During the infamous 2021 Oprah interview, the Duchess of Sussex said, of the Windsors: “I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent when there is an active role that the Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.” But that is what the Windsors “expected.” The Windsors believed that they could effectively silence Prince Harry and Meghan forever, and as soon as H&M started correcting the record and speaking about their experiences, the Windsors lost their ever-loving minds. According to Tom Sykes, immediately following the Oprah interview, the Windsors wanted to evict the Sussexes from Frogmore Cottage as “punishment” for calling them racists (which would in fact prove their racism, but whatever), but QEII didn’t do it. She allowed the Sussexes to keep their paid lease on Frogmore. The Sussexes were evicted in January 2023, just months into King Charles’ reign, explicitly as punishment for Harry’s Spare.
Sykes is raking through all of this history because of the news about the Windsors wanting to “reverse” the costly renovations to Frogmore and “get rid of any trace” of the Sussexes, which also proved their racism, but whatever. Sykes claims that “Sussex sources” are furious about all of this. Some highlights from Sykes’ Royalist Substack & the Daily Beast’s coverage:
Furious Sussexes: I’ve been speaking to sources close to Prince Harry and Meghan, and they are furious, yay verily spitting hairs I tell you, about Frogmore Cottage. You’ll remember it was reported recently that the £2.4 million renovation of the property (originally paid for by the taxpayer, as it was going to be the official home of working royals, but repaid by the Sussexes after Megxit) is being stripped out, and the house converted back into staff flats.
The Windsors vs. the Sussexes: The palace’s argument—how could we have people who had sold us out on global television, who were planning to sell us out again on a streaming platform, living in our back garden?—is, therefore, not an unreasonable one. I think there is also no doubt that by then the Sussexes had comprehensively reneged on their side of the Sandringham Summit, which was, in summary, to uphold the values of the Queen. However, they do have some cards to play, principally by seeking to harness public astonishment at the scandalous fact that the property has now sat completely empty for three years at a cost of over half a million pounds to the public purse.
Sykes claims the eviction was an explicit punishment: “Had they left and not then spent the next five years chucking rocks at the institution, trying to smash, burn everything down, burn every bridge, I think they would have probably been allowed to keep Frogmore Cottage,” he said. “[If] they hadn’t gone public with all their resentments, they hadn’t made all the films, they hadn’t written the books, they hadn’t called the royal family racist…”
The eviction wouldn’t have happened under QEII: “What the Sussex side are telling me now is that King Charles waited until after the Queen had died to kick Harry out,” Sykes said. “And they say that the Queen would have blocked it because it was her wedding gift to them. I actually think Harry and Meghan are right about this, because if there was one thing the Queen hated, it was confrontation…The Sussexes are absolutely right in saying that she would never have allowed them to be kicked out, because she just wouldn’t have had the stomach for that particular fight, I don’t think. At the same time, Harry was incredibly naive to think that the royal family would not pull every lever they could, yes, to punish him, or alternatively, to force him into exile. Harry and Meghan actually didn’t give the royal family very much choice other than to evict them from the property.
[From The Royalist Substack & The Daily Beast]
Again, the Windsors genuinely believed that Harry & Meghan were never going to speak out about how they were abused by the institution (and specific people within the institution), so there was a rush to pile on and publicly punish Harry and Meghan for speaking out about the abuse they already suffered. And even then, QEII was a moderating force on all of the short-sighted and petty people in her orbit. She still wanted the Sussexes to have Frogmore as their UK base, and she was the one inviting them to the Jubbly and giving them special security for their visits. That all ended when Harry’s wrathful father became king. Anyway, I doubt Harry and Meghan really care at this point, but I hate that they wasted all of that money on that stupid little shack.
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
The Sussexes don’t care. They cleared out their personal belongings out of there long ago.
