Sources close to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry say the couple had already planned to repay the £2.4 million spent refurbishing Frogmore Cottage before anyone pressed them to do it. The money was paid back in 2020, the same year they stepped back as working royals, and the property later became one of the sharpest symbols of the break between the Sussexes and the institution they left behind.
The claim matters now because the couple’s finances are back under a fresh lens, with a formal audit of the Crown Estate’s deals with the Royal Family due this summer. Meghan and Harry have built a life outside royal payroll and housing, but the old arguments over who pays for what have not gone away, especially when public expense and below-market arrangements remain part of the wider picture.
A source close to the couple said it is “in some respects, it is undoubtedly more challenging” now that they are self-funded. The same source said they no longer have a Sovereign Grant to support them, nor access to multiple homes maintained at public expense, whether through rent-free arrangements or nominal rents. By 2023, a Palace spokesperson had confirmed they had “fulfilled their financial obligations in relation to the property.”
That does not erase the irritation around the wider royal property system. Since Harry and Meghan left, Frogmore Cottage has largely sat empty, and this week it was reported that it may soon be subdivided again. Elsewhere, Prince Andrew reportedly refused to downsize into Frogmore Cottage after living at Royal Lodge on a “peppercorn” rent, while Prince Edward continues to benefit from a heavily subsidised deal at Bagshot Park. In that setting, the Sussexes’ repayment looks less like a settlement of the past than a reminder that the public debate has moved on to what the rest of the family still receives.
The source close to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex put it bluntly: “Harry and Meghan always believed that repaying the money for Frogmore was the right thing to do. Many people have suggested they had to be pressured into it, but the reality is that they had already factored repayment into their plans when they decided to step away from the institution.” The audit due this summer is likely to test that broader world of leases, subsidies and royal property deals, even if Frogmore Cottage itself ends up changed again without resolving the deeper question of how much public help the monarchy should still expect.
