What Does Harry and Meghan’s Eviction From Frogmore Cottage Mean for Their Future in the U.K.?

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have confirmed that they will be vacating their only remaining home in the UK. Here, Vogue breaks down everything you need to know about Frogmore Cottage, and what losing it as a home base might mean for Harry and Meghan’s future role in the British monarchy, including their attendance at the coronation.

Frogmore Cottage’s name is a nod to the large number of amphibians in the area  

The Grade II-listed Frogmore Cottage sits on the 33-acre Frogmore estate near Windsor Castle in Berkshire—so named because of the countless frogs that occupy the grounds, which are low-lying and marshy due to its proximity to the Thames. Queen Victoria even referenced the phenomenon in her journal on June 28, 1875. “We noticed an immense number of little frogs, hardly bigger than a bluebottle fly, hopping and crawling all over the grass and paths,” she wrote while breakfasting at Frogmore Cottage. “I observed it first yesterday, but much more today, and especially near the cottage—quite disgusting… the paths had to be swept over and over again.”

It was built at the behest of Queen Charlotte

The formidable royal—whose early life will soon be fictionalized in Netflix’s Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story*—*ordered the cottage to be built in the gardens near the imposing 17th-century Frogmore House in 1801. Originally called the Double Garden Cottage, it reportedly cost £450 to construct, per the Queen’s accounts for that year, and acted as a retreat for her and her daughters. Since their departure, notable former residents have included American theologian Henry James Sr (the father of the novelist of the same name), Queen Victoria’s personal secretary Abdul Karim (played by Ali Fazal in Stephen Frears’s Victoria & Abdul), and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, after she fled her homeland in the wake of the revolution. In later years, the cottage was separated into five living units and, for a time, housed Windsor estate workers, too.   

The property was a gift to the newlyweds from the Queen

Six months after their royal wedding in St George’s Chapel, it emerged that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex—who were by then expecting their first child—would set up home at Frogmore Cottage, which overlooks their reception venue, Frogmore House. At the time, Meghan and Harry were living in Nottingham Cottage (the prince’s erstwhile bachelor pad that became the couple’s first shared home), and had been expected to take up residence in a 20-room apartment at Kensington Palace. Instead, a Buckingham Palace statement confirmed, the Duke and Duchess had accepted the gift of Frogmore Cottage from Her Majesty the Queen. The statement described Windsor as “a very special place for their royal highnesses”. Meghan and Harry moved in shortly before the arrival of baby Archie Harrison in May 2019, with the couple widely reported to have enlisted interior designer Vicky Charles—who spent 20 years with the Soho House group—to oversee renovations, including a nursery decorated using eco-friendly, non-toxic paint.

The cost of the refurbishment proved a sticking point from the start

Fairly or unfairly, many of the headlines around the Sussexes’ move to Windsor focused on the public cost of Frogmore Cottage’s revamp, which totaled £2.4 million ($2.9 million) and was originally footed by British taxpayers. The 10-bedroom house had previously been divided up into offices, meaning extensive work was needed to turn it into a family home, with the newlyweds reportedly adding on two orangeries, a vegetable garden, and a yoga studio. Upon their relocation to the States, however, Harry and Meghan repaid the cost of the refurbishment in full. “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have shared their wish to repay Sovereign Grant expenditure for the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage, which will remain their UK family home,” a statement from Buckingham Palace confirmed in January 2020.

Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank have been living there on and off since Harry and Meghan’s departure

While Frogmore Cottage did indeed stay the official UK residence for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex post-“Megxit”, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank have spent periods at the Windsor property with their growing family over the last two years. (Harry and Meghan have been close to Eugenie and Jack since before their marriage.) Still, the Duke and Duchess have made the Georgian property their base on their return visits to the UK—celebrating Lilibet’s first birthday there during the Platinum Jubilee. The reasons for this go beyond mere sentimental attachment; as Frogmore Cottage is set within the private royal estate around Windsor Castle, it comes with an added level of police protection that the Sussexes wouldn’t be able to find elsewhere.

Prince Andrew is expected to move into Frogmore Cottage in Harry and Meghan’s stead

The Sussexes confirmed in a statement to Vogue on March 1 that they had officially “been requested to vacate their residence.” Buckingham Palace, however, has yet to reveal whether the reason for their departure is, in fact, to make room for Prince Andrew, as has been widely reported. The disgraced royal currently lives in the 31-bedroom Royal Lodge nearby, but—with King Charles expected to cut his annual grant—there are concerns that the Duke of York may no longer be able to afford the upkeep of the larger property (to say nothing of the optics of having him there in the first place). While certain sources claim Harry and Meghan were initially given just weeks to vacate Frogmore Cottage in the wake of the release of Spare, the pair are now allegedly being given until the coronation to remove the last of their belongings.

Losing Frogmore Cottage may well impact whether Harry and Meghan attend the coronation

In the wake of their Netflix series and Harry’s myriad controversial disclosures in Spare, there has been endless speculation about whether or not the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will attend the coronation on May 6. Until recently, it seemed likely that the two would still make an appearance in some capacity. Without Frogmore Cottage, though, there’s a possibility that the lack of a secure base might make their journey from California too risky to navigate—while the sting of having to vacate their home for Prince Andrew may well have further exacerbated the schism between Harry and Meghan and the rest of the royal family.