And the Sussexes didn’t ‘renege’ on the Sandringham Agreement. This had already long been invalidated by the palace’s dirty tricks re: security and finance for the 12 month transition period. Not to mention the stepping up of the smear campaign (working with appalling client journalists/publications) at that time and since. Yep, before Oprah, the docuseries and Spare. Psycho Sykes strikes again 😅🤣🤣
I wouldn’t even be surprised that the original article about ripping it out was written for the sole reason they could follow-up with this one.
Sykes must be speaking to the “ sources close to the Sussexes “…. I mean the voices in his head again!! He wishes they would be angry but they don’t give it a thought!!
ITA “the voices in his head.” But also thinking “sources close to” includes this website LOL. Remembering just a few days back when we were mocking BRFCo & Assoc, saying they were going to turn FC back into staff quarters, and even re-install the old peeling paint to get it back into a pure state without any trace of H or M. Ha!
I hope they are furious for real and I hope they could sue them for the 2.4M they had to pay back to the public if it’s going to cost the same public even more to destroy and redo! GET YOUR MONEY BACK FROM THESE IDIOTS
I highly doubt the Sussex’s care at all about what they do to that cottage, they already said goodbye to it years ago, it’s the leftovers and their propaganda team that can’t get over it.
Also the wording in these articles sounds like they want to erase the Sussex’s themselves not just the renovations, does anyone else feel like this is a veiled threat? I find it very unsettling.
If the Sussexes care at all — which I doubt — their reaction is probably to look back with chagrin at all the money they spent (wasted) on a house they no longer get to inhabit. But I can’t imagine their reaction to the reno is anything more than a shrug.
That was my thought as well – they probably just shrugged when they heard this, or rolled their eyes at how stupid the royals are. I’m sure it might have stung to be evicted from a house that you paid for like they did, but at this point, I’m sure they’re over it as they wander their property in Montecito.
What the hell is left to care about at Frogmore Cottage. There wasn’t even room for a pony.
They have to reno it because the walls are all punched full of holes from Billy the Basher.
I doubt the Sussexes care about that or much of anything else about the leftovers. I hope Harry can communicate privately with his pa.
Can someone explain it to me, after all of the petty and dangerous crap his father has done to his wife and children, why Harry wants a relationship with him? God, Meghan is better than all of these people combined.
At most, he might still want one with his dad. That’s what he has said publicly anyways. And he would like security so his family can visit. He probably would like to see friends and visit the Spencers. But that’s probably it.
I got the impression from Spare that Harry sees his father very clearly for who he is, and there is still love there. We may not understand it, but its not our relationship. It’s a very marked contrast to his relationship (or lack thereof) with William.
I always thought the “dangerous crap” was done by W – leaking H&M’s Canadian location and intervening in M’s case against the DM which prolonged the case and ultimately resulted in her miscarrying their second pregnancy. W’s role in the latter incident is the main reason H has chosen to maintain space between himself and his brother (IMO).
Charles still evicted them and did not object to Scooter’s behavior.
Please Sussexes do a coffee table book of the interiors and history do Frogmore Cottage and estate and/or sell exclusive photos to People for outrageous sum of interiors to recoup all costs.
@Hairpin, I would buy this book immediately!
I am very confident that they made their peace with all of this years back. I am equally confident that no one close to them is speaking to them. Unless he means genetically close to Harry and this is more of William’s fantasies being played out.
I agree they likely made their peace with it some time ago. Even though they weren’t officially kicked out until January 2023, and didn’t fully vacate until June of that year, I suspect things already started to change for H&M in summer/fall the previous year, when the Wales were given Adelaide, but particularly, when TQ passed away in early September 2022. The Frogmore environs meant a lot to them because of their happy memories from courtship days, and I’m sure always will, but they only actually lived full time in FC very briefly. By the time they cleared out in mid-2023 they’d already had their new family home in sunny California for almost three years, their family was complete with Lilibet’s birth, and they no doubt were looking ahead to new opportunities, not looking back at a past that was already gone, whether they still had access to FC or not.
