# SRoyal Prenup? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 19, 2018, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456 "2018-05-19T13:13:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/1 "2018-05-19T13:13:10Z")
Have to assume there is some type of prenuptial signed by Meghan Markel (sp). Any educated guesses as to content? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/2 "2018-05-19T13:29:28Z")
Every article I have read says that it is very unlikely that they will have a prenup. Prenups are much less common in the UK than in the U.S., and they do not have the same legal status. Neither the Duchess of Cornwall (Harry’s father’s wife) nor the Duchess of Cambridge (his brother’s wife) signed a prenup. No one has any speculation about the content of a prenup, because no one who is watching the royals thinks that there will be one. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/3 "2018-05-19T13:31:51Z")
I wonder if a pre-nup is even _ **allowed** _ between Megan and Prince Harry. They marry under, I assume, the approval of the Monarch, a Title, currently held by a woman by the name of Elizabeth, she’s the second woman with that name to be holding that title. Perhaps legally, formally, the Monarch’s approval is required for marriage, and legally, certain ranks, privileges and cash sources are given, automatically, unless the Monarchy isn’t in control, which is, in some ways, a constitutional crisis. And other ranks, privileges, and cash sources may be assigned later, again by the Monarch and/or Parliament, again, almost automatically. There’s some new stories about how later the Queen will invest Megan with some titles. I’ve written a big ol’ bloc of text with lot’s of caveats, because I’m not an expert on British culture. As in: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=844166](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=844166) But I am saying there are some rules even the Queen can’t hand-wave away. But I don’t think a divorced princess ends up destitute, nor does a divorced princess get to walk out with a handful of the crown jewels under her arm. I mean, neither happened to Princess Diana or Sarah Ferguson. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/4 "2018-05-19T14:30:28Z")
Does Harry have any significant personal wealth? Or does his grandmother just give him an allowance and rent-free use of one of her cottages. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/5 "2018-05-19T15:22:25Z")
I read somewhere that neither William or Harry had much money, until they inherited their mother’s money. As I recall, it was something like $20-30 million. Their father has his own properties and receives income from them but they don’t. [This article](https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/932676/prince-harry-queen-mum-money-news-william-meghan-markle-wedding) says he inherited about £7 million from his mother and actually more money from the Queen Mother and the article suggests he’s worth about £28 million. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/6 "2018-05-19T18:10:45Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > . . . > But I don’t think a divorced princess ends up destitute, nor does a divorced princess get to walk out with a handful of the crown jewels under her arm. > > I mean, neither happened to Princess Diana or Sarah Ferguson. I’m not saying that she wasn’t given any money, nor that she chose to spend it well. But two million pounds is really not a lot when you are raising the Granddaughters of the queen. Living off of the interest that’s about $80,000 per year. There is security to maintain, and quite a lot of formal attire is necessary just to meet basic family obligations. Not to mention the requirement that they be near their father, who has free accommodation in Kensington Palace. There is no cheap property which can be described as “near” there. > **[Fergie, debt, and the bank that can't say no](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/fergie-debt-and-the-bank-that-can-t-say-no-1324679.html)** > > A year ago Sarah Ferguson embarrassed her in-laws by complaining to an audience in Washington that like many single parents she was, quite frankly, hard up. They did eventually bail her out, but not before she’d been thoroughly humiliated. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/7 "2018-05-19T19:22:10Z")
The law only requires the monarch’s approval of a marriage, within a specified degree of the line of inheritance. Anything else, to do with titles is within the monarch’s personal gift, though custom and practice must weigh pretty heavily; and as for money, that’s entirely within the family. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/8 "2018-05-19T20:00:08Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > But two million pounds is really not a lot when you are raising the Granddaughters of the queen. Yikes, that’s quite a story in the Independent, titled members of British aristocracy being “just a few million” overdrawn and the Bank think’s its “no problem. Happens all the time.” I’d suspect if pre-president Trump tried that, they’d have his hairpiece for a trophy. Or perhaps I’m the one who’s naive. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/9 "2018-05-19T20:29:27Z")
