Sussexes' Frogmore eviction is tip of the iceberg, royal source

‘King Charles is not a housing association for distant relatives’: Harry and Meghan’s Frogmore Cottage eviction is ‘just the start’ of slimmed-down monarchy and family will no longer use ‘London pads’, sources say

• King said to view eviction of Harry and Meghan from Frogmore as ‘just the start’

King Charles is in the midst of a shake up of royal finances including stopping his family getting mates’ rates on Crown properties with one source declaring: ‘The King is not some sort of housing association for distant relatives.’

His Majesty is said to view the eviction of Harry and Meghan from Frogmore Cottage as ‘just the start’ of his plans to slim down the monarchy.

Famously the Sussexes enjoyed a grace-and-favour British home in the grounds of Windsor Castle and Prince Andrew pays a reported £250-a-week for his grand 30-room Royal Lodge mansion. But recently Charles reportedly decided to evict them both.

One key area earmarked for savings is said to be ending any subsidised rents for royals — even for some working royals with the King telling them to pay for all their homes and ‘cut their cloth’ accordingly by 2028.

His Majesty is said to view the eviction of Harry and Meghan from Frogmore Cottage as ‘just the start’ of his plans to slim down the monarchy

Famously the Sussexes enjoyed a grace-and-favour British home in the grounds of Windsor Castle

Sources told the Evening Standard’s Robert Jobson that Vice-Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt, Master of the Household, and the Keeper of the Privy Purse Sir Michael Stevens are in charge of finding the savings with Camilla overseeing it to ensure that after the May coronation the royal household will be run the ‘Clarence House way’.

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One senior figure told the Standard: ‘It is not about cuts, it is about getting the best value for money from those on the payroll. Sometimes less is more.’ Another source added: ‘The King is not some sort of housing association for distant relatives.’ 

Harry and Meghan losing Frogmore is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’, a source claimed, adding subsidised apartments for royals as ‘London pads’ will also be stopped unless they pay the going rate.

The source said: ‘Over time, that is going to change. Properties will be let at commercial rates going forward and to people outside the family. Where it is in a palace environment they will of course be security vetted.’

After his mother’s death, Charles ordered a review of how money is spent since taking control of the £652.8million Duchy of Lancaster fund – also known as the Privy Purse – and has told non-working royals they should also expect to tighten their belts.

The late Queen continued to support Andrew with private funds from the Duchy of Lancaster, but King Charles, 74, has made no secret of his desire for a slimmed-down monarchy believing that is what the public want. 

Her Majesty is even said to have paid her son’s multi-million-pound out-of-court settlement to Virginia Roberts Giuffre in February 2022, which the Duke is now seeking to oppose.

Charles and Camilla are keen to avoid these kind of costs falling on the royal household – but some claim they are not going far enough.

Harry and Meghan losing Frogmore is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’, a source claimed

Former MP Norman Baker, an expert on royal finances, said; ‘It is absolutely right that the monarchy should slim down. It is bloated and way more expensive than any other, than all other European monarchies. However what is suggested here looks reasonably superficial. 

‘The test is not whether there are fewer royals on the Buckingham Palace balcony, but whether the call upon public funds goes down, and whether Charles and William start paying tax properly. If he is serious, Charles can start by agreeing to pay inheritance tax on the private possessions left to him by the Queen rather than exempting himself at a cost of millions to the taxpayer.’ 

Earlier this month Harry and Meghan adopted royal titles for their two children, who will now be called Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Despite their repeated attacks on both the institution of the monarchy and members of the royal family themselves, the couple revealed that they have begun to use the titles they automatically inherited when their grandfather, King Charles, acceded to the throne.

Until then the children had been referred to as plain ‘master’ and ‘miss’ on the Buckingham Palace website.

It is understood that Harry and Meghan have long been ‘obsessed’ with the idea that the King might bar their children from getting titles as part of a ‘plot’ to downgrade their security.

News of the Sussex children’s titles was revealed just days after it emerged that Harry and Meghan have been asked to vacate their UK home, Frogmore Cottage, a move sanctioned by the King.

It further weakens the couple’s ties with Harry’s home country and the Windsors, who have been left reeling by the couple’s repeated attacks.

The late Queen continued to support Andrew with private funds from the Duchy of Lancaster, but King Charles, 74, has made no secret of his desire for a slimmed-down monarchy believing that is what the public want

Harry, who stepped down as a senior working royal in 2020 for a new life in the US, criticised his father’s parenting in his controversial autobiography Spare, accused the Prince of Wales of physically attacking him, and said the Queen Consort sacrificed him on her own personal PR altar.

Earlier the duke and Meghan used their bombshell six-part tell-all Netflix documentary series to claim that Kensington Palace lied to protect William when it issued a statement denying a story he had bullied Harry out of the royal family.

 Harry and Meghan still have not officially indicated whether they will attend the King’s coronation in May.

And at the moment no-one within the Royal Household even knows whether the couple will firmly accept.

It has been reported that they are currently weighing up the logistics, as well as debating ‘the more personal implications and the optics of each potential option in the context of a deep family rift’.

But the couple haven’t immediately said no, so staff are planning for the eventuality that they – and their children – will come.

The Sussexes would likely stay for the last time at Frogmore Cottage, their Windsor home which the king has now asked them to leave. They have been given until early summer to move out.

While many feel their presence would be inappropriate given their repeated attacks on the Royal Family, as well as the institution of the monarchy over the last two years, others believe it would be right for the King to have all his family – however fractured – present on such an historic day.

Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will star in the King’s Coronation procession at Westminster Abbey on May 6, reports suggested last night.

The Prince of Wales’s children are expected to join their parents in a carriage behind Charles and Camilla, who will be in the Gold State Coach, according to rehearsal documents seen by The Times. But Harry and Meghan still have not officially indicated whether they will attend.

Even so, staff are making plans so that Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet will be able to join the celebrations if they do.

There is little chance of them being part of the ceremony itself given their ages – Archie will turn four on the big day itself and Lilibet will be one. A source said: ‘I’m sure they would also acknowledge the little prince’s birthday even though it’s his grandpa’s big day.’

And there is the unresolved issues with the Duke of York and how he is financed. 

Charles won’t leave his brother homeless and penniless and will continue to support him despite reports Prince Andrew faces being ‘evicted’ from his £30million Windsor home, royal sources have stressed.

The disgraced duke has told friends he will not be able to afford the upkeep at Royal Lodge when his annual £249,000 grant is slashed from April.

He claims he will effectively be forced out of the 30-room mansion – which also has a swimming pool, 98 acres of land – by September.

It is understood Royal Lodge, where the Prince, 63, lives with his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, also 63, requires extensive work.

He stopped receiving public money when he stepped down from Royal duties in 2019 in disgrace over sex-abuse allegations by Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, which he denies.

But it is understood that the King will not leave his brother homeless or penniless but wants his brother to use his own money to pay for things. A source told the Mail that what’s been claimed seems to be based on ‘fears not full facts’.

He is believed to have guaranteed Andrew an income – albeit reduced – and a home, and is also understood to have agreed to pay privately for the Duke’s security, estimated at about £3million a year, after the Home Office axed his team of Scotland Yard protection officers.

The Duke signed a 75-year lease for the Royal Lodge in 2003 for a one-off £1million. Some claim he was offered Frogmore

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