Whoever is behind these articles about how the family/institution wants to obliterate any trace of H&M from FC really is totally blind to how that looks to the rest of the world – even for people who don’t recognize the racism, the absolute vindictiveness behind it should be obvious to anyone.
Agree with the previous posts. Once the Sussexes moved out and cleared their belongs, I seriously doubt as well if they care what is happening with that cottage. Tom Sykes must be broke to keep writing this nonsense. He appears to be writing enough to cover his rent.
I can’t imagine that they care. This is just another version of Harry is jealous of all my footie buddies, Meghan is jealous because Anna Wintour came to the Palace stories. As always it’s them hoping Harry and Meghan are thinking about them as much as they obsess about Harry and Meghan.
Also-” If] they hadn’t gone public with all their resentments”. This at the end of the day really is the issue. They left. And not only did they take away their labor, and dynamic presence, they also had the audacity to shatter the illusion that they were this perfect happy family behind the scenes. One that everyone should strive to emulate, and the best thing that you could achieve in life was to be welcomed in.
”furious, yay verily spitting hairs, I tell you?” What? Is “spitting hairs” some British-ism I have never before encountered? I’ve heard of “spLitting hairs”, like when you argue over meaningless differences and “spitting nails” like when you’re really angry (or even “incandescent” heh heh), but what the hell is “spitting hairs?”
And wouldn’t the correct spelling be “YEA verily”, not “yay?” If your writing is this sloppy, I assume your reporting is too.
🎯
I was coming here to write the same thing. Spitting hairs isn’t a thing.
Sykes must have been drunk when he wrote this crap.
‘Spitting feathers’ means angry, I guess Sykes got confused.
Jill, I had the exact same thoughts! It cracks me up, we’re all giving Syko the serious writerly side-eye 😂🤣
They haven’t spent the last five years “chucking rocks at the institution” unless I missed something. This column is really hyperbolic. H&M are probably sorry they wasted all that money. Beyond that, I doubt they care what the Left Behinds do with it, although they might like to tell them where they can put it. 🙄
Okay, sorry, but it’s just funny . Sykes does not have any Sussex sources. But sure those “sources closes to the Sussexes” have told him that they’re furious. Please. They’re not crying over something that happened years ago. Anyways, interesting that Sykes says the public purse has lost half a mill due to this petty eviction. And I’m still curious. Are they really turning this back into staff flats so there will never be any real rent money coming from FC then? Nope, the Windsors look like petty babies who are costing the public money bc they got rightfully called out and now they’re continuing to look like racist bullies.
Oh how Sykes WISHES that the Sussexes cared about this.
Those “sources” close to them are just the obsessed voices in his head that seem real to Sykes because he never stops thinking about H&M. The sources are like Wilson the volleyball in Cast Away.
And by the way “upholding the values of the queen” Is not the strength he thinks it is. She had some shitty, shitty values.
Has Billy the Basher transformed into William the Destroyer? Might the need to cover up the damage he inflicted to the building’s interior need to be hidden before the Invictus Games begin? The timing of this seems suspicious!
“I’ve been speaking to sources close to Prince Harry and Meghan…”
— No, you have not. Liar.
Okay, but….another royal reporter or royal “source” who visited (stalked) Montecito and grabbed some coffee at a coffee place that Meghan had once visited and walked down the same street that Harry biked down is totally a reliable and close Sussex source, right?
I’m still convinced that the source is my 98 year old dad who lives near them!!! 😂😂
Sykes obviously isn’t getting enough traction from this non-issue. No one in the Sussexes orbit has said anything and he’s just mining social media for reactions. Harry and Meghan no longer have a stake in this, they have their own home. Why is this even a thing and why now?
