The cost of renovating the new home of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, was ￡2.4 million (US$3.06 million), Buckingham Palace said yesterday as it detailed how the royal family had spent money provided by taxpayers.
The sum, part of the annual “Sovereign Grant,” funded the conversion of Frogmore Cottage to a single dwelling, while the couple, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, paid for the fittings and furnishings.
“The property had not been 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,” said Michael Stevens, the Keeper of the Privy Purse and responsible for royal accounts.
Photo: AFP
“Outdated infrastructure was replaced to guarantee the long-term future of the property,” he said ahead of the publication of the Sovereign Grant report, which details official income and expenditure of Queen Elizabeth II and her household.
The 19th-century Frogmore Cottage, in the grounds of the queen’s Windsor Castle estate, became the official residence of Harry and Meghan when they moved in shortly before the birth of their first child, Archie, last month.
The building had been previously converted into five separate residences and royal officials had already planned to renovate it before it was agreed that it would become the couple’s residence.
The six-month refurbishment included new electrical wiring, replacement of defective ceiling beams and floor joists, new heating systems and the introduction of new gas and water mains.
A palace source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the taxpayer grant covered the basic cost for kitchens, bathrooms and flooring with additional outlays for anything more bespoke being met privately by the royals who also paid for items such as curtains and furnishings.
Work has been “substantially” completed and outstanding renovations would not feature in next year’s annual report, meaning the cost would be under the ￡350,000 threshold to be included in the public report.
The outlay on Frogmore Cottage formed part of the ￡82.2 million Sovereign Grant, the government handout which covers the official duties of the queen, including staffing costs, upkeep of royal palaces and travel expenses.
It is based on 15 percent of surplus revenue from the Crown Estate, the monarchy’s property portfolio, from two years previously.
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France. A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places. In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building. Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola
RSS