.

However, as the monarch’s mother went on to live until 2002, it cleared the seven-year threshold and is tax-free as a result.

And while details of the trust fund have not been made public, royal experts have previously suggested Prince Harry would receive more money than his brother, as compensation for not being a sovereign.

A former Palace aide told The Times: “There was a trust fund set up at the time. It was a way in which the Queen Mother could set aside money for when her great-grandchildren were older and a way of passing a slice of her estate down in a tax-efficient way.

“It was a way in which some of her estate could be ring-fenced for them.”

It is understood the two brothers received £6 million between them at 21 and a further £8 million upon turning 40.

Prince William, who turned 40 in June 2022, went on to become the Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and heir apparent when his father King Charles ascended the throne.

Last year, the Prince of Wales received £23.6 million from the estate.

Previous reports name the Princess Royal’s children, Zara and Peter Phillips, as beneficiaries of the fund, along with the Duke of York’s daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, together with Princess Margaret’s children, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto.

The princes were left about £6.5 million each when their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, died 23 years ago. The sum was invested and gathered substantial interest, so Prince Harry inherited around £10 million on his 30th birthday.

They were also left her wedding dress, designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel and made of thousands of pearls, silk layers and a 25ft-train.

Before they left for the USA, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they had previously received 95 per cent of their annual income from King Charles, then the Prince of Wales.

Meanwhile, the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant made up the final 5 per cent, they claimed.

After stepping down as senior royals, King Charles gave the couple a “substantial sum” to help them set up their new life in America.

Since their move to Montecito, California, the couple has made vast sums of money on a series of business ventures.

In April, it was reported that the Duke of Sussex had already made £22 million from his memoirs Spare, which became the UK’s fastest-selling non-fiction book ever after being published by Penguin Random House in January 2023.

Previous ventures undertaken by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have included a £25 million Spotify deal for Archewell Audio along with an £81 million Netflix contract for their fly-on-the-wall series.

However, the Duke’s failed legal fight to reinstate taxpayer-funded security for himself and his wife, left him facing an estimated legal bill of more than £1 million.

Yet the two separate judicial review claims are thought to have cost the taxpayer more than £500,000.

Prince Harry is also pursuing separate legal actions against News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun and the now defunct News of the World and Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail.

In January, it emerged that the Duke faced an estimated legal bill of £750,000 after abandoning a libel claim against the Mail on Sunday concerning an article about his demand for taxpayer-funded security.

The following month, he accepted “substantial” damages to end his four-year legal battle with Mirror Group Newspapers rather than pursue a second phone hacking trial.

The Telegraph has contacted representatives of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for a comment.