I think I'm more cross about Frogmore Cottage than anything else in the H&M saga.

What will happen to it?

I've no idea about the royals, so am not sure if it was theirs, or 'really the queen's' theirs?

It is the one thing that really bugs me too and I agree that the extravagance is galling. In fact everything they do is extravagant which is what has made their popularity take a nose dive. They are taking the pee like Andrew and his family and living the high life.

It doesn't belong to the Royal Family themselves; it belongs to the Crown Estate.
Perhaps another member of the RF will use it at an appropriate rent or it could be posh staff quarters.

Rather, posh quarters for staff rather than quarters for posh staff.

The copper bath tub belongs to H&M.

I agree with you Merlot. Initially I thought they’d be coming and going to Frogmore Cottage, but letting the Frogmore staff go seems to indicate that they don’t intend to use the house again. The Queen paid for the repairs out of the Sovereign Grant and apparently Prince Charles paid for the furnishings. It must have him cost a small fortune to decorate and furnish that house for his son and his bride. I wonder how he’s feeling about all that waste now. It seems that H+M are indifferent to the huge waste of money, after all the money wasn’t theirs.

Ah, thank you.
I'm not much the wiser; it's so complicated.

Wasn’t it the same with the Yorks’ house, Sunninghill Park (aka Southyork?)
It stood empty for 8 years looking very sorry for itself for 8 years after Andy sold it for an eye watering figure -£15 million, £3m over the asking price. And then was razed to the ground.
Great wedding present ma’am!

Sorry about the “8 years” repetition!
(But if a thing is worth saying once, it is worth saying twice!)

The empty Frogmore Cottage angers me as well. All those homeless families and she takes everything and makes it worthless, because she didn't want there, or Kensington Palace. She was always going to leave.

So it really look as though things are going the way some of us predicted.
How can anyone keep defending her?

She is a great big hypocrite who will say anything she wants to get what she wants.

It seems that she converted to Judism to marry her first husband and then quickly became Anglican when she met H.

There is nothing deep or meaningful in this woman.

I don't see how she can return to the UK and Canada don't want them if they remain as Royals.....

Waiting to see what is next.

Well one thing H+M won’t be doing is selling Frogmore Cottage because it belongs to the Queen. I think they used to call the places of residence the royals lived in ‘grace and favour’ residences. It meant that members of the royal family were able to live rent free in dwellings either the Queen owns, or we the public own, but are inhabited rent free by royalty.
What an utter waste of money, but I’m not sure H+M care less about that. Meghan especially.

Agree with you Pinkquartz.

Oh yes, Southyork!
Bought by a Kazakh businessman I think.
A good deal for Andrew.

Poor HM.
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child - Away, away!

And grandchild.

"How was the Official Residence of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Frogmore Cottage) funded?
The refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage, the Grade-2 listed building in Windsor Home Park was funded by Her Majesty The Queen through the Sovereign Grant, reflecting the Monarchy’s responsibility to maintain the upkeep of buildings with historical significance (see above). Expenses related to fixtures, furnishings, and fittings at the official residence – which is owned by Her Majesty the Queen – were funded privately by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. As stated on The Official UK Government website: “The occupied Royal Palaces are held in trust for the nation by The Queen as Sovereign. Their maintenance and upkeep is one of the expenses met by the government in return for the surrender by the Sovereign of the hereditary revenues of the Crown (mainly the profit from the Crown Estate). The Sovereign Grant will allow the Royal Household to set its own priorities and thus generate economies. The occupied Royal Palaces are: Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace, the residential and office areas of Kensington Palace, the Royal Mews and Royal Paddocks at Hampton Court, Windsor Castle and buildings in the Home and Great Parks at Windsor.”

