The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s home was renovated with £2.4m of taxpayer-funded costs, royal accounts show. Frogmore Cottage in Windsor was converted into a single property for Prince Meghan and Harry, from five different homes. The couple, who relocated from Kensington Palace in April prior to the delivery of their child Archie, paid for fixtures.
The Queen’s Sovereign Grant from the Treasury was £82m in 2018-19, with £33m established for maintenance aside, including a major focus on Buckingham Palace. The Sovereign Grant is funded by earnings from the Crown Estate. The estate is the Royal Family’s commercial property arm and is the owner of land and structures in primary central London locations and over the UK.
It is managed by an unbiased company, with any revenue paid to the Treasury for the advantage of all UK taxpayers. Separate accounts show the Crown Estate provided an archive £343.5m to the Treasury in 2018-19, 4 up.3% on this past year. The 19th Century, Grade II-listed, property was given to them by the Queen.
Who resided in Harry and Meghan’s house? Defective solid wood ceiling beams and floor joists were changed and inefficient heating system systems up to date. The house also required intensive rewiring – including a power sub-station – and installing gas and water mains. The refurbishment took half a year, although some areas are yet to be completed about, such as repainting the exterior.
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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge also carried out renovations before moving into their Kensington Palace home in 2013, spending more than £4m on transforming offices into a flat. Taxpayer-funded spending on the royals has been a sensitive topic for many years. That is why Palace officials went out of their way to clarify how much needed to be done to Frogmore Cottage, and exactly how anything over basic fittings and fittings would be covered by the couple themselves.
The Sovereign Grant is to pay the cost of official duties as well as for the upkeep of royal palaces. However, some will ask, why do the few have to move out of Kensington Palace? And why, if they felt that about any of it strongly, didn’t they purchase the refurbishment of the home in Windsor themselves?
The Royal Family’s “core” sovereign give is based on 15% of the net surplus of the Crown Estate and allocated 2 yrs in arrears. From 2017-18, the total grant was increased to 25% of the surplus for a 10-season period – with the excess funding designed to meet up with the £369m costs of refurbishing Buckingham Palace. Excluding money transferred to reserves for future building work at the palace, the Queen’s formal expenses last year were £67m, a 41% year-on-year increase, the figures show.
A large amount of the rise was because of the ongoing reconstruction at Buckingham Palace and focus on the other occupied royal residences. The marketing campaign group Republic questioned why money had been allocated to Frogmore Cottage at the same time while open public services were under financial pressure. What is the Crown Estate? Buckingham Palace said the rise was “due to higher usage of chartered large set wing airplanes for foreign business travel”, adding there are five such overseas appointments in 2018-19 compared to one the previous year. The Foreign decides The journey’s Office.
