Inside Frogmore Cottage: Harry and Meghan given decade to pay off £18,000 a month debt

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are paying back the costs of renovating Frogmore Cottage in instalments that could take more than a decade, it has emerged.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle agreed to foot the bill for refurbishing the property following meetings with the royal family and Buckingham Palace officials in January, The Times reports.

But now The Mail on Sunday has revealed that it was “quietly arranged for the couple to start paying rent on the property, beginning last month”.

The paper reports that the pair are paying “just shy of £18,000 a month to keep Frogmore as their official British base”. The arrangement is being described as a “‘rental-plus’ agreement” and sees the couple pay more than the commercial rate, enabling them to pay down the renovation costs over time.   

Royal accounts show that £2.4 million was spent on renovating the house last year, costs paid for from the sovereign grant. However, The Times notes that the total cost is likely to be higher because the figure does not include work that was started in the next financial year.

The Mail on Sunday says that it would take more than 11 years of payments at £18,000 per month to cover the £2.4 million debt. This, the paper adds, is without taking into account additional interest or the running costs of the cottage.

Why is Frogmore special to the couple?

As Cosmopolitan magazine notes, the cottage “has special meaning to Harry and Meghan”. Their wedding reception was held at the neighbouring Frogmore House and their engagement shoot also took place at the property.

Prince Harry and his family also value the privacy afforded by their home’s location in the grounds of the Frogmore Estate in Windsor.

“Frogmore, which is inside the Windsor security zone, is secluded, peaceful, tranquil and, most importantly, private. No one will see them coming or going,” an insider told the Daily Mail.

During the recent royal negotiations of Harry and Meghan’s future, the Queen was reportedly keen for the couple to retain a permanent home in the UK so they could return from North America regularly.

The Frogmore renovation

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.

Royal aide Sir Michael Stevens, keeper of the privy purse, 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 building was returned to a single residence and outdated infrastructure was replaced to guarantee the long-term future of the property.” He added that Harry and Meghan had paid for “substantially all fixtures and fittings” at the time.

What is the history of the cottage?

Charles II began building Frogmore House in 1680, on land bought by Henry VIII in the 16th century.

Not only are “Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson buried there (you know them from The Crown), Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s mausoleum is on the Frogmore House grounds”, says Cosmopolitan.

The estate is part of the larger Windsor Estate and is close to the River Thames, with the surrounding marshy land attracting many frogs - hence the name.

What else does Frogmore offer? 

The cottage was described by Cosmopolitan as “pretty dilapidated” before the renovation work began.

As well as restoring the house to a habitable condition, sources told the magazine that refurbishments would include a yoga studio with a special floor, an “elaborate Gone With The Wind-style double staircase” to replace the “hotchpotch of stairs criss-crossing the interior”, and new grand fireplaces in the main rooms.

The Sun subsequently reported that the couple had brought in Soho House designer Vicky Charles to recreate the “cutting-edge cool” of the London members’ club, inspired by 1920s and 1930s design.

The planned additions to the cottage were “an eco-friendly green energy unit, two conservatory extensions, and extensive landscaping so the couple and their newborn will have privacy”, according to an article in Elle last March.

The Sun claimed the house would also offer a “gender-free” nursery decorated with vegan-infused paint in neutral greys and a mother-and-baby yoga studio complete with “floating floor”.

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Planners at Windsor and Maidenhead council reportedly gave approval for builders to tear up the original Victorian boards to build a sprung floor for the yoga studio in order to minimise vibrations and noise.

The i news site added that the couple were also paying £50,000 to soundproof the entire property and tackle plane noise from nearby Heathrow Airport.

And according to Vanity Fair, Meghan and Harry were given a choice of paintings from the Queen’s private collection to hang in their new home.