Breaking up is hard to do — especially when it’s with your brother.
It’s probably even harder when you’re the world’s most famous royal siblings, but such is the case for Prince Harry and Prince William. They’ve been slowly extricating themselves from their joint business for a while now, but this has gotta be a tough one considering it’s connected to their beloved mother, Princess Diana.
This latest decision involves splitting up the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. The fund was originally established after her death in 1997, and was “set up to receive the vast number of public donations and money-raising from projects like sales of Elton John’s commemorative version of his song ‘Candle in the Wind,’” according to People. The fund has remained popular, and — despite no one actively fundraising in its name any longer — still generates a chunk of change annually ($27,000 last year apparently).
Since 2013, the fund has been paid into the Royal Foundation, a charitable venture shared by Will and Harry and their respective wives, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle. But since Harry and Meg aren’t actually royal anymore (nor are they UK based), they’re no longer part of the foundation. Instead, they’ve moved on to their new organization Archewell, leaving the Royal Foundation to Will and Kate.
And so, we get to the main issue: what to do with the money coming in under their late mother’s name?
Well, in what is clearly an ongoing effort to honor Diana’s memory, Harry has decided his share should go towards his HIV/AIDS charity Sentebale. The Duke of Sussex founded the organization back in 2006 with Prince Seeiso of Losotho, Africa. Back in 2016, Harry talked about the charity in a documentary about his mother:
“What started as an idea of me turning round and saying, ‘Right, I’ve got a year off. I want to do something really constructive with my life. I want to do something that makes my mother proud. I need to make something of my life.’ … The fact that I’ve managed to keep Sentebale going…for the last 10, 11 years has been fantastic because now everything else I’m involved with makes sense to me and I’m just getting started.”
So sweet.
As for William’s share, it will presumably remain part of the Royal Foundation’s ongoing charitable efforts. But if you’re worried this divide will cause more tension between the brothers, fear not. It actually sounds like the pair have been getting along better recently, all things considered.
We’re sure Diana would be proud of everything these two have accomplished — together and separately.
Related Posts
Source: Read Full Article