Meghan and Harry gifted millions in travel and accommodation since their dating days, reveals 'Finding Freedom'
The Sussexes left the entire planet shocked in 2019 when they suddenly announced plans to step down as senior royals in what became known in popular parlance as 'Megxit'. While some took it as a chance to slander Meghan Markle, others were left exceedingly worried about how the couple would continue their endeavors without the royal tag and support. Looks like they had nothing to worry about, or so some might now say, considering their new biography 'Finding Freedom' just revealed the $4.5 million worth gifts the former-royals received from friends, brands, and family members alike in the course of their relationship.
It started all the way back to the night of their first date in 2016, when Meghan's Soho hotel room priced at $535, was compensated by none other than the establishment's owner, Markus Anderson, who also happens to be a friend of the actress. Back when Harry and Meghan were just courting, Anderson had “put them up” at a private four-bedroom cottage in the Cotswolds Soho Farmhouse and at the Soho House property at Babington in Somerset, reveals the new biography. A complimentary weekend getaway was also arranged for the then-new lovebirds, thus saving them $6,100.
When it came to the travel across the ocean, Meghan's former best friend Jessica Mulroney had stepped in. All of that initial and very secret Toronto-London commute for the former actress was chartered on a private jet arranged by Mulroney, in what would have otherwise cost the couple $65,000. Even during their 2018 wedding, the "musty" smell of St. George's Chapel that Meghan didn't enjoy was taken care of by the popular candle company Diptique, who provided multiple diffusers otherwise priced at $170. Their secret honeymoon also saw the couple boarding a “private jet loaned by a friend.”
Queen Elizabeth's gift to her newlywed grandson and his Duchess was their mansion, Frogmore cottage, which could prove to be huge bonus as the Daily Mail reports similar houses in the locality are selling at $4.3 million. And when Meghan and Harry vacationed with celeb friends George and Amal Clooney at their Lake Cuomo home, the actor helped them save $17,000 in commercial airfare.
Meghan's $400,000 star-studded two-day New York City baby shower hosted with bills covered by friends including Serena Williams. Meghan relied on the Clooneys for her travel back to London, thus saving another $65,000, as the Daily Mail estimates. But soon free air travel became a frequent gift to the Sussex royals, with Elton John offering the same favor to them so they could visit the star in Nice, France, during the summer of 2019. It would have cost the couple $7,900 otherwise.
Google also footed Harry's bill for travel to and from a Sicilian resort back in 2019 when the former-Royal attended the tech-giant's eco-summit. Even after Megxit, when the couple and their baby son moved to Canada, they only had to pay half the rate on their $100,000 rental home. Not to forget when they had first arrived in the United States, Tyler Perry generously accommodated them for four months, free of cost, in a mansion of his. Reports state that similar rentals in the same Beverly Ridge area come for nothing lesser than $60k and that's enough proof of the friendships the ex-Royals have cultivated since through the course of their relationship.