Harry's Charity Chaos, Empty Cottage and 'Challenging' Finances: The Duke of Sussex's Turbulent New Chapter

It's been quite the week — scratch that, quite the year — for Prince Harry. The Duke of Sussex, 41, is facing a perfect storm of bad press, with fresh questions swirling around his charity commitments, his finances, and the Windsor home he once adored sitting eerily empty. So what on earth is going on with Britain's most controversial royal export?

Harry's philanthropic reputation — once his most unimpeachable asset — is taking a battering. Campaigners are calling on the Duke to resign from the board of African Parks, the wildlife charity facing serious allegations that rangers linked to the organisation committed human rights abuses against the indigenous Baka people in the Republic of the Congo. It's the latest in a string of charitable controversies for Harry, who was also recently forced to step down as patron of Sentebale — the charity he co-founded in honour of his late mother, Princess Diana — following a bitter dispute with its chair, Dr Sophie Chandauka.

Royal butler Grant Harold was blunt in his assessment, drawing a pointed contrast with the late Queen Elizabeth II. "His grandmother, the late Queen, I believe she only had two legal things happen in her lifetime," he told TalkTV's Mark Dolan. "And here, we've got her grandson who seems to be in the press most weeks for some legal thing." Dolan went further, suggesting Harry's flagship Invictus Games has been overshadowed by the so-called "Sussex brand" — with some veterans feeling the focus has shifted away from them.

Meanwhile, sources close to Harry and Meghan are speaking candidly about the couple's financial reality since walking away from The Firm in 2020. One insider told the Mirror that life post-royalty is "undoubtedly more challenging" — with no Sovereign Grant, no rent-free properties and no institutional safety net. Yet the same source was keen to stress the Sussexes' pride in their independence, adding pointedly: "What they do have is an independent and entirely self-funded life — one that nobody else has to pay for."

The couple's repayment of the £2.4 million used to renovate their UK home, Frogmore Cottage, has resurfaced amid a wider royal audit. A Palace spokesperson confirmed in 2023 that the Sussexes had "fulfilled their financial obligations," and sources now claim the repayment had always been factored into their plans. The timing is telling — with the Public Accounts Committee launching a formal audit into Crown Estate deals this summer, royal expert Duncan Larcombe suggests only William and Kate are currently reading the public mood correctly, having paid full market rent on their new home, Forest Lodge.

Six years on from Harry and Meghan's departure, Frogmore Cottage in Windsor stands empty — a five-bedroom symbol of what might have been. King Charles requested the couple hand back the keys in 2023, and despite rumours that Prince Andrew or even William and Kate might move in, neither has materialised. Andrew reportedly declined to downsize from the lavish Royal Lodge, while William and Kate reportedly found Frogmore "too small" for a family of five, opting instead for the eight-bedroom Forest Lodge.

The irony is bittersweet. In his memoir Spare, Harry wrote warmly of the couple's deep affection for the property: "Frogmore was ready. We loved that place. From the first minute. It felt as if we were destined to live there." Now, with the cottage potentially set to be subdivided back into its original format, even those fond memories are being quietly dismantled — one copper bathtub at a time.