Meghan and Harry pay off Frogmore

there you go Annie if aa tied house for life is good enough for Lizzie we should all get one...she only shakes hands and smiles for it most folk knock the stuffing out of themselves with hard work for 50 years and have to pay for a house ..oh and she gets tens of millions a year too Monarchy is a medieval system still being spun a relevant when its not!!

At least they've f paid for it, it's a start!!! People who live abroad often let out their property while they're away, on a lease of course, so why not these two? It would bring in much needed income which could be donated to the fundraising event next June that they can't attend because of Covid!!! Why would they want to come back here, they've made their feelings about this country and its citizens perfectly clear so why on earth visit a place you clearly despise?! Apart from a couple of funerals in the none too distant future, I can't see any reason for their return and they could stay at the Dorchester for those!

Buck House is a tied cottage, when the king died the queen
mother had to move out for her elder daughter to move in,

Tourists would stand outside Buck House to see refugees ?
most unkind

Ah well nice try Trisher !!

Yes, I'm glad they've paid it back although it doesn't make me think any better of them, tbh. Next they should pay back the cost of their wedding. That would be very woke of them. (I think).

Just a bit off track, maybe another thread, but do you ever wonder what 2 million worth of fixtures and fittings looks like?
My lovely new kitchen, utility and downstairs loo has just cost me 30,000 with some structural and building work. It's totally gorgeous. I can't think what else I could have different to up it to millions?

Do you mean, HM? trisher?

How come M&H are condemned for leaving one property empty when HRH has so many different homes and can only live in one at a time? She could fill Buck House with refugees just now.

I guess it's a start.

They could always open it up to visitors like other royal residences! I'd love to take a look at their choice of decor!

Sorry Illte they paid for the fixtures and fittings at the time the renovation was paid for through the Sovereign grant.
The cottage was remodelled from five separate living quarters into one large official residence for the couple and their son Archie last summer. As The Telegragh reported at the time, the work was “paid for largely by the Sovereign Grant” - money paid annually to the monarch by the government.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle forked out for some of the fittings themselves, but the cost of replacing ceiling beams, floor joists, heating, gas, electrical systems and re-plumbing was met by the public purse, according to the BBC.

I often play, 'Who's living where?' in my head when listening to The Archers.

I'm starting to do it with the Royals now. Is Nottingham Cottage also empty? Did the Gloucesters move out of the massive apartment that was earmarked for H&M? Will H&M leave a trail of empty properties in their wake?

Why don't the Brooksbanks buy their own home?

Will Bea be the envy of them all by decamping to a glorious villa in Italy??

Umm, they didn't pay to make it liveable trisher. Renovations like electrics, structural work were covered by the Crown Estate. They just paid fir the "fixtures and fittings" they wanted, like the copper bathtub ?

It wouldn't be standing empty if they sub let it to someone who really needed a roof over their head would it? They could fit several families in there. And what a boost it would give for M&H's social image too.

The thought of Frogmore Cottage standing empty bugs me as well but the Queen gave it to Harry as a wedding present so it can hardly be passed on to somebody else unless H&M decide to let it to a suitable tenant.

Will they pay for any future maintenance?

Will they pay for the staff required to open it up/be in attendance if and when they visit?

So they pay to have it made liveable quizqueen then someone else reaps the benefit isn't that just what people were accusing them of doing ? Benefitting from other people's expenditure?

Well I'd be even more impressed if, as M&H are so very socially conscious and aware of the plight of others who are less privileged then they are; they could have sub let Frogmore to others who don't have a roof over their head. Refugees? The homeless? It would make more of a statement of their good intentions than their grandstanding of writing on a banana!

I think they have only paid it off in a lump sum because of the criticism that, if they can afford to buy a house costing several millions in America, then they can afford to pay this debt first. They obviously had the money to do it all along so should have offered straight away. Apparently, they are also paying rent so they can use it when in this country- whenever that odd day may be!

Personally, I would rather see the cottage go to someone else, perhaps one of the York girls. I don't particularly like either of them very much but both have always been supportive of the Queen and, apart from their often poor taste in clothes, haven't behaved badly or done anything to embarrass the family.

Perhaps M&H might also think about paying some of the costs of their wedding back now too as they had an expensive Royal wedding and they don't want to be Royals any more. Also they need to pay their own security costs.

Well given all the moaning there was about how they were sponging off Charles and how mch they owed the taxpayer I thought a few people might be happier.

Doing their best would be to give up their titles, which would be a move to complete independence , give up residency of Frogemore and stop going on and on about saving the world.

Exactly merlotgran.

Aren't people supposed to pay debts?

Why is it so praiseworthy? They have millions.

No.
They have paid it off because there is an annual investigation into royal finances, and the fact that they were paying their share back very slowly would not accord well with the £7.5 million mortgage on their current home. They will retain the 'cottage' as their residence when they visit the UK, so it is standing empty for the foreseeable future. Fortunately it remains Crown property, so they can't sell it.

Some people are still going to whinge. The knives are really out for them now.