The Moment
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle just wrapped their year with a double move: a rebrand and a reel.
The couple announced that their nonprofit, previously the Archewell Foundation, is being renamed Archewell Philanthropies to mark five years since they launched it after leaving royal duties. Alongside the name change, they released a two-minute “Happy Holidays” video highlighting the charity’s 2025 work and giving brief, carefully framed glimpses of their children, Archie and Lilibet, helping load food donations in California.
The montage, set to upbeat music, flashes through their advocacy on online safety, support for families affected by cyberbullying, and visits connected to wildfire recovery and overseas trips to Nigeria and Colombia. It ends with a cheery message from “the Office of Prince Harry and Meghan” wishing everyone a happy holiday season and new year.
All of this dropped less than a day after William and Catherine released their own Christmas card with George, Charlotte, and Louis. Because of course the royal content calendar is now basically the Super Bowl schedule.
On top of the rebrand, reports say Archewell has been using high-end charity auction platform CharityBuzz to raise money, with private dinner experiences with the Sussexes said to fetch as much as $100,000 a plate, and talk of staff “restructuring” behind the scenes.
The Take
I keep coming back to the name: Archewell Philanthropies. It sounds less like a warm, fuzzy foundation and more like the holding company that buys the warm, fuzzy foundations.
Harry and Meghan are clearly pivoting from “start-up charity” energy to something bigger, more corporate, and frankly more American. The word “philanthropies” signals a family brand umbrella – think celebrity couple meets mini Gates Foundation – even if the scale is nowhere near that.
The holiday video itself is classic Sussex-era storytelling: soft lighting, purposeful causes, and just enough kid footage to humanize them without turning the children into content. That part, to me, is fair game – parents have been putting the kids in the Christmas card since forever. The difference now is it doubles as a sizzle reel for donors.
Then there’s the fundraising strategy. Using a luxury auction platform so wealthy supporters can bid on a private dinner with the couple? It’s very Hollywood, very 2025, and very not-Buckingham Palace. Inside royal circles, selling access has always been a huge no – burned into everyone’s memory from past scandals. But Harry and Meghan are not working royals anymore, and they are leaning all the way into that loophole.
The whole operation feels like watching someone rebrand their family group chat as “Global Communications Hub” and insisting nothing’s really changed. In practice, a lot has changed: the money, the messaging, the political proximity, and the way their personal celebrity is used as a fundraising asset.
Is that inherently bad? Not necessarily. A million pounds (plus) to charity and grants for mental health, conflict-affected kids, and online safety are not nothing. But when your political donations and your dinner-guest list start to overlap, people will question whether this is pure philanthropy or a lifestyle brand with a conscience attached.
To me, this rebrand is Harry and Meghan saying, out loud, what’s been obvious for years: they’re not just ex-royals doing good; they’re building a long-term, U.S.-style philanthropic machine centered on their names, their story, and yes, their access.
Receipts
Confirmed
- The Archewell Foundation is being renamed Archewell Philanthropies, marking five years since its creation, according to official statements cited in recent news reports and the language shown in their holiday video.
- A two-minute “Happy Holidays” video, released through Archewell’s official channels, shows Harry and Meghan with their children Archie and Lilibet helping with food donations and highlights the charity’s 2025 projects.
- Archewell’s stated focus areas include safer digital spaces, responsible development of AI, and support for children affected by conflict, including in Gaza and Ukraine, as described in the video and public mission statements.
- Recent U.S. nonprofit filings for Archewell (covering prior years) show grant-making in the seven-figure range and significant support from donor-advised funds and anonymous individual donors.
- Archewell has partnered with the fundraising platform CharityBuzz in the past, which the organization has publicly confirmed.
Unverified / reported, not independently confirmed
- That tickets for a dinner with Harry and Meghan have reached around $100,000 per person via charity auctions – this figure has been reported by unnamed sources but not confirmed directly by Archewell or public auction records.
- That access to the couple through these events has sometimes been offered privately to high-spending donors rather than openly listed, based on anonymous sourcing.
- Reports of internal “restructuring” and staff changes at Archewell, which are described by unnamed insiders and not yet detailed by the organization itself.
- Commentary that their political donations are deliberately targeted to irritate specific U.S. political figures; the donations are documented, but the intent is speculative.
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
If you’ve only half-watched this saga from the couch: Harry and Meghan stepped back from senior royal duties in early 2020, moved to North America, and launched Archewell as the hub for their post-palace life. Under the Archewell umbrella, they’ve built three main pillars: a nonprofit arm for their charitable work, a media arm that produces TV and streaming content, and various advocacy projects around mental health, online harm, and equality.
The foundation has funded grants to mental health organizations, online safety groups, and charities helping children in war and disaster zones. At the same time, they’ve released a high-profile Netflix docuseries about their break with the royal family and launched Meghan’s lifestyle-focused projects. Admirers see a modern couple using fame for good; critics see a very glossy personal brand trading on royal titles while clashing with the family they left.
What’s Next
The rebrand to Archewell Philanthropies suggests we’re going to see more – not less – of this family in the global charity and conference circuit. Expect more trips framed as “working visits,” more carefully produced video content, and likely more polished annual reports to match the grander name.
The fundraising angle will be important to watch. If high-dollar, high-access dinners become a regular feature, the couple will have to walk a tightrope: raising serious money without looking like they’re turning royal proximity and titles into a VIP experience package. Transparency on how much these events raise – and where that money goes – would go a long way.
Inside Archewell, whatever “restructuring” looks like, we’ll probably see it in the kind of projects they take on next year: bigger partnerships, more U.S.-based collaborations, and possibly more overlap between their media projects and their causes.
For now, the message they’re selling is simple: new name, same values, more impact. Whether people buy that depends on how comfortable they are with modern celebrity philanthropy – where your good deeds and your brand strategy are constantly holding hands.
What’s your read: does Archewell Philanthropies feel like a genuine evolution of Harry and Meghan’s charity work, or like one branding step too far?
Sources
Archewell official holiday video and public statement, December 2025; U.S. nonprofit disclosures for the Archewell Foundation (most recent available pre-2025); public reporting and charity auction listings referencing Archewell fundraising partnerships, 2023-2025.
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