Does everyone have their popcorn ready for Harry & Meghan?

Royal Lodge has 30 rooms total, not 30 bedrooms (there are 7).

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A cottage! :sweat_smile:

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So…the worldwide privacy tour is continuing, I take it.

Ok, I guess I’m not understanding the disapproval regarding Frogmore Cottage. Is it because Andrew is the one being “downsized” there?

H&M moved to California 3 years ago and are no longer working royals. How many times have they been back to the UK since? Why do they require a (royal-owned) home there? And they won’t be able to visit family–assuming they even want to–unless they have their own dedicated house that sits empty 95% of the time? (Kinda wish I had thought of that excuse years ago; might have saved me some unpleasant holiday visits with the relatives :wink:.)

As far as who paid for it, I seem to recall it was renovated for them, and then they moved away shortly thereafter. Due to public outcry, they either were asked or volunteered to reimburse the costs. (That’s what I remember, but I may be wrong. @skieurope?) So it seems fair enough if some portion of that is now returned to them.

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I’d think if they wanted to spend the weekend in England someone would put them up and not require them to stay at the Holiday Inn. Charles has a number of houses where he could host them

For people who are so into the environment, none of them seem too worried about their personal carbon footprints.

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First of all,
There is nothing about my post to suggest I am “urging” anyone to cut their child off.
Secondly, in my opinion H has “cut himself off” … he moved and he continues to disparage his family. Finally, because the royal family has not and presumably “will not” comment on anything coming out from the Sussexes we will never know if during the exit period or after The queen, Charles, William, et al did apologize. Clearly Kate apologized to M after the wedding debacle but H and M still aired the whole story and seemingly did not actually forgive her. It is always sad when families break from each other… but it happens. Trust is a huge deal in any relationship. Of course no one can know for certain; but as a parent I would bet Charles is very grieved by everything going on with H.
As an aside we have friends whose son has also cut them off. Says they were not supportive of him only encouraged his older brother etc etc. They apologized to him, certainly did not think he was hurting growing up, offered to do whatever he needed to help heal the situation. Two years later and he still will not speak to his family. Family is very sad, but if he ever wanted reconciliation the door is wide open.

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All the property they own and he kicked out his son and grandkids from one place their grandmother gifted them. Father of the century I would say! What an abomination of a man.
And William and Kate could have corrected the false narrative in the press through their “palace officials confirm or deny” and stop vilification of Meagan but no, it suited them to have villains in the family.
It a clear to me who cut whom off. Wish the best to Harry and his family and trully feel sorry for having the family he does.

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Again we the public are only getting part of the story. I would assume Frogmore Cottage requires a lot of money yearly for upkeep. Maybe H and M were not willing to foot the bill since they only use it a few times a year… just speculating. Having any property sit vacant, and unused is not very prudent. We will never know the details H and M were presented.

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We do know they were evicted. That much has been confirmed. The home was a wedding gift as I recall from a queen.
Now you are concerned about one empty residence? Why don’t you look around all the houses his dear brother or his father occupy and barely use? Oh I forgot. Birth order.

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It doesn’t seem the eviction is a space issue:

https://www.prestigeonline.com/my/lifestyle/wealth-management/british-royal-family-homes-and-properties/

Has it been confirmed H&M they were evicted? I don’t think so. I read that H&M’s official spokesperson confirmed H&M were asked to vacate, which is not the same as being evicted.

‘We can confirm the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage.’

Anything other than that, is pure speculation. We do not know if this decision was arrived at mutually, we do not know if HM The Queen left other arrangements in her will, we do not know if, as H&M first wished, they will be gifted a suite of rooms at Buckingham Palace, and we do not know if they will move into Kensington Palace, into the apartment that was first earmarked for them, Apartment 1.

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Their spokesperson confirmed saying they were requested to “vacate” the property.

It seems Charles is cutting his brothers annual allowance - which is now around $300000. I guess he has some responsibility to maintain the 98 acre lodge and it wouldn’t be possible without the full handout.

Allegedly earmarked for them. And Apartment 1 is another example of royal downsizing. It was, until 2019, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, who have since moved to a smaller property on the KP grounds.

An important consideration is that any of these homes in Kensington Palace or Windsor Great Park were not gifted by the Queen or anyone else. They were given the lease, for which someone, whether the tenant or the monarch, is paying rent at market value. I don’t see the financial sense in paying rent on a 20+ room pied a terre.

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Poor Charles. The world’s richest man couldn’t manage it without evicting his grandkids.

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I finished reading Spare last night. My take is that this family has been dysfunctional far longer than Megan has been part of it. And that the way the royals live is so different from everything I know, not just financially but also emotionally, that I don’t see how an “outsider” could ever fit in.

The longing to be close to his father and brother that comes through in the book is heartbreaking. And the longing to have a place in the world to work and serve. But also that his life hasn’t prepared him for how to engage the world as other than a spare prince. The whole line of “if he wants privacy he should just go away” doesn’t reflect what he wants at all.

The clips and conversation about the book that I had heard before reading it did not reflect the totality
of the book or the context of many of the quotes. Harry does not attack his father or grandmother and seems bewildered by his conflict with his brother rather than “airing dirty laundry.”

The pacing of the book changes dramatically after his relationship with Megan becomes public. It becomes more chaotic and harder to follow the chronology. Perhaps that just reflects how his life began to feel chaotic and overwhelming.

That Charles has asked that he vacate (or evicted him) from Frogmore does not surprise me. Just one more way to show they have power to manipulate his life whether he does, or doesn’t do what they want.

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Yes, gifted doesn’t mean what people are assuming. The monarch’s estate is exempt from inheritance tax in the UK, so it does not get dispersed to others, and any “gifts” are rights of (presumably lifetime) occupancy not gifts of ownership.

Typical the rent isn’t market rent but is a nominal figure, although the occupant is responsible for maintenance. It’s been reported that maintenance costs are the reason Andrew may have to move, but he’s only paying 250 pounds ($300) per week in rent:

Their lease was up in March this year. So technically not eviction if your landlord declines to renew your lease.

They were apparently paying full market value for the lease, which is also covered in the Sovereign Grant report (I haven’t read it myself, just seen it reported).

Are you perhaps confusing him with Elon Musk, one of whose kids doesn’t “wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form”?

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Historically, that was true. That came to a head in 2002 when it was learned that Prince and Princess Michael of Kent were paying rent of £69 a week for their Kensington Palace apartment. So now they’re market rate.

Working royals are thought to live close to rent-free (technically the Crown is paying the rent), but Andrew and H&M don’t fall into that category.

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Pardon me. He is among the world’s richest, but maybe no the richest. So I guess that justifies him not being able to find a place for his brother among many of his mostly empty properties and requires him to evict his grandkids.

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