Evictions rarely involve palace intrigue, but this one does … literally.
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, have been asked to vacate Frogmore Cottage, their U.K. home on the grounds of Windsor Castle, The New York Times reported.
King Charles III, Harry’s father, is looking to move his brother, Prince Andrew, who was embroiled in a scandal involving disgraced child rapist Jeffrey Epstein, into the five-bedroom cottage, the outlet said.
The British tabloid The Sun first reported the eviction last week.
The move reflects the status of the strained, if not ruptured, relationship between the royals. Harry and Meghan — the Duke and Dutchess of Sussex — famously withdrew from their royal duties and moved to California in 2020.
The couple had been residents of, and used, Frogmore Cottage since 2018, when Queen Elizabeth offered it to them after their wedding. The estate, which is technically owned by the Crown Estate, was Harry and Meghan’s only residence in the U.K., Time reported.
While no official reason was given for the move, King Charles reportedly made the decision following the recent release of Harry’s memoir, “Spare,” which provides less-than-flattering accounts of the relationships between Harry, his brother, William; and their father, Charles, the Times said. Charles is set to be crowned in May.
“It’s sending a clear, clear message from the King to his younger son,” Giselle Bastin, a royal expert at Flinders University in Adelaide, told Time. “That would provide in many ways a disincentive for Prince Harry to bring his family over for the coronation, perhaps even himself, if he doesn’t have somewhere to stay that is covered by royal security.”
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The cottage, which was built in 1801 and is named for the large number of frogs on the property, has been a sore spot since Harry and Meghan withdrew from royal life, Time said.
The decision to move Andrew, who was friends with Epstein and had been settled a sexual abuse claim of his own, into Frogmore may be a way of cutting the royal family’s costs while also providing Andrew a place to stay. Andrew had been living in a larger residence, but likely could not afford the maintenance after he had his royal and military titles stripped from him in 2022.
— Ted Glanzer