Princess Anne ‘persuaded King to evict Harry and Meghan from Frogmore Cottage’

25 November 2023 , 13:50

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Princess Anne persuaded King Charles to evict Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from Frogmore Cottage, a new book claims (Image: Getty Images)

Princess Anne played a key role in getting King Charles to evict Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from Frogmore Cottage, it has been claimed.

In a new bombshell book, author Omid Scobie writes that the 73-year-old Princess Royal was said to have "persuaded Charles to withdraw the use" of the cottage in Windsor by the couple. Despite them moving to California in 2020 with their children Archie and Lilibet, the four-bed property had stayed with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex until this year, when it was returned to the Crown. They had spent around £2.4million on renovating the property just four years earlier.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex continued to own the cottage in Windsor until this year, when it was returned to the crown (Getty Images)

In an excerpt of 'Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival' published in the Telegraph ahead of the book's release next week, Scobie reportedly writes that Anne was “at the forefront of the supporters of the firm approach” taken by the Palace in them vacating the property. Harry and Meghan however are claimed to have had a supporter in Prince Edward, who was reportedly "uneasy" about the estranged royal's mental wellbeing.

The news was then delivered to the couple via a letter from Sir Michael John Stevens, the Keeper of the Privy Purse, who told them that they should hand back the cottage as they were no longer working royals and were living abroad. They had been allowed to move into the property back in 2018, as wedding gift from the late Queen Elizabeth II. But the request was said to have been met with a furious response from Prince Harry, who reportedly asked Charles: "You don’t want to see your grandchildren any more?".

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Another big claim in the unauthorised biography is that King Charles did not respond to a desperate 'meeting request' from his youngest son - and instead ordered "an assistant to get rid of him with the excuse that he was 'overworked'". Three weeks after the meeting request was turned down, Prince Harry announced the publication of his autobiography Spare, reportedly leaving his father shocked.

Endgame was originally due to be published in August, but the date was pushed back to include events surrounding the King's Coronation. It will now be published on November 28. Publisher HarperCollins previously said that the book will "have the world talking", with Scobie stating that it will reveal moments royals should be "ashamed of". The author had previously penned the Sussex biography, Finding Freedom, which was contributed to by Meghan Markle through a third party. C hapters of Scobie's book include his interpretation of the late Queen Elizabeth II's final days, the fall of Prince Andrew, and a final section dedicated to 'man on a mission' Prince Harry.

Benedict Tetzlaff-Deas