The late Queen gave the Duke and Duchess of Sussex Frogmore Cottage as a wedding gift, but the couple made a huge mistake that some have called “out of touch.”
It’s been exactly one year since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had to return the keys to their Frogmore Cottage home.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex received the royal household as a wedding gift from the late Queen in 2018, but they made a big mistake by accepting the offer, according to an expert.
King Charles evicted the couple after they quit the royal family. Now it seems the monarch wants disgraced Prince Andrew to move into the property as the pair are at odds over their current residence, Royal Lodge.
The Sussexes happily accepted the late Queen’s gift at the time, but were branded “out of touch” for thinking they would always have the keys to the luxury cottage.
Royal author Tom Quinn said the assumption “speaks volumes” and would have only increased the duke’s “pain” at his father’s decision.
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, she explained: “Harry and Meghan imagined that Frogmore would always be there for them, even if they returned to the UK for just a few weeks each year and even if they were no longer working royals.
The eviction process began in January 2023, the day after Spare’s shocking memoir was published. The King began the process for the Duke and Duchess to leave, but their move was retroactive and Harry and Meghan officially moved in on June 29, 2023. Tom said this date is “significant” to Harry and showed he was deeply affected by the King’s decision to evict the Sussexes.
The author explained: “At the time, few people realized what a slap in the face for Harry to be evicted from Frogmore: it was the last straw. Harry was absolutely furious and crying at being evicted from Frogmore; he felt that his father had no right to do so and that it was purely vindictive.
“Harry couldn’t see that choosing to step down as a royal would inevitably mean being deprived of his royal residence. Harry took it as a cruel rejection, a painful reminder of all he felt when his father fought with his mother during their long, drawn-out and painful divorce.” Tom concluded: “To many, Harry is just a poor little rich boy behaving like a spoiled brat, but Harry sees himself as the eternal victim.”
Frogmore Cottage is a five-bedroom house, just a stone’s throw from where Prince William and Princess Kate live, and is set in the grounds of Windsor Castle. It was renovated in 2019, costing the taxpayer a whopping £2.4m, but Harry and Meghan agreed to pay back the money for the renovations when they gave up their royal titles and moved to the US.
The Sun reports that after the couple moved to the United States, they handed the keys to Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank in November 2020. But six months later they moved into Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace.
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