The royal wedding hasn’t even happened yet, and people are already wondering what happens if Meghan Markle and Prince Harry get divorced! While we can’t imagine these adorable lovebirds ever breaking up, the answer is still pretty interesting. First of all, they probably won’t get a prenup.
“I don’t think they will,” said UK family lawyer Julian Hawkhead to Us Weekly. “If there was any drive to do so it would have come from the senior members of the royal family. There has been absolutely no such direction to do this and in fact, I’m reminded of when Prince William and Kate Middleton were engaged to be married, the Palace made it quite clear that they had no expectation that there should be any such prenuptial arrangement made.” Since Prince Charles and Prince William didn’t get prenups, they set the precedent. However, Julian explains that the premarital agreements aren’t as common in England as they are in America. “The English courts rarely consider the behavior of the parties as relevant when dividing up assets,” he explained.
So what if they got married and split up? Julian says that Meghan probably won’t get half. “Her financial claims would increase over the years though not through any formula or incrementally year by year, but one would expect a wife in Meghan’s position to have greater financial claims after a 10-year marriage than after a two-year marriage.” Prince Charles’ divorce from Princess Diana is one example of what could happen. She got $17 million in 1996, which is equal to about $20 million today. “This will however have reflected the extent of Prince Charles’ personal wealth, the very high standard of living she had enjoyed and the fact that she had two young children. The settlement will have been based on a calculation of Princess Diana’s lifelong financial needs.”
Speaking of Princess Diana, Harry gave Meghan a ring made with diamonds from her personal collection. Julian says that if they break up, she may or may not get to keep them, based on who they actually belong to. “I would expect that Princess Diana’s jewels may be owned by a trust, and that the diamonds in Meghan’s ring might not therefore belong to Meghan, even though Prince Harry has given the ring to her on their engagement,” he explained. However, if Harry is the technical owner, then Meghan would get to keep the ring. Hopefully we’ll never have to find out!
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