Buckingham Palace has confirmed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have vacated the family home of Frogmore Cottage. A couple of weeks after Prince Harry criticized his family in his controversial memoir Spare, the couple was asked to move any remaining belongings out of their UK home near Windsor Castle. As one of the last remaining properties of the couple in the UK, they resided in a cottage refurbished by them and owned by Crown Estate. It was their final presence in the country, and now they live in California. As part of the annual Sovereign Grant account briefing on royal finances, Sir Michael Stevens, Keeper of the Privy Purse, was quoted as saying via The Independent: “We can confirm that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have vacated Frogmore Cottage.
“We will not be going into any detail on those arrangements here. Safe to say that, as has previously been stated, the duke and duchess have paid for the expenditure incurred by the Sovereign Grant in relation to the renovation of Frogmore Cottage, thus leaving the Crown with a greatly enhanced asset.” The last time Prince Harry was in the UK was earlier this month when he appeared in court to give evidence regarding his alleged hacking charges against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN). But before that, he had returned briefly for the coronation celebrations of his father, King Charles III.
Videos by PopCulture.com
After stepping down from the working monarchy in 2020, Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, moved to the United States. Harry’s grandmother, the late Queen, gave the couple Frogmore as a gift. In 2019, royal accounts revealed that Meghan and Harry spent a total of £2.4 million on the refurbishment and rental of Frogmore Cottage on the Home Park Estate, a property they have only used a handful of times since relocating to the United States and has since become vacant. In response to a question regarding who would be living in the cottage in the future, a palace official indicated that no further information was available. “I have nothing to add,” the official told The Independent. “Any future occupancy will be determined and communicated in next year’s report.” In response to questions as to whether the King’s disgraced brother, the Duke of York, would be leaving his Royal Lodge home in Windsor Great Park, the Palace refused to comment. Andrew was reported to have been offered Frogmore Cottage instead. Sir Michael said, “We will not be discussing any details of the duke’s private lease arrangements here today.”
