Meghan Markle, Prince Harry Trying To Monetize The Monarchy, Royal Biographer Claims

It's been over a year since Meghan Markle and Prince Harry stepped back as working royals, but one royal biographer has claimed they continue to use their association with the royal family to make money.

Earlier this month, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined Ethic, a sustainable investment firm that helps clients put their money toward companies that behave in socially responsible ways, as "impact partners" and investors, The New York Times reported.

Royal commentator Angela Levin, author of "Harry: A Biography of a Prince," weighed in on Prince Harry and Markle branching out into finance and investing during an interview with GB News. Host Colin Brazier noted that there appeared to be a "conflict" between the Sussexes' insistence not to trade on their royal links and their recent move.

Levin claimed that they were using Prince Harry's "royal name" and popularity with Americans and people around the world for publicity. "If they get him to get involved, then their profits are likely to go shooting up. They've had an amazing amount of publicity within a few hours," she noted.

"What makes me really laugh and sneer is that he grumbled that his daddy wasn't giving him money when he was 35," the royal author added, referring to Prince Harry's revelation during their March interview with Oprah Winfrey that his "family literally cut me off financially" in the first quarter of 2020.

A Clarence House spokesperson said in June that Prince Charles "allocated a substantial sum to support" Prince Harry and Markle after they quit royal duties and moved to the U.S., adding that the financial support ended in the summer of 2020.

"[Prince Harry] knows nothing about finance, nothing whatsoever," Levin further claimed. "It is just an advertising gambit, and it will serve both sides very well."

The "Diana's Babies: Kate, William and the Repair of a Broken Family" author also claimed that Prince Harry and Markle are financially independent only because they rely on their "royal contacts."

"They're not financiers, they know zero [about the field], but their names will help them do it and earn lots of money," she added.

During their interview with the New York Times earlier this month, Prince Harry and Markle said they hope to encourage the younger generation to be "more deliberate in their choices and conscious of investing in sustainable companies" with their involvement with Ethic.

"You already have the younger generation voting with their dollars and their pounds, you know, all over the world when it comes to brands they select and choose from," the duke said.

When they announced their decision to step back as working royals in January 2020, Prince Harry and Markle said they wanted to work to become financially independent. Since then, the couple has signed a multi-year, multimillion-dollar production deal with Netflix to make documentaries, feature films, scripted TV shows and children's series and a multimillion-dollar podcast deal with Spotify.

Prince Harry is also working on a memoir to be released next year, and $1.5 million of the proceeds from the book sales will go to Sentebale, a charity he co-founded in 2006.