The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have reportedly cleared all of their belongings from their UK residence, months after it was revealed that they were being evicted.
Update (6/29/23 11:18 a.m. EST): Michael Stevens, keeper of the Privy Purse, confirmed that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had left Frogmore Cottage during the Sovereign Grant briefing on Thursday, January 29, per Sky News. “We can confirm that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have vacated Frogmore Cottage,” he said. “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.”
Original: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reportedly just moved out from Frogmore Cottage, according to a report by ITV News. The British outlet explained that the Sovereign Grant reported that no one is currently living at the Windsor home, and a palace official said that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex “only just left” the royal residence.
The news that Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, had left came just months after they revealed that the prince’s dad King Charles, 74, had asked them to leave the property. “We can confirm the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage,” their rep told Page Six at the time. While there had been reports that Charles would offer the palace to his brother, the disgraced Prince Andrew, 63, ITV said that Buckingham Palace didn’t reveal who would be moving in or when they would.
The late Queen Elizabeth had given the Duke and Duchess of Sussex the cottage as a wedding gift in 2018. After their exit, it was reported that they had repaid the £2.4 million that had been spent to renovate the building. When the pair moved to the U.S., they had a reduced rent on the cottage.
Despite being asked to leave Frogmore, Harry did head back to the UK to attend his father’s coronation ceremony. While there were many events happening through the weekend surrounding the coronation, King Charles’ son quickly returned home to the U.S. after the church service to spend the day celebrating his son Archie’s birthday. He reportedly didn’t interact with his brother Prince William at all during the event. Harry and Meghan were both reportedly not invited to King Charles’ first Trooping of the Colour in mid-June.
While Harry and Meghan have relocated across the pond, the prince has spent a decent amount of time in his home country in recent months, as his lawsuits against various British press organizations have gone to trial. At the beginning of June, Harry took the stand as the first member of the Royal Family to testify in over 100 years. He’s accused various outlets of illegal means to get stories, including phone hacking.
