The Spare saga continues. In an event that, according to one source, “spells the end of” their time in the UK, Harry and Meghan are leaving Frogmore Cottage.
The couple moved into the cottage following Baby Archie’s birth in August 2019, but by January 2020, they’d announced their royal exit strategy—including plans for keeping the cottage as their home in the UK. “Frogmore Cottage will continue to be the property of Her Majesty the Queen,” they wrote on their website. “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will continue to use Frogmore Cottage – with the permission of Her Majesty The Queen – as their official residence as they continue to support the Monarchy.” In the wake of Harry’s memoir which revealed intimate and shocking details about the Royal Family’s inner workings, the now-King Charles is booting them out. Here’s what we know.
Why are Prince Harry & Meghan Markle leaving Frogmore Cottage?
Why are Prince Harry & Meghan Markle leaving Frogmore Cottage? That would be a resounding “yes”, per an Archwell spokesperson who told the BBC, “We can confirm The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage.”
Frogmore Cottage. Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images
The Sun first broke the story with information supplied by an anonymous source. The tabloid also speculated that the eviction throws Harry and Megan’s attendance at Charles’ coronation into doubt. “This surely spells the end of Harry and Meghan’s time in the UK,” the source said, adding that the 10-bedroom property in Windsor—yes, “cottage” is really an understatement—has been offered to the disgraced royal Prince Andrew instead. “Andrew is resisting the idea of moving into Frogmore Cottage after he was offered it last week,” they said. “But it shows Harry and Meghan are powerless to stop the eviction.” Harry and Megan were given use of Frogmore Cottage by the Queen as a wedding present in 2018. The couple claimed it would mean “their family would always have a place to call home in the United Kingdom.”
Andrew, meanwhile, was evicted from Buckingham Palace amid his connection to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. During an interview with the BBC in November 2019, Andrew said he “regretted” his connection to Epstein but had no memory of ever meeting Giuffre. “I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever,” he said and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He stepped back from royal life shortly after the BBC interview aired, asking his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II for permission to withdraw from public duties.
In 2022, Andrew was stripped of his military titles after a judge ruled a sexual abuse civil lawsuit against him could proceed, which he settled. “With The Queen’s approval and agreement, the Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen. The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen,” the palace said in a statement.
In December 2022, after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth and subsequent ascension to the throne by his brother Charles, the newly minted King reportedly “threw out” Andrew, his second-youngest sibling, from Buckingham Palace. In A source told The Sun: “The King has made it clear that Buckingham Palace is no place for Prince Andrew,” a source told the tabloid. “First, his office closed last year and now his sleeping quarters.”
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Andrew moved into the suite in the 1980s where palace maids were reportedly asked to rearrange his collection of teddy bears daily. “As soon as I got the job, I was told about the teddies and it was drilled into me how he wanted them,” former Palace maid, Charlotte Briggs, told The Sun in 2022. “I even had a day’s training. Everything had to be just right. It was so peculiar. It was so odd. After all, he was a grown man who had served in the Falklands. But he absolutely loved the teddies and was very clear about how he wanted them arranged.”
According to a source quoted in The Sun, “Andrew loved having a suite at Buckingham Palace where he was not only set up for marital life with Sarah Ferguson but used it as a bachelor’s pad after his divorce. He brought back a string of new girlfriends to his home in the Palace— even model Caprice.” The tabloid added that if the disgraced Duke wants to remain in London, he’ll have to move to the other royal residence, St. James Palace, which “doesn’t have the same allure for a single man,” the source observed.
Andrew and Caprice dated for two months in 2000, having met the Dancing on Ice star at a dinner party and invited her back to his now former Palace suite. “He took her to Buckingham Palace twice, and on one occasion she sat on the Queen’s throne,” a source told The Sun in March 2020. “She spotted a bowl she liked and asked Andrew if she could steal it and post it to her mom. She claims that he let her, and her mom loved it!”
Apparently, the Royal Family are allowed to host visitors, but it’s understood they are expected to first notify the Palace guards. A royal source said, per The Sun: “I’ve never heard of anything like this before. “Andrew has an apartment at the Palace, and clearly feels at home there. He’s entertained friends within his own space but showing pals around the entire Palace is quite extraordinary.”
Image: Courtesy of Random House.
For more about the British royal family, check out Sally Bedell Smith’s 2012 biography, Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch. The New York Times bestseller, which includes the “real story” behind several storylines featured in Netflix’s The Crown, follows Queen Elizabeth II’s life from her childhood as the “heiress presumptive” to her father, King George VI; to the moment he met her husband, Prince Philip, when she was 13 years old; to her ascension to the throne at 25 years old in 1952. Elizabeth the Queen, which also includes interviews with Buckingham Palace sources and never-before-revealed documents, provides a deep dive into the Queen’s legacy as one of the most famous monarchs in recent history.
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