Princess Diana Made This Much Money When She Divorced Prince Charles

Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ divorce was perhaps one of the most contentious of the 1990s. And while Princess Diana didn’t get to keep her HRH title when all was said and done, she did get a nice sum of money after her marriage came to an end.

In the book “The Diana Chronicles,” biographer Tina Brown wrote that the Princess of Wales won a lump sum of £17 million (equivalent to £31 million or $40 million today), as well as an additional £400,000 (£730,000 or $950,000 today) as an annual allowance—an amount that Prince Charles was outraged by when he learned it was his wife’s final terms. However, she was able to use their situation to her advantage because he was the one who wanted the marriage to end more.

“The Princess held a high card: while Prince Charles was now desperate to be rid of her, she could wait,” Brown wrote. “In May, Diana went to the Queen and told her that unless her terms were met, she would withdraw her content to divorce.”

“Without it, Charles would have to wait another two years until the obligatory five have had been reached for a non-consenting divorce,” she added. “If she ran out of money, she would sell her jewels in order to live and that would be a great embarrassment.”

Brown revealed that Prince Charles tried to circumvent Diana’s demands, but in the end, the divorce deal was sealed on her terms that July, and by August 1996, it had been finalized.

“On July 13, the divorce deal was sealed on the terms Diana asked. It was a sweet clear victory. She may have lost her title but she had won financial independence for the first time in her life,” Brown wrote.

In addition to the money, Diana did lose the HRH title and was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement, but the money she was rewarded was put to use. Her yearly allowance was applied to running her office for her continued charitable causes and her residence at Kensington Palace. She also set up trusts for her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, of £10 million each, which they both inherited on their 30th birthdays.

Unfortunately for Diana, her victory seemed short-lived. While the divorce was finalized on Aug. 28, 1996, she was killed in a car crash in Paris just over one year later.