Revealed: How ‘wounded’ Prince Harry chose the day he and Meghan were evicted from Frogmore Cottage as the start of his formal US residence
Prince Harry chose the day he and Meghan left Frogmore Cottage as the date his formal US residency began, it has been revealed.
The couple reportedly moved out the last of their belongings from the Windsor property – which until then had remained their UK base after they moved to California in 2020 – on June 29 last year.
This is the date that the Duke of Sussex said he began living in America in new business documents disclosed by the Mail yesterday.
Filings published by Companies House for ‘Prince Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex’ record that his ‘New Country/State Usually Resident’ is now the USA, while it previously stated the United Kingdom.
Royal experts have said Harry was ‘deeply wounded’ by his father’s order for him and Meghan to leave Frogmore, which had been a wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth, with suggestions that he was making a point by choosing the date.
This is the date that the Duke of Sussex said he began living in America on new business documents disclosed by the Mail yesterday
Royal experts have said Harry was ‘deeply wounded’ by his father’s order for him and Meghan to leave Frogmore Cottage
The Sussexes’ mansion is worth $14 million (£11m) and has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms
The publicly-viewable document that shows Prince Harry is now based in the United States
Royal author Phil Dampier told The Sun: ‘Charles and William knew it had to be done to emphasise Harry and Meghan were outside The Firm but he probably still thought he could keep a base here. Now he’s shown he accepts his life is in the US.’
It comes after Harry revealed earlier this year that he has ‘considered’ becoming a US citizen, a move which would mean he may have to renounce his titles.
‘The thought has crossed my mind but not a high priority right now,’ he said on Good Morning America in February.
Pressure has been increasing on Joe Biden‘s government to release Harry’s visa records after campaigners seized on comments made by the American ambassador to London that he would not be deported while the Democrat was president.
The conservative Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington DC, which has gone to court to seek the release of the file, has submitted the remarks made by Jane Hartley as part of its case.
The new details, filed at Companies House for Harry’s eco travel venture Travalyst, also raise serious questions about whether he can remain as a Counsellor of State, one of seven members of the Royal Family who can deputise for the Monarch if he is abroad or unwell.
By law, Counsellors of State are required to have a UK domicile, but Harry has no home here after King Charles asked the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to vacate Frogmore Cottage, a gift from the late Queen Elizabeth.
Dr Craig Prescott, an expert on constitutional law, said last year: ‘We are really in uncharted waters here: the Prince Harry situation is not something the law easily allows for.
‘The idea of the second son of the King choosing a life away from royal duties is not something the law has thought about, and I can imagine that Buckingham Palace would be concerned by that.
The King had the chance to remove him with the counsellor-of-state legislation last year, but chose not to.’
However, many considered this situation unsuitable as Harry, the Duke of York and Beatrice are not working royals.
Harry with Charles at Windsor around the time of the Queen’s funeral
Later that year, the King asked parliament to add his sister, Princess Anne, and youngest brother, Prince Edward, to the list.
It was reported that the King decided not to remove Harry and Andrew because he did not want to escalate family tensions and believed it was unlikely either would ever be required to deputise for him.
However, last year courtiers were keen to ensure that William returned to Britain from a solo trip to New York before the King and Queen departed for their state visit to France on the same day.
The situation has since become even more urgent because of the King’s cancer treatment.
Harry challenged the decision by the Home Office to remove his right to automatic Metropolitan Police protection when he is in Britain, even though he has offered to pay for it himself.
After the decision was made, a legal representative for Harry has said he was ‘unable to return to his home’ with his family because it is too dangerous.
He has since lost the court case and potentially faces a bill of around £1million when his own legal costs are taken into account.
A judge rejected a bid to halve the amount he had to pay by saying the Duke of Sussex had ‘comprehensively lost’ his case.
Separately Sir Peter Lane also threw out the duke’s application to appeal against the ruling, describing one section of it as ‘frankly hopeless’.
The Heritage Foundation has been pushing the Department of Homeland Security to open its dossier on Harry under America’s freedom of information laws.
After he admitted taking cocaine in his memoirs, Spare, he faced questions over how he had been able to move to the USA, where admitting drug use can block a visa application.
Prince Harry, pictured with Meghan Markle at a polo event in Florida on April 12, has listed the US as his primary residence for the first time
Harry and Meghan on a sofa at their Montecito residence