Agreed 💯 Frogmore eviction reflected badly on KC as dad, grandad and head of CE. He didn’t bother and Will didn’t call the shots to evict them. Charles IS ruthless and supposedly Harry ‘s response was, Don’t you care about seeing your grandchildren? KC has had cancer since 2024 and that has caused him to reflect and make amends to Harry and Meghan. Enough has been done to make things crystal clear that a full reconciliation will never happen. It’s a shame for Harry but as parents they first allegiance must be to keep them and their children safe. Frogmore, the balcony BS is far behind them. Love and kindness, generosity and respect are important not things and houses.
what would you choose: a lifelong lease on Frogmore Cottage with hostile, racist landlords, or owning your own exquisite mansion on the California coast with no strings attached? Even Tom Sykes would choose Montecito every time.
I wonder what part of “my wife and I, we’re moving on” do those sickos and psychos living in that “bubble within a bubble” (and their arselickinng sycophants don’t get?
After the O interview, then Spare, then the H&M docu, Harry and Meghan were done and dusted. Harry said the words out loud.
First M said, at the O intvw that the Firm couldn’t be so stupid (my words) as to think she & H wd continue to remain silent while the Firm continued to spread lies about them. So they corrected the record with their 3 record-breaking media products and moved on.
Sickos and psychos like toxicTom have to earn money to buy his booze so this is him doing so.
PS: you couldn’t pay me to visit his substack or daily beast.
The Royal Family’s belief in never complain never explain led them to believe that Harry and Meghan would remain quiet. It’s possible that they would have got their way if they had stopped smearing Harry and Meghan after they left in 2020. Unfortunately for the Royal Family they continued the smear campaign forcing Harry and Meghan to respond. As for Frogmore I don’t believe Harry and Meghan care what happens to the house. It’s not theirs and they have their own house in Montecito.
I don’t believe this. Charles isnt wasting money on this. Between his garden and ripping up Frogmore the choice is clear — his garden. The only way frogmore sees a dime is if they rent it to someone and THEY pay to rip stuff out. I honestly dont see that happening. Didnt they say meghan turned Frogmore into a spa? If anything i will believe SOMEONE is using frogmore. Probably a well liked cousin.
They are not. Full stop.
The level of delusion is so, so strong, lol
Actually, if they wanted to control H&M, the smarter thing to do would to have given them a substantial (several million $) per year and paid for their security and their new home in California. That way, they could have prevented them from making other money and would have had a better chance to keep them under their control because they had money to hold over them. This is how they control the rest of the royal family and keep them silent.
Their big problem now is that they have nothing to take away from H&M and no way to keep them quiet, though they attempt this through lies to the media. I doubt if any of them considered this when Harry began talking with Charles about leaving the UK. And all of the threats about taking away titles is under the control of the government, not Charles or William or anyone else in the family, in spite of all the threats. So, basically, the royal family created their own problems.
And by the way, there was only ONE book, not “books” as the article mentions.
It is always “books”. Same as it is always “Meghan giving interviews trashing the RF”. After the Oprah interview she didn’t mention the leftovers in any interview or podcast. There were no “several documentaries or films” either.
Meghan said her piece in the Oprah interview and the Netflix series. Harry wrote Spare and did some promotional interviews, plus mentioned his family in the lawsuits about security. What else was he supposed to do? His family didn’t stop the constant briefing of the press for a single day in the last 6 years.
Had the family treated Meghan with respect and given both of them financial independence none of this would have happened. No Oprah, no Netflix. Harry and Meghan living in Frogmore busy working for the RF, while William and Kate take the credit……… shudder. I am actually glad the RF is as shitty as they are. Their behavior set Harry and Meghan free.
I don’t understand why Sykes would think that anyone would believe he has inside sources with the Sussexes, though?
I’m also tired, very tired, of the endless shifts around the way we are supposed to understand the UK Royal Family.
The Queen’s main demonstrated values were self-enrichment and covering up for herself and the people she cared about (which did not include her subjects, by and large) , this is common sense but even if it were not it could be worked out by her conduct in relation to Andrew, who she knew all about.
