Before Meghan Markle's life as a literal princess began back in May, she was still living a pretty glamorous life as a television actress and lifestyle blogger. In the world of celebrities, signing a prenuptial agreement before you get married is a pretty standard practice. According to Royal expert Katie Nicholl, author of Harry: Life, Loss, and Love, it's a whole other story for members of the royal family.
While members of the royal family are certainly (very) public figures, Nicholl says they are not technically celebrities in the same way other famous people are. So when it comes to signing prenups before their weddings, it's just not something the royals tend to do. "I don’t think members of the royal family sign prenuptial agreements," Nicholl told Town & Country. "It’s commonplace with celebrity marriage, but this is not a celebrity marriage, it’s a royal marriage." That's an important distinction, apparently.
Despite the fact that three of Queen Elizabeth II's four children are now divorced, prenups have not been incorporated into royal protocol. According to royal expert Duncan Larcombe, author of Prince Harry: The Inside Story, the reason the royals forgo any prenuptial agreements may be because divorce doesn't actually pose a threat to the royal estate. The Queen technically owns all the royal residences, so, if Meghan and Harry were to get a divorce, their shared home wouldn't have ever even been owned by either of them. "You wouldn’t need a prenuptial agreement to stop Windsor Castle from being cut in half in the event they divorce," he said ahead of the royal wedding.
The Queen will also have legal custody over Meghan and Harry's potential future children, as well, so Meghan wouldn't even technically have a legal claim to her own kids if she were to separate from her husband. When Prince Charles and Princess Diana divorced in 1996, they reached a settlement outside the courts. According to Cosmopolitan, Diana reportedly received "a lump sum of $17.5 million, plus an allowance for her private office, and the right to continue living in Kensington Palace with Prince William and Harry."
Prenuptial agreements aren't legally binding in England, as well. You can certainly draft one before your wedding, though, a judge may choose not to acknowledge it in divorce proceedings. Hopefully the Duke and Duchess of Sussex won't ever need to deal with any of this and they'll live happily ever after like all Princes and Princesses do in the fairytales.
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