Harry and Meghan's charity pays $155,000 to firm run by ex-Hollyoaks actress Beth Herlihy who played a stripper in soap and Sussexes have remained loyal to since she was their Kensington Palace aide

As Rachel Zane in Suits, Meghan Markle was no stranger to raunchy scenes.

And neither was one of her and Prince Harrys most loyal aides, Beth Herlihy, who before joining their team played a stripper in British soap Hollyoaks who helped a gangster drug an enemy to frame him for murder.

Today it emerged that the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs charity, the Archewell Foundation, paid her consultancy business a six-figure sum last year to support their work.

The charitys new tax return for 2023 reveals they gave $155,000 to Herlihy Loughran, the business where Beth has been a partner since she was laid off by Kensington Palace following Megxit. In 2022 Herlihy Loughran was paid $127,807.

As Honey, under her stage name Bethan Coundley, Ms Herlihy appeared in two episodes in 2011 where she played a stripper who slept with a man and gave him drugs, causing him to hallucinate and believe that he had beaten her to death with an axe.

But the ruse fell through when it was discovered a fake burial site contained the body of a pig rather than a human corpse.

Before Hollyoaks, Beth also took part in several photo shoots, including one in 2012 when she posed in a PVC body suit.

But only a few years later she was working for the royal family - and most recently has supported the Sussexes at Invictus Games events.

Beth Herlihy, programme co-ordinator to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from 2018 to 2020, now works as a consultant for the couple (pictured in Whistler in February). The Archewell Foundations new tax return for 2023 reveals they gave $155,000 to Herlihy Loughran, the business where Beth is a partner

Beth, pictured playing a stripper in Hollyoaks, put her acting days behind her in 2016 when she was hired as an events manager with the Royal Foundation, the joint charitable vehicle for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Sussexes

Meghan Markle as a coquettish Rachel Zane in Suits

Ms Herlihy, a programme co-ordinator to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, also took part in several modelling shoots, including one in 2012 when she posed in this PVC body suit

In September last year, Beth was seen pictured with the Prince at the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, Germany 

The pair chatted in the stands as they watched a wheelchair basketball match between Team UK and Ukraine in Dusseldorf

In 2016 when she was hired as an events manager with the Royal Foundation, the joint charitable vehicle for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Sussexes.

After the Sussexes split from the foundation in 2018, Beth remained with Harry and Meghan and since 2020 Beth has been a partner at Herlihy Loughran, which describes itself as an advisory partnership that links influential people and organisations to good causes.

She works in partnership with Clara Loughran, who is married to Harry’s ex-assistant communications secretary, Nick Loughran.

Through her job she has followed the Sussexes across the pond for work and has been by their side at several events ever since, including earlier this year in Whistler to help promote the next Invictus Games in Canada.

In September 2023 she was seen talking with the Prince at the Invictus Games in Germany.

The pair chatted in the stands as they watched a wheelchair basketball match between Team UK and Ukraine in Dusseldorf.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have put on a united front in a brand new video set to their friend Chris Martins music to promote the work of their Archewell Foundation, which today revealed a $250,000 partnership with Joe Bidens daughter Ashley.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have spent recent months focussing on more solo charity and business ventures, rarely appearing together since their joint tour to Colombia over the summer.

But despite reports of a professional separation, they are front and centre of a new behind-the-scenes video of Archewells major moments of the past 12 months with Coldplays Sky Full of Stars as the soundtrack to the near-two minute film.

It shows the couple together at a number of events as well as Meghan cooking with women plus footage of their trips across the US and abroad – mainly together and sometimes apart.

Last night the Archewell Foundation released its annual report, which reveals that the Sussexes have partnered with US President Joe Bidens daughter Ashley to create a wellness hub for women impacted by trauma in Philadelphia which pioneers a radical new type of therapy, giving a $250,000 donation.

The charitys US tax return for 2023 has also been published, which reveals income has reached $5.7million last year, mainly thanks to a mystery benefactor who gave $5million in a single donation plus $335,000 from five other individuals.

The Archewell Foundation handed out $1.3million in grants to good causes in the US and other parts of the world. Expenditure on other costs such as salaries, event costs, legal fees and travel was just under $2million in 2023.

Harry and Meghan are directors but do not get paid a salary. The charity’s tax return says they work a nominal one-hour-per-week, which according to People is a standard practice for directors of US tax-exempt organisations. 

But the Sussexes right-hand man James Holt, a co-executive director, was paid a $228,500 salary plus $18,428 in benefits from January to December 2023.

Co-executive director Shauna Nep, who is also close to the royal couple, earned a salary of $272,241 plus additional benefits totaling $26,356. Communications manager Deesha Tank was paid $140,000 plus $7,100 in other compensation, according to the US tax filings.

The new report reveals they paid $155,000 to Herlihy Loughran. The consultancy is run by Beth Herlihy, a former actress who once played a stripper in UK teen soap opera Hollyoaks and has been a loyal worker for the Sussexes after she was laid off by Kensington Palace following Megxit. 

