It has only been seven months since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle officially left their royal life behind, but the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have already made good on their word to repay the taxpayer-funded renovations to their Frogmore Cottage. Take that, interest rates.On September 7, a rep for the couple confirmed to several media outlets, including
People, that the Duke and Duchess had fully repaid the almost $4.2 million that went into renovating what was supposed to be their primary family home. "A contribution has been made to the Sovereign Grant by the Duke of Sussex," read the statement. "This contribution as originally offered by Prince Harry has fully covered the necessary renovation costs of Frogmore Cottage, a property of Her Majesty The Queen, and will remain the U.K. residence of the Duke and his family.”Following the couple’s announcement in January that they would be stepping away from their duties as full-time working members of the royal family, it was agreed that Frogmore Cottage, which served as the backdrop for the pair's now-iconic engagement photos and acted as their family home since April 2019, would remain the Duke and Duchess’ residence when they were in the U.K. It was also agreed by the Duke and Duchess that they would repay the publicly-funded money that went into renovating the home.The high cost of updating the historic home was based largely on the age of the building, which was built around the mid-1800s. An insider who spoke to
People revealed that a large portion of the $4.2 million went towards basic improvements needed to bring the cottage up to code. “A very large proportion of the ceiling beams and floor joists were defective and had to be replaced. The heating systems were outdated and inefficient and were not to the environmental standards that we would expect today,”
said the source. “The electrical system also needed to be substantially replaced and rewired, even extending to the establishment of a separate upgraded electrical substation, which was in addition to the main works on the property. And new gas and water mains had to be introduced to the property, replacing the five separate links that were there for the property before and were in a bad state of repair.”The couple had initially planned on repaying the Sovereign Grant fund in instalments but were able to wipe out their debt with one lump sum thanks to their latest business deal. Earlier this month,
Netflix announced a massive partnership with the Duke and Duchess that will include the couple overseeing several new projects. In a joint statement released by the pair, Harry and Meