One of the wildest royal stories last week was a Sun exclusive, all about the unoccupied Frogmore Cottage. Frogmore Cottage is on the Royal Windsor estate, and it’s relatively close to Windsor Castle. FC was a dilapidated, forgotten property until it was “given” to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2018, months after their wedding. They moved into FC in 2019, just before Archie was born. Even though they left the UK in 2020, they still had a valid lease, they had paid back the entire cost of the renovation, and they were still paying rent up until January 2023, which is when King Charles evicted them, and evicted Princess Eugenie and her family, who were subletting FC.
Last week, royal sources said that even though the Windsors have made pointed moves to NOT rent out FC since 2023, they were now going to undo the extensive renovation done by the Sussexes. One source told the Sun: “It’s been empty for three years. Even Andrew thought it wasn’t good enough for him to move in. Maybe if they get rid of any trace of Harry and Meghan, then someone within the royal household will fancy it. It would draw the line under Frogmore Cottage’s controversial history and return it to the pre-Meghan and Harry era.” That’s one of the most contemptible royal quotes I’ve seen in some time, but as I always say – the left-behinds are constantly making horse’s asses out of themselves all for an audience of one (Prince Harry) and they don’t even understand or acknowledge how insane and racist they look to everyone else. Well, two royal commentators had various thoughts on the big plan to undo the Frogmore reno.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told The People’s Channel the decision to reverse the renovations is “practical”.
“It is, above all, a practical decision as the Crown Estate knows it is being scrutinised to provide value for money,” he said. “However, the optics are obvious. Harry and Meghan’s £2.4million alterations to Frogmore Cottage were paid for by the taxpayer. This was later reimbursed by the couple.”
“Their eviction reportedly infuriated Harry,” Mr Fitzwilliams said. “It coincided with the release of his ill-advised memoir Spare, which was another attack on the Royal Family. The new plans eliminate the memory of the Sussexes, which some would think appropriate.”
The best value for money would have been… allowing the Sussexes to continue paying for their lease on the home for which they “paid back” the cost of renovating. In 2023, even the Crown Estate people were concerned about the optics and pettiness of King Charles’ move to evict the Sussexes, simply because Harry & Meghan were still paying rent and paying for upkeep, all while Eugenie and her family subletted. No one has leased Frogmore Cottage since then because Charles and the Crown Estate have blocked it, because of the location of FC within the ring of security around the castle. Now, suddenly, it costs the Crown Estate millions of pounds to undo the Sussexes’ renovation, all because the childish and racist Windsors can’t stand that a Black woman lived on a royal property? Speaking of, Jennie Bond at least points out that the optics of all of this are pretty bonkers.
Jennie Bond told the Mirror: “If these reports are true, I don’t think it should be taken as some sort of vindictive move against Harry and Meghan. The Crown Estate is run as a commercial enterprise with the profits going to the Treasury. If the best commercial decision is to make further alterations to Frogmore Cottage, then so be it. However, it does, on the face of it, seem absurd that a recently renovated house cannot be rented out as is.”
She continued: “Obviously there are security considerations in renting out a property so close to Windsor Castle, but arrangements like this are not impossible. And I think the optics of more money being spent on the cottage are quite damaging.”
Of course it does “seem absurd that a recently renovated house cannot be rented out as is” – because it’s genuinely absurd, it’s genuinely ludicrous that these horrible people are doing THIS much just to get Harry and Meghan’s attention. That the Windsors are willing to blow through millions of pounds just to reverse a renovation on a home the Sussexes were evicted from three years ago! Incidentally, remember earlier this year, just before Prince Andrew was shuffled off to Norfolk? There were reports of a construction crew working on Frogmore Cottage back then too. I don’t know what that means, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if someone rage-smashed walls in Frogmore and that’s one of the reasons why it couldn’t be rented out to anyone.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Netflix.