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released their annual report for their charity the Archewell Foundation, with a video of them together at various events in the US and abroad

Meghan hugs a young woman at one of the couples Archewell-related events with Harry out of shot to her left 

Harry and Meghan together in Columbia for their most recent foreign tour

Harry and Meghan with member of the Muslim community in their new glossy video

Founded by Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the Archewell Foundation is now in its third full year of operation.

It has continued to grow its two signature programmes - The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Network and The Welcome Project.

Following a successful pilot, The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Network launched publicly in August 2024.

Its mission is to unite parents with first-hand experience of the dangers social media poses to children.

The Impact Report for the Archewell Foundations third full year has been released

Launched in 2023, The Welcome Project continues to empower refugee women through women-led programming. There are currently 15 active Welcome Projects across the US that are fostering connection and belonging through a range of activities including sewing, art, hiking, swimming, photography, storytelling and cooking.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who insisted that they would remain politically neutral in public ahead of the presidential election in November, are now connected with Americas First Daughter Ashley Biden, 43, albeit through a non-partisan initiative.

Their Archewell Foundation is a founding partner in Ashley Bidens wellness hub which, among other things, treats women who have been victims of trauma with Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy - something Ashley herself credits with helping her process her brother Beaus death. 

Beau Biden tragically passed away at the age of 46 in 2015 after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer, glioblastoma. His death is just one in a series of tragedies that have befallen the Biden family; with the presidents first wife Neilia (mother to Beau and Hunter) and one-year-old sister, Naomi, dying in a car accident in 1972.

Harry and Meghans support for Ashleys centre was revealed in the foundations Impact Report for the 2023-2024 year, which was published on Monday and illustrates the Duke and Duchess philanthropic efforts through the organisation that they founded in 2020.

The foundation reportedly donated $250,000 to the Womens Wellness (Spa)ce, a mindfully designed drop-in wellness centre for women to congregate, create, educate, and meditate, according to the Archewell Foundation’s 2023 tax records.  

Based in north Philadelphia and created by Ashley, the space aims to improve all aspects of wellbeing - mental, physical, spiritual, and financial - through healing ourselves, caring for one another, and acting on behalf of our communities, a post on its Instagram page revealed.

In an interview with Elle in 2023, Ashley explained how she envisioned the space as a drop-in space where women can eat a healthy meal, hit the treadmill or box, listen to guided meditation, and access therapies including EMDR and infrared saunas.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex , who insisted that they would remain politically neutral in public ahead of the States presidential election in November, are now connected with the First Daughter (pictured with President Biden in 2017), 43, through a non-partisan initiative

James Holt, the couples most loyal aide, is a co-executive director and paid a $228,500 salary plus $18,428 in benefits

The new tax return for the Archewell Foundation shows what staff and directors are paid. Harry and Meghan do not claim a salary

Away from Archewell, Meghan is working hard on American Riviera Orchard amid trademark problems.

Having announced her new cooking and lifestyle business, American Riviera Orchard, with great fanfare back in March, the Duchess of Sussex began a search for a suitable Chief Executive Officer.

Meghan is interviewing candidates for the CEO role at the moment, a source told the Mails Richard Eden.

Despite having interviewed several candidates for the position, Prince Harrys wife was unable to find anyone who matched her expectations.

Now, insiders say she has found the perfect candidate – herself.

She is the CEO of American Riviera Orchard, a source in the know told the New York Post.

In April, a California-based source told me: The initial CEO search has not panned out so far.

I reported that the Duchesss difficulties had led to an intriguing new development: she had begun negotiations with Netflix about the U.S. streaming giant entering into a commercial partnership with American Riviera Orchard.

This is something new for Netflix, the source told me. It would run the lifestyle business with Meghan, developing products as spin-offs from her show. If a partnership is agreed, its likely that Netflix would install its own CEO to run operations.

The Duchess of Sussex began a search for a suitable Chief Executive Officer in March 

Meghan is said to hope that American Riviera Orchard, which will focus on home, garden, food and lifestyle wares, will be highly lucrative.

Meghan and Harry, pictured during a visit to Colombia last month, have also reportedly struggled to find a CEO for Meghans new home goods and lifestyle venture

Her lawyer has applied to trademark the brand in the U.S. for various goods, including cutlery, recipe books, tablecloths, napkins, jams, edible oils, vegetable and dairy-based spreads (pictured: Heather Dorak posts a photo of her American Rivera Orchard Jam on Instagram) 

Meghan is said to hope that American Riviera Orchard, which will focus on home, garden, food and lifestyle wares, will be highly lucrative.

Her lawyer has applied to trademark the brand in the U.S. for various goods, including cutlery, recipe books, tablecloths, napkins, jams, edible oils, vegetable and dairy-based spreads. The trademark application also appears to extend to a physical shop where items could be sold.

The Duchess, 43, unveiled the venture nine months ago by posting a glitzy video on Instagram in which she could be seen busying herself in a rustic-looking kitchen, arranging white and pink flowers and whisking something in a bowl.

She posted the video the day after I contacted her office for comment on her plans, which may have overshadowed an appearance by Harry, via video link, at an event that evening for the Diana Award, an organisation close to his heart.