Frogmore Cottage, a Grade-II listed 10-bedroom property in the grounds of Windsor Castle in Berkshire, was a gift to the royal couple from the late Queen.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been asked to vacate their British base of Frogmore Cottage
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had a lease on Frogmore Cottage, but this royal residence is part of the Crown Estate. This means it isn’t owned by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - or any other royal - privately and instead ownership passes from monarch to monarch. The same is true of plenty of other royal residences like Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace and even Windsor Castle.
In the latter part of Queen Victoria’s reign, Frogmore Cottage in the Home Park, Windsor, was the grace and favour residence of her Indian attendant, Abdul Karim (the Munshi).
Frogmore Cottage was never really a “gift” in the first place - Crown Estate properties are never given away - it’s more of a temporary “loan” by way of a lease from the Crown Estates.
I remember seeing reports last year to say that the lease on Frogmore Cottage was due to expire in March 2022 and that Harry was planning to renew it but I don’t know if he did - or maybe the lease was only renewed for another year and it falls due again this year?
I don’t suppose the Crown Estates would have agreed to renew the lease on a long term basis last March, when the Sussexes no longer had a settled role within the Royal Family.
I am more intrigued by how Andrew can be forced out of Royal Lodge if he doesn’t agree to go because he has a 75 year lease on that Crown Estate property.
Andrew paid for all the refurbishment costs of the property (£7.5 m) plus a premium payment to the Crown Estates of £1m, in a deal which bought out the notional rental payments, with no provision for any further rent review over the life of the 75-year lease agreement.
He got a good deal on that Lease and I think he thought he was set to live in Royal Lodge, Windsor for the rest of his life with no more to pay, so he won’t want to give it up without a fight - and the terms of the lease allowed him to claw back a portion of the money he spent if he quit the lease in the first 25 years - he’s been there 20 years, so if he has to quit because he can no longer afford the maintenance and upkeep of such a large estate, I bet he’ll try to claw back some of the original money he spent.
When is a gift not a gift when it’s a grace and favour gift.
Let’s be honest Harry and it’s me again Meghan have no grace and have done the royal family no favours.
Andrew doesn’t work work does he , so where does he get his money from to upkeep.Royal lodge. Does King Charles give him pocket money , if so is it from the the privy purse I.e tax payers money
Andrew doesn’t work , apparently no maintenance has been carried out on Royal Lodge it’s fallen into disrepair .
I understand that’s why he maybe offered Frogmore cottage.
Imo it’s a disgrace
He did receive an allowance from the Queen - alleged to be around £250,000 a year, from the Queen’s privy purse, which is from income derived from the Duchy of Lancaster for the Queen’s personal use.
(that’s not taxpayer’s money - it does not come from the Crown Estates via the public purse, as the Sovereign Grant does)
According to reports, Charles has advised Andrew that he won’t be continuing to pay the allowance his Mum used to give him , which is why he probably won’t be able to afford to maintain Royal Lodge and may have to move out.
So Andrew will lose his income from Charles. I guess he inherited from the Queen when she died personal money . That won’t last forever with his life style.
Yes, I imagine the Queen left him well provided for - but he’s always preferred to spend someone else’s money, rather than his own!
When he was doing Royal Duties and acting as an Ambassador for Britain, he was such a scrounger for freebies from any rich businessmen who’d indulge him, it was embarrassing.
Even before his association with Epstein became public knowledge, he and his ex-wife have both done more than their share of dodgy dealing and scrounging off rich folk.
He’s got away with sponging off other people for too long, so it’s time he was made to fund his own living expenses.
Well, in a way it’s practical, I suppose. Harry and Meghan not coming back to live any time soon, Andrew living somewhere too big for one person that he can’t afford
It depends a bit on what they’ve got planned for Andrews place?
And it does feel a bit like chucking them out in that Meghan and Harry won’t have anywhere to call home here any more
Like turning your kid’s bedroom into your craft room the second they leave home!
It is only the King who is exempt from inheritance tax, any other member of the royal family who is bequeathed a gift from the Queen’s private assets over the threshold will have to pay the 40% tax. That being said, there are no laws in place to stop the Queen from leaving everything to King Charles who could then distribute assets tax-free.
That would means if the Queen left everything to Charles the royals could avoid paying the tax and the public would never know due to the sealed will. Distributing her wealth in this way is technically legal and could save the family up to an estimated £148million in inheritance tax.
The rule was the same when Prince Philip died, although it is not uncommon for someone to leave everything to their surviving spouse. It is not known if he left everything to the Queen, therefore avoiding tax, as his will is sealed for 90 years pending a private process.
In 2002, the Queen Mother left all her assets to the Queen which was evident in her unsealed will. This allowed the family to avoid an estimated £20million tax bill and caused controversy at the time.
Aren’t all Wills supposed to be public when they reach probate stage?
Shouldn’t the public have a right to know if this is happening? Isn’t it akin to same kind of tax avoidance that comedians like Jimmy Carr was caught doing?
Why is it one rule for them and a different rule for anyone else. It’s wrong.