Prince Harry and Meghan Markle "Have Been Requested to Vacate" Frogmore Cottage Home

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will no longer call Frogmore Cottage their U.K. home, with the U.S-based Duke and Duchess of Sussex being “requested to vacate” the royal residence.

By Elyse Dupre Mar 02, 2023 12:39 AMTags
Watch: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Asked to Vacate Frogmore

It appears moving trucks could soon be heading to Frogmore Cottage.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will no longer call the royal residence their U.K. home base as a spokesperson for the couple told E! News March 1, "We can confirm The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage."

NBC News reached out to Buckingham Palace but did not receive any comment.

Harry and Meghan first moved into Frogmore Cottage in the spring of 2019 ahead of the birth of their first child Archie Harrison (now 3), then stepping back as working members of the royal family and relocating to California in 2020. While the couple—who also share daughter Lilibet "Lili" Diana, almost 21 months—currently reside in the U.S., the family continued to spend time at Frogmore Cottage during their trips to the U.K. and celebrated Lili's first birthday there in June.

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Prior to moving into the cottage, the duke and duchess made headlines for their reported £2.4 million renovations to refurbish the residence, an expense covered by taxpayers through the Sovereign Grant. However, a spokesperson for Harry confirmed to the BBC in 2020 that he'd fully paid these costs through a contribution to the grant.

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

In their 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, Harry recalled going through boxes at their U.K. home after stepping back.

"We always saw Archie running around the garden at Frogmore Cottage and maybe jumping in the Queen's pond," he said in the series, which was released in December. "That was all part of our future, and everything changed really, really quickly. We knew that we were going to get some breathing space from this very painful experience that we'd been stuck in, but also it was really sad."

And he and Meghan have continued to grow their life in the U.S.

"Home for me now is, for the time being, it's in the States, and it feels that way as well," Harry told Hoda Kotb in an April interview with Today. "We've been welcomed with open arms, and it's got such a great community up in Santa Barbara."

Courtesy of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex; Netflix

The request for Harry and Meghan to vacate the cottage comes months before King Charles III's coronation in May, which the couple has not revealed whether they'll attend.

"There's a lot that can happen between now and then," Harry said in a January interview with ITV. "But, you know, the door is always open. The ball is in their court. There's a lot to be discussed and I really hope that they're willing to sit down and talk about it." 

(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family).

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