PRINCE Harry and wife Meghan shared the stage with Tony Blair as they began chasing corporate megabucks.
The royal runaways rubbed shoulders with ex-PM Mr Blair among the stars and billionaires at a wealth forum in the US.
Harry, 35, opened up about the death of his mother as he spoke in front of 425 high-rollers on the beach of a five-star hotel with experts saying he could have been paid up to $1million (775,000).
Mr Blair, who has pocketed millions from advisory roles and speaking events since leaving No10, was a panellist.
A source said last night: If Meghan and Harry want to enrich themselves, following Tony Blairs lead is not a great example he has received a lot of criticism.
Mr Blair, now 66, was PM in 1997 when Harrys mother, Princess Diana, was killed in a car crash in Paris.
Since leaving office, he has jetted round the globe on the speaking circuit but has come under fire for racking up 250,000 a year in taxpayer-funded security bills.
In 2008, the former Labour leader became a senior adviser to JPMorgan, which hosted the mega-exclusive summit in Miami, Florida.
‘A LOT OF CRITICISM’
It was the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes first engagement since their split from the Royal Family in the search for financial independence.
The event appears to have caught Buckingham Palace off guard as they are still classed as senior royals until spring.
One source said: Harry spoke movingly about losing his mother at a young age and he also talked about leaving the UK and what thats meant to him and Meghan.
Security for the event was tight as some of the worlds richest people were in the audience, the source added.
The royal pair, who have been holed up in a 10.5million mansion in Canada, are thought to have taken a JPMorgan-owned jet from Vancouver Island to Florida.
If true, the climate campaigners Gulfstream aircraft would have spewed out ten times the carbon emissions of a commercial flight.
Harry and Meghan, 38, were said to have stayed at the Palm Beach mansion of her tennis pal Serena Williams before heading to Thursdays event in Miami.
The JPMorgan summit formerly the Alternative Investments Summit was held at 1 Hotel, where rooms cost up to 3,500 a night.
The invitation-only event saw billionaires fly in from across the world.
Guests were ordered not to take photographs of the speakers and all the information about the event would have been kept on a password-protected website.
One source revealed: JPMorgan invite all their clients of high net worth.”
“Typically, that means individuals with a billion dollars-plus. Its the most exclusive event they do for their clients all year.”
Its by invitation only you have to be in their extreme private wealth programme.”
They then have different panels of speakers that talk on a variety of economic issues and just other world issues and they usually just try to get some celebrities to speak.
As well as Mr Blair, guests included business and political leaders alongside basketball great Magic Johnson and baseball star Alex Rodriguez, the fianc of Jennifer Lopez.
News of the royal guests was kept from the audience.
Our source said: Harry talked of how difficult it had been to leave the Royal Family but said he did not regret the move.”
“He said he was optimistic about being financially independent.
Harry was also said to have talked about starting therapy at 28 to cope with the death of his mother. Ronn Torossian, from New York-based 5W Public Relations, said he expected the couple to have made up to 775,000 from the appearance.
He said: Harry and Meghan will be the highest-paid speakers that exist on the corporate market. Over the year their earning power could be unlimited.
But it was claimed yesterday they turned down an invitation to present an award at the Oscars in LA tonight.