Who’s going to bell the cat? The teeth of any contract is the enforcement. The courts will force someone to give you money or assets they wouldn’t otherwise, because if they just gave you what you asked for, you wouldn’t be in court to begin with, eh? Well, in the UK the courts operate as per HRH, in whatever complicated legal fashion that works, and so if the royal family were to press the issue of the enforcement of the contract, how could the courts make them do anything without destroying the legal fiction? Courts can’t do anything which would undermine their own jurisdiction, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/10 "2018-05-19T20:54:37Z")
Prenuptial agreements are not enforceable in a UK court. The court might consider any such agreement when it comes to resolution though. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/11 "2018-05-20T02:17:14Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Well, in the UK the courts operate as per HRH, in whatever complicated legal fashion that works, and so if the royal family were to press the issue of the enforcement of the contract, how could the courts make them do anything without destroying the legal fiction? > > Courts can’t do anything which would undermine their own jurisdiction, after all. This is simply incorrect. The courts in the United Kingdom are independent of the monarchy and the government. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/12 "2018-05-20T04:29:45Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Well, in the UK the courts operate as per HRH, in whatever complicated legal fashion that works, and so if the royal family were to press the issue of the enforcement of the contract, how could the courts make them do anything without destroying the legal fiction? I think you’re forgetting something minor details, like Magna Carta and the long 17th century battle over the supremacy of Parliament. Not to mention the power of bad publicity, which the Palace advisers are only too well aware of, and which is probably a factor in plenty of out of court settlements of civil disputes. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/13 "2018-05-21T14:46:42Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > This is simply incorrect. The courts in the United Kingdom are independent of the monarchy and the government. I think he was positing that Harry would have sovereign immunity from suit. Which is also not correct, right? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/14 "2018-05-21T15:13:04Z")
Harry is not immune from suit. Crown immunity only applies to the monarch, and even then there are distinctions between the monarch acting as Crown or in her personal capacity. Princess Anne got dinged for a speeding ticket years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/15 "2018-05-21T15:21:16Z")
Even if he inherits money - his portion of what is essentially “the family business”, it doesn’t automatically become marital property, does it? I’d imagine a great deal of the royal property is held in some form of a trust, with various folk having lifetime interests. I’d imagine a sticking point would be support “in the style accustomed.” Man, horse drawn carriages and living in castles would carry quite a pricetag! 😃 Actually, as I understand it, the new duchess has considerable wealth of her own, and there is little reason to assume she would be destitute should they split. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/16 "2018-05-21T18:53:01Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > …Well, in the UK the courts operate as per HRH, in whatever complicated legal fashion that works… What **Northern Piper** said, and it’s “HM” (Her Majesty). > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > …Princess Anne got dinged for a speeding ticket years ago. And for injuries her dog inflicted on two children: [BBC NEWS | UK | Princess Royal fined over dog attack](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2497531.stm) ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/17 "2018-05-22T00:15:47Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Even if he inherits money - his portion of what is essentially “the family business”, it doesn’t automatically become marital property, does it? . . . There’s no concept of “marital property” in England, SFAIK. Two people may own property separately, or they may own property jointly, but simply marrying does not change the ownership of property in any way. Nor does it result in special rules applying to any property they may acquire after the marriage. If the marriage breaks down and questions of maintenance, financial settlements, etc have to be addressed, and if the couple can’t agree about how to address them, then the court can impose financial terms. In doing so the court will look at all the assets and income of both parties, and their needs, and other relevant circumstances, and there is a wide discretion to order maintenance, order the transfer of assets, order the sale of assets and the division of the proceeds, etc, etc. But there is no distinction here between “marital property” and other property; everything owned by either spouse or by both of them is in the mix. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sroyal-prenup/814456/18 "2018-05-22T01:08:53Z")
When John Cleese’s second marriage broke up, they had been living in California. He was very bitter about the difference in the laws between California and England. Said that his ex-wife’s children got a greater share of his assets than his own did. Whether that was bitter grapes or a realistic complaint, I don’t know, but I’ve heard that English law is not as egalitarian as marital property laws in Canada and the US tend to be, as explained by **UDS**.