Why did The Duke and Duchess move to Windsor as their Official Residence?
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex chose to move to Windsor for various reasons. Their previous residence of Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace could not accommodate their growing family. The option of Apartment 1 in Kensington Palace was estimated to cost in excess of £4 million for mandated renovations including the removal of asbestos (see details above on the Monarchy’s responsibility for this upkeep). This residence would not have been available for them to occupy until the fourth quarter of 2020. As a result, Her Majesty The Queen offered The Duke and Duchess the use of Frogmore Cottage, which was already undergoing mandated renovations, and would be available to move in before the birth of their son. The refurbishment cost equated to 50 percent of the originally suggested property for their proposed official residence at Kensington Palace. It is for these reasons, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex chose Frogmore Cottage as their Official Residence.

Given their transition into members of the Royal Family with financial independence, will The Duke and Duchess of Sussex maintain their residence at Frogmore Cottage?
Frogmore Cottage will continue to be the property of Her Majesty the Queen. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will continue to use Frogmore Cottage – with the permission of Her Majesty The Queen – as their official residence as they continue to support the Monarchy, and so that their family will always have a place to call home in the United Kingdom. "

sussexroyal.com/funding/

Part of independence is procuring housing. We all pay for that opportunity. If H&M are seeking independence, pay a monthly stipend on Frogmore....not a mere token, but in keeping with the market.

I didn’t know that the Frogmore Cottage staff had been ‘let go’. Perhaps Beatrice will have it after her marriage. If Harry comes back to do any duties on his own, he could stay at his old Nottingham Cottage at KP.
I wonder if living in Canada or USA is tied up with Diana’s plans to maybe move there eventually if fate hadn’t intervened, Harry probably feels she would approve of that.

hmm! can't think there's a horrible disconnect between discarding a home that has had a fortune spent on it, and visiting Grenfell Tower victims, and women refuge centres, where those unforunate people will have lost their only home. I agree Merlot, at a time when so many young people will never get on the property ladder and rents are unaffordable, to have this property done up at enormous expense and then to possibly spend very little time there, or no time at all as may be the case, does show a somewhat "spoilt" attitude.

I so agree, Merlotgran.
A house newly renovated, decorated and furnished to the proposed inhabitants' taste at an alarming cost, which most people could only dream of, then despised and discarded.

The 'SussexRoyal' brand was registered secretly in March last year, so this ungrateful pair had already made their plans to 'step back from their royal duties' whilst all the work on their home was ongoing.( I am slightly curious as to where MM stores her expensive and extensive wardrobe. Was it shipped abroad secretly, and even now being auctioned off, 'for charity'?)

As for reading, let alone quoting from that website: shame on you, rosecarmel.

I just think how hard we’ve struggled both doing low paid jobs to maintain a Roof over our heads and still doing so! They wouldn’t know what it’s like to struggle even after all their reports of charity work which I do commend them better than some royals who just expect everything!

I don’t see a problem with looking at their website eazybee as it gives you insight into their thinking.

When people are handed things on a plate they never have the same appreciation of them. Most people have to live amongst any building work they have done and appreciate it all the more when its done. They also pay for it themselves or remortgage. Hope it becomes a holiday let.

As I understand it it is a listed building and the Crown Estate is obliged to be responsible for its upkeep.

By royal residence standards Frogmore Cottage is very modest compared to Highrove, Anmer Hall, Sandringham, Gatcombe, the grace & favour apartments at St James', Kensington Palace, not to mention Balmoral, Windsor Castle & BP, plus all the lesser known ones.

None of the current residents of these properties had to struggle to find the money to live in them they just inherited the right by virtue of being in or marrying into the royal family. If Frogmore lies empty for much of the year is that any different from all the other 'wasted' space that's not used most of the time?

rosecarmel
Thank you for sharing that information. It places a broader perspective on most of the rumour that is circulating. The current 'they've got everything and we've got hardly anything' whining is at best disingenuous. There is much that goes with royal lifestyles that NONE of us would want but those born into it have no choice. I think H & M have got this badly wrong but lets wait and see how it plays out.

Surely the same could be said of any holiday properties that people own and spend half of their time there?

These buildings are a problem. Listed buildings should be
preserved they are our history , be they the likes of Frogmore,
Mary Ardens House in Stratford, the birth place of Robbie Burns, Owen Glyndwr’s house in Wales.