EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Surprising finances of Prince Harry's prize charity

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Surprising finances of Prince Harry’s race prize charity as it hands out £250,000 in grants in same year it took £36million in contributions

Charity clearly begins at home for the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation, which is to honour the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for ‘their heroic stand against ‘structural racism’ in the monarchy’.

I learn that the ‘non-profit’ organisation handed out just $300,000 [£250,000] in grants in the same year that it raked in a staggering $43 million [£36 million] in contributions and grants.

That year — 2018, its 50th anniversary — its president, Kerry Kennedy, 63, was paid $555,000 [£467,000], almost twice what it handed out in grants.

Kerry — the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, assassinated in 1968, and niece of John F. Kennedy – had her vast salary topped up by a further $42,000 [£36,000] in ‘other compensation from the organisation and other related organisations’.

At a New York gala on December 6, the foundation is to give Prince Harry and Meghan the Ripple Of Hope award, previously awarded to Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

At a New York gala on December 6, the foundation is to give Prince Harry and Meghan the Ripple Of Hope award, previously awarded to Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Kennedy said the Sussexes had ‘moral courage’ in challenging ‘the oldest institution in UK history’, describing the couple as ‘heroic’.

The figures about the charity’s finances are disclosed in documents published by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

In the years that followed, the amount of income to the charity fell, but Kennedy’s wages remained consistent.

In 2019, for example, there was a huge drop in income, from $43 million to $18 million [£15 million], but Kennedy received similar pay to the previous year.

The foundation tells me: ‘Our charitable purpose is to operate programmes, such as civic space protection, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, and equipping educators to provide human rights education to school-age students, that serve the public interest. We occasionally offer financial support as part of our programme work, but it is not a fixed part of what we do.’

‘I salute Jeremy Paxman’s appetite for life,’ says former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie.

‘Despite filming his last University Challenge after 28 years due to the onset of Parkinson’s, he plans a degree in Renaissance art (Botticelli and all that), joining a choir and finishing a wine course. Wine, women and song. All at 72.’ Not a bad starter for ten, Paxo.

Here’s a Christmas stocking idea for the fashion victim in your life: Gucci is flogging bars of chocolate that really do take the biscuit — they cost £17.24.

The chocs are around the same size as a 70p bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. Gucci’s creation is made up of eight thin squares of milk, dark or white chocolate.

The bar boasts hazelnut pieces and is said to be the product of ‘decades of passion, dedication and research’.

It work out at an astonishing £34.48 per 100g.

Fiona and the guilty pleasure of Roadshow

THE OCCASION: The 70th Variety Club Showbusiness Awards, celebrating the centenary of the BBC, at the London Hilton, Park Lane.

HEART OF GOLD: Princess Beatrice paid tribute to Prince Philip as she presented classical singer Katherine Jenkins with the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Heart Award: ‘He was steadfast, he was curious, but, most importantly, he believed in young people.’

UNDYING LOVE: Sir Bruce Forsyth’s widow, Wilnelia, who inherited almost his entire £11.5 million fortune, says she’s not looking for love. ‘I don’t want to get married again because it’s difficult to replace when you’ve have had such an amazing and happy marriage.’

ANTIQUE ANTICS: Presenter Fiona Bruce, who ditched her usual outfits for a lacy jumpsuit, has discovered the secret appeal of Antiques Roadshow. ‘I’ve lost count of how many people have said to me, ‘Something I really like is when people come along and they think something is really valuable and it turns out to be worth only a fiver’.’

Chat-show host Alan Carr says a present from U.S. film producer David Gest, ex-husband of Liza Minnelli, is too flamboyant for public display.

‘I did get a wonderful gift from the late David Gest,’ he says. ‘He really took a liking to me. He took us out to dinner. He had such a good time he gave me a candelabra that him and Liza got as a wedding present.

‘It’s upstairs. It’s a bit showy, as you can imagine for David and Liza’s wedding. Even I’m looking at this candelabra going, ‘That’s too gay’. But it was really sweet and I thought, ‘How nice is that?’.’

Mamma Mia 3? Here we go again

Mamma Mia! Judy Craymer, the driving force behind the smash hit musical, is in a battle with Abba stars Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson over her plans for a third film. The musicians take the view that their best songs have been used already.

‘It’s not completely officially out there,’ she tells me of the next big-screen outing. ‘I do believe [it will happen], although I’m constantly arguing with Bjorn and Benny.

‘People love those characters, they love the island, and, of course, they love the songs.

‘Benny and Bjorn will say there aren’t enough songs, but there are.’

Naomi on trail of a mini-me for biopic

Imperious on the catwalk, Naomi Campbell is hoping to make an even greater impression on the big screen.

The supermodel, 52, tells me she would like a biopic to be made about her tumultuous life.

And she’s keeping an eye out for a rising star to play her. ‘I would like it to be someone, who is unknown and preferably someone from South London,’ she tells me. Campbell was born to Jamaican-born dancer Valerie Morris and has never met her father, who abandoned her mother when she was pregnant.

The model, who has been convicted of assault on four occasions, adds: ‘I’ve had my success, and I want to see the success of the next generation.’

Imperious on the catwalk, Naomi Campbell is hoping to make an even greater impression on the big screen

Game Of Thrones star Owen Teale, who plays Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic in London, hopes it will not be as eventful as when he appeared in A Doll’s House in New York.

He recalls: ‘A woman in the front row stood up and shouted at me, ‘You b*****d!’ The play had clearly triggered something for her.’

Sporty just says no to Qatar cash

David Beckham is said to be paid £10 million as an ambassador for the Qatar World Cup, but his wife Victoria’s Spice Girls bandmates do not seem impressed.

Melanie Chisholm, aka Sporty Spice, tells me she wouldn’t take the repressive Gulf state’s shilling. ‘Personally, I’m an ally to the LGBTQ+ community and it’s not something I would feel comfortable in doing,’ the singer says.

‘People want to go over there and help to make a change. Each to their own, but it would be a no from me if the offer came.’

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