Culture & Arts 3 min read 1h ago

Billionaire Backs Sussex UK Return

Hedge fund billionaire Ian Wace, worth an estimated 1.2 billion dollars, is reportedly helping finance Harry and Meghan's return to the United Kingdom.
Wace and Harry are said to share a profound bond rooted in each having lost close family members in separate car accidents decades apart.
The Sussex-Wace connection also runs through former model Saffron Aldridge, Wace's ex-wife, who is reported to have been a longstanding friend and informal adviser to Meghan.

Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are reportedly receiving financial backing from British hedge fund billionaire Ian Wace as they prepare to return to the United Kingdom, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Who is Ian Wace?

Wace, 63, is the founding partner, chief executive, and chief risk officer of Marshall Wace LLP, one of the world's largest hedge fund firms. His personal fortune is estimated at approximately 1.2 billion dollars. He has long been regarded as a close confidant of the Duke and Duchess, with the friendship spanning several years and, according to reports, extending well beyond financial ties.

The most recent indication of the closeness of the relationship came in July, when Harry and Meghan reportedly spent time on Wace's private island, Tanera Mòr, off the Scottish coast, accompanied by their children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five. Wace is said to have acquired the approximately 320-hectare island for 2.3 million dollars, and Harry is reported to have visited the property as far back as 2017.

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A shared tragedy

Beyond shared holidays and financial interests, the two men are said to be bound by a profound personal grief. In 1994, Wace lost his first wife Joanna, aged 34, and their two young children — Guy, four, and Alicia, eleven months — in a car accident in Hampshire. Wace himself was in the passenger seat at the time. Harry similarly lost his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, aged 36, in a car accident in Paris in 1997. Those who know both men suggest this shared experience of sudden, violent bereavement has forged a lasting bond between them.

Further connections

There is also a parallel connection through Wace's former wife, Saffron Aldridge, 58, a former model who is said to have been a close friend of Meghan for many years. Although Wace and Aldridge separated in 2023 and have since divorced, the two are reported to remain on friendly terms. Aldridge is said to have assisted Meghan in the early years of her relationship with Harry, helping her navigate the customs of the British royal family and, according to one account, offering guidance on matters of dress.

The two couples were photographed together as early as 2019, when they attended a Cirque du Soleil performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Wace himself has maintained connections to the wider royal family over many years; photographs from 2011 show him alongside the then-Prince William and Catherine, shortly after their wedding.

As the Sussexes proceed with what appears to be a long-anticipated return to Britain after six years in California, the reported involvement of one of the City's most prominent financiers raises questions about the extent to which private wealth may underpin the couple's resettlement — questions that, for now, remain publicly unanswered.

Topics

British Royal FamilyHedge Funds

People

Ian WaceSaffron Aldridge

Organizations

Marshall Wace LLP

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