Meghan and Harry 'Stunned' by Frogmore Cottage Eviction: Sussex Biographer
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reportedly "stunned" by their "eviction" from Frogmore Cottage, their former U.K. home, according to Harry's biographer Omid Scobie, author of Finding Freedom.
On Wednesday, Scobie reported that sources close to the couple told him that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were left "stunned" by the news that they've been asked to vacate the residence amid reports that King Charles III is moving Prince Andrew into the 10-bedroom house in Home Park, Windsor.
"It all feels very final and like a cruel punishment," friend of the pair told Scobie. "It's like [the family] want to cut them out of the picture for good."
Shortly after the report, a spokesperson for Harry and Meghan confirmed that they were "requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage."
Scobie reported that it's not only the couple that's been taken by surprise, writing that "at least two members of the Royal Family [are] 'appalled.'"
The duke and duchess were gifted Frogmore by the late Queen Elizabeth II after they married in 2018. It's now being reported that Andrew is being moved into the estate as part of Charles' efforts to move him from the Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, where he has resided for two decades.
Last year, Andrew was stripped of his royal titles amid allegations that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficked a 17-year-old girl to the disgraced prince.
Despite moving to California in 2020, Harry and Meghan continue to stay at Frogmore when visiting the U.K., like during their June 2022 trip to spend time with the queen. The two had reportedly described the cottage as being a "forever home" in 2018.
On Wednesday, Scobie reported that without the residence, the couple will no longer be offered security protections from the Met's Royalty and Specialist Protection Unit, which covers Frogmore.
"The loss of Frogmore Cottage means that the Sussexes will soon be without a base in the country which provides the level of home security senior members of the Royal Family have access to," Scobie wrote for Yahoo! News. "No alternative accommodation has been offered."
A royal source also told the journalist that the Frogmore "eviction" is just a result of the king being "fed up with the entire situation" surrounding his youngest son and daughter-in-law.
"The decision on the Sussexes' home is a clear sign of just how sour relations between the King and his son have become," Scobie said. "Given the timing of the news, it's hard not to view it as a response to his son's literary tell-all, which is said to have left the monarch 'spitting mad.'" Harry's controversial memoir Spare was published in early January.
It's reported that the prince and his wife have until early summer to vacate the property and ship their belongings to their new home in the seaside community of Montecito in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles. Their current home is reportedly on an 18,000-acre property that cost $14.65 million (£11.2 million), according to the Daily Mail.
"We did everything we could to get this house," Meghan told The Cut in August.
Newsweek has reached out to Harry and Meghan for comment.
