Prince HarryAnd Meghan Markle only lived at Frogmore Cottage for a few short years, but their stint made a huge impression on the property itself as well as the Sussexes’ reputation. After major renovations to Frogmore Cottage that cost in excess of a million dollars, the duke & duchess decided to move to America and stop being working royals. The tabloids made it a point to demand that the royal couple repay those funds in the years and months following. So how are Harry and Markle’s finances in regard to Frogmore Cottage?
Prince Harry, Meghan Markle’s Frogmore History
A few months after their 2018 marriage, in November, Prince Harry and his then-newlywed bride Meghan Markle announced that they’d be moving from Nottingham Cottage in Kensington Palace, where Harry had lived since 2013, into Frogmore Cottage. The home was gifted to the couple upon their wedding by Harry’s doting grandmother Queen Elizabeth.
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At the time, Markle was pregnant with the couple’s first child, Archie. To prepare the home for their growing family, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex poured about £2.4million, or $3.1 million, into renovations and refurbishments on the property. Renovations combined five properties that were originally built into one. This was funded by the Sovereign Grant. A taxpayer-fueled fund, it was meant to be used by the royal family.
Expensive Renovations Create Backlash
Harry and Markle declared that they would no longer be working royals at all in 2020. Even before that announcement, there’d been dozens of tabloid stories decrying the Sussexes’ renovations and demands for them to pay back the funds. After the announcement, outraged commentators lambasted the pair for the completion of the multimillion-dollar renovations and then resigned.
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These critics were silenced in September 2020 after Harry and Markle repaid the Sovereign Grant fully. The couple still own the home but pay the Sovereign Grant in order to rent the property. It is their U.K. home. They also let royal relatives, like Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie, her husband Jack Brooksbank, and their son August, stay at the property during their long absence.
As a result of both the couple’s previous repayment of the renovation costs, as well as the money they continue to pay as rent, Frogmore Cottage has become a “great deal”For the British taxpayer, a palace source has recently been reported.
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The senior royal source of rent continued to pay the rent. “calculated by reference to market valuations for a property of that nature,”This means that the Sussexes are being paid a fair price by market standards. According to the source: “I can be confident in saying that this is a good deal for the Sovereign Grant and the taxpayer alike.”
