King asks Duke and Duchess of Sussex to leave Frogmore so Prince Andrew can move in
The King has asked the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to leave Frogmore Cottage permanently to allow Prince Andrew to move in, according to The Telegraph.
Talks between Buckingham Palace and the couple had been going on for some time, but have accelerated recently.
A friend of the Sussexes suggested the decision to move them out of Frogmore was not well received by the couple, noting that “they have made this place their home”.
They are understood to see the cottage as ‘the only place that remains safe’ for them and their children in the UK, especially given the ongoing row between Prince Harry and the Home Office over his decision to remove their security details.
It comes as the Duke of York feared he would be kicked out of the royal box by King Charles, who is looking to cut spending.
The Duke is expected to have his £249,000 annual allowance reduced from April and has told friends it will make him unable to maintain the 98-acre property in Windsor.
However, the king has no intention of leaving his brother ‘homeless or penniless’, a royal source told The Telegraph, suggesting alternative arrangements have been made for his accommodation.
The Frogmore Cottage is much smaller than the Royal Lodge, a 30-bedroom mansion in Windsor Great Park that has been the Duke’s home since 2003.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have lost their taxpayer-funded police protection after stepping down as senior royals. In July, Prince Harry won the right to challenge a Home Office decision not to grant him automatic police protection whenever he is in the UK.
The Duke, 37, argued that he inherited a risk at birth and as such he, his wife Meghan and their children Archie, two, and Lilibet, one, should benefit from permanent protective security in the UK, regardless of their status as non-working royals.
In seeking judicial review, he said he had been denied a “clear and full explanation” of the composition of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, otherwise known as Ravec, and of others involved in the decision to revoke his security status.
Ravec said at the time that the Sussexes’ plan to live abroad as private citizens did not “fit easily” into any category of his framework.
However, she acknowledged that the Duke was in a “special and unusual position” and that he may need protection in certain circumstances, to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The Sussex spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.
Yahoo