Having accepted that they are a family of selfish, petty and bad tempered rich people always trying to throw each other the bus in public more obvious point about this Frogmore thing is this, exactly as Sykes as acknowledged, the Royals claimed that the Sussexes couldn’t very well be expected to have the property left empty for them (despite them paying rent and despite Charles and William having multiple properties left empty for *them*) because the Royals were so concerned about the cost public purse and the seeming wastefulness. The property has since remained empty at a massive cost to the public purse.
Nobody can stop the Windsors being how they are or wanting to punish or abuse each other for slights but what cannot be justified is using my money or the money of other UK Taxpayers for this. Labour have a massive majority please please let Starmer be replaced by someone who gets that the right wing papers will never like any Labour PM and get rid of all the privileges and really have them cut their cloth. Let them do this on their own dime. William is not head of state and should be entitled to exactly zero public funding or profits. Charles has his own money and should pay inheritance tax on it and not be able to leave it all to William tax free. A single public property can be funded for Charles the rest they can pay for themselves with their considerable private resources. Security should not be dependant on who Charles likes or who the tabloids like.
Ultimately though, as much as this story exists to wring out schadenfreude (basically there is a premium on news that can be imagined to either be upsetting to Meghan or Harry which is as pathetic as it sounds) this is bad for the UK Royal industry since there was nothing they liked more than having the Sussexes more easily surveilled in their backyard, surrounded by leaking sources, as they were in Frogmore. Isn’t that what all this has been about from the start? Not ‘upholding the queen’ s values’- being available to the UK media, and not just 50% of the time…
Tommy Yikes is creating a smoke screen to cover the fact that the builders are at work at Frogmore Cottage. Turning the building back into staff quarters or repairing damage left after someone had a destructive tantrum? I’ll go with the latter.
Descendents of the family that has benefited from colonialism, tyranny, capitalism and slavery for a thousand years plan to remove all traces of a mixed race women from a property, eh? The sexism, racism and classism just ooozes from the pages.
Was that “sources close to the Sussexes” that hateful hack Richard Mineards who stalks them in Montecito, or maybe Tom Markle’s BFF Caroline Graham who IIRC is based in LA? Because that would be physical closeness, I guess. I believe Sykes met with Mineards in DC when he went for Charles’ trip (did Sykes report on anything related to Sykes’ trip besides what Mineards said about the Sussexes???) There’s no way anyone who’s actually close to the Sussexes would talk to hateful Tom Sycophant.
Sykes is producing a piece of fiction.
[testing ]
It bears repeating that the Meghan did ONE interview, Harry and Meghan did ONE documentary together, and Harry wrote ONE memoir. Done, Done, and Done. To anyone who has paid attention to THEM that their intention was to set the record straight, and in their own words, have moved on to earn a living, to establish a life for themselves and their children, and to do good in the world.
BM always say that Harry and Meghan are constantly smearing the royal family. Projection is their MO. Notice BM, RR, and trolls never have any recent quotes, or quotes at all, only imaginary sources or the voices in their head, or echoes of each other. But I imagine the casual observer would believe that Harry and Meghan are constantly briefing against the royal family, which is what the BM and RR are achieving by their constantly slander. They write as though Harry and Meghan just left yesterday, not over six years ago. The anti-Sussex people live in a time warp under a rock.
Tom announced some sort of book deal with the palace (didn’t say which but does explain his honeyed words for W&K of late) to explain his recent absences when not traveling yesterday.
@Sean
Whoever this book is supposed to be about, it’s obvious that 80% of it will be about Sussex 🤣
They hated her in bare feet.
But, when we got a peek at Kate’s podiatry issues, I understood the why’s of it.
Working royals must have Hobbit feet.
So who will end up paying for the spite reno?
F the Windsors and their henchmen in the palaces and the British media . They all racist pond scum who one day will feel the wrath of the almighty . I hope Meghan and I am am positive she won’t . Never ever ever allows any of those people near her or her children. I won’t even go to any of the funerals if I were her