bitchy | The Sussexes’ Frogmore eviction is meant to free up Royal Lodge for the Waleses

Wednesday afternoon – roughly eighteen/twenty hours after The Sun broke the story – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed the fact that King Charles is evicting them from Frogmore Cottage. The Archewell spokesperson told People Magazine: “We can confirm The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage.” So, there you go. The story is true, they’re being evicted from the family home they paid for, in the sense that they fully reimbursed the Sovereign Grant for the cost of the renovation (noted in the SG’s 2021 report), and they were up-to-date on their lease payments. Beyond the renovation cost (which, again, they paid in full), they paid upfront for the decor, fixtures, paint, wallpaper and furniture. Strip it all down to the studs before you leave!

So, yeah, Charles looks small, vindictive, petty, disgusting, all of it. Not only to evict the Sussexes, but to then try to install his rapist brother in the same house. Because Charles WILL pay for Andrew’s upkeep, just not in the grand mansion of Royal Lodge. The funny thing is that the royal rota – usually squealing for MOAR punishments, MOAR humiliations for the Sussexes – are now quite queasy with how all of this looks. Enter Becky English with a brand-new piece in the Mail: “Charles felt he had to act as king rather than as a father: REBECCA ENGLISH reveals why Charles backed moves to evict Prince Harry and Meghan from Frogmore Cottage.” Some highlights:

Charles is not just a father, he is a king. “And I know from numerous conversations with royal insiders in recent months that he feels he owes it to his country to act as a monarch, regardless of the repetitive family drama. Which is why, as I understand it, he has backed bold moves to ‘evict’ his son and his family from their Frogmore Cottage home.

Won’t someone think of the poor empty house? [Eviction] is a risky decision and one that the Sussexes’ coterie of media defenders have already seized upon in their efforts to paint the duke and duchess as victims of a protectionist and remorseless institution (although how they square this with the fact the pontificating couple have made clear they see their future in the US, thereby leaving an entire house empty for more than 11 months of the year, is anyone’s guess).

An act of retribution: There is no doubt that the timing of the move – days after the publication of Harry’s controversial and damning memoir, Spare – appears to suggest it was an act of retribution. And there are certainly many in the royal household who will smile with satisfaction at seeing the back of the ‘disloyal duo’, as some refer to them. Indeed, as I reported on Saturday there is still a great deal of ill will ‘boiling over’ at Buckingham Palace at the couple’s behaviour in recent months and neither the King nor the Prince of Wales are in any mood to pander to Harry’s tantrums.

Charles the Vindictive: But Charles is not a vindictive man and despite being deeply hurt at much of what he understands his son had said about him and his wife (he still hasn’t read Harry’s memoir and has no intention of doing so), I am told that this move was a while in the planning.

The royal housing crisis: “The Royal Family, you see, have something of a housing crisis. Not the kind of crisis faced by so many of the king’s subjects, it has to be said. More the fact that they have a surfeit of grand houses and not enough people to justify their existence as lavish private homes – except, oddly, for Windsor, which is proving to be a bit of a bottleneck.

Ah, it’s all William and Kate’s fault: “The problem has been sparked by the Prince and Princess of Wales’s decision to move their family out of their substantial Kensington Palace apartment and onto the Royal Family’s Berkshire estate. For now they are in Adelaide Cottage, a not immodest residence by anyone’s standards but with just four bedrooms (not even one for the nanny) they are living cheek-by-jowl. As one familiar with their situation tells me: ‘The kids go to playdates at houses far bigger and grander than theirs.’ A first-world problem admittedly, but one that would be solved if, say, a 30-room, seven-bedroom property such as Prince Andrew’s Royal Lodge became free. If, of course, he could be persuaded to ‘downgrade’ to five-bedroom Frogmore Cottage instead, a move he is said to be fiercely resisting. Who knows where this merry-go-round of mansions will end?

Severing ties with the Sussexes: Because the Sussexes will no longer benefit from the ring-fence of security that Windsor affords them, the duke and duchess will inevitably argue – no doubt through court cases and ‘friends’ briefing the media – that any future visits to Britain for them and their children are infinitely more complex now. They could stay with family or friends but, let’s be honest, they have fallen out with so many people that this isn’t even a realistic option on the table. It begs the question as to whether Charles will ever see his grandchildren again? More immediately, it also now gives Harry and Meghan the perfect excuse not to attend the coronation.

[From The Daily Mail]

Let’s get this clear: Charles was desperate to change the subject after his tea with the EU president blew up in his face, so he leaked the Frogmore eviction as a distraction. Then that blew up in his face, so the palace is openly briefing Becky English that the Sussexes *had* to be evicted from Frogmore Cottage because it needed to be freed up for Prince Andrew, because William and Kate have their hearts set on Royal Lodge. Thus, Charles just dropped this all on the Waleses’ laps – it’s not enough that they have four homes already, or that Kensington Palace Apartment 1 sits vacant for most of the year as well. William and Kate wanted Royal Lodge and Charles just had to arrange it for them. Well, well. “The kids go to playdates at houses far bigger and grander than theirs…” GTFO. They can always go over to Houghton Hall if they need to spread out.

As for “They could stay with family or friends but, let’s be honest, they have fallen out with so many people that this isn’t even a realistic option on the table.” They have plenty of friends and associates in the UK, the real issue is security and the Mail f–king knows it, because the Mail has explicitly incited violence against the Sussexes.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.