The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s home renovations costed £2.4m of taxpayer funds. Frogmore Cottage in Windsor was turned into a single property for Prince Harry and Meghan from five separate homes.
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The Queen’s Sovereign Grant (taxpayers funds) from the Treasury was £82m in 2018-19, with £33m set aside for maintenance, including major work on Buckingham Palace. The Grant is funded by profits from the Crown Estate.
The estate is in the Royal Family’s commercial property arm and owns land and buildings in prime central London locations and across the UK.
The royal accounts show the renovations to Frogmore Cottage was paid out of the Sovereign Grant and involved the “reconfiguration and full refurbishment of five residential units in poor condition to create the official residence for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex”.
Even though it was a gift from the Queen it still cost the taxpayer £2.4 million. The taxpayers bill included work to convert the five apartments in the building back into one single building.
Frogmore Cottage // Sky News
Graham Smith, from Republic, said: “An MP spending taxpayers’ money on a private home would probably not be an MP for much longer.
“The general funds of the Treasury should not be spent on individual members of the royal family at all – even if we had all the money to spend on public services it should not be happening.
“The point about public services is it is particularly galling that they’re allowed to get away this whilst public services need money.”
Work to the estate included removing and replacing defective ceiling beams and floor joists, upgrading the heating and electrical systems, and installing new gas and water mains.
Harry and Meghan did pay for any fixtures and fittings, this would be the kitchen or bathroom, anything they wanted at a higher standard the couple would pay for seperate.
Sir Michael Stevens, keeper of the Privy Purse, who is responsible for monarchy’s accounts, said: “The property had not been the subject of work for some years and had already been earmarked for renovation in line with our responsibility to maintain the condition of the occupied royal palaces estate.
“The Sovereign Grant covered the work undertaken to turn the building into the official residence and home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their new family.
“The building was returned to a single residence and outdated infrastructure was replaced to guarantee the long-term future of the property. Substantially all fixtures and fittings were paid for by Their Royal Highnesses.”
Many members of the public are not happy about how much of the taxpayers money was used on the house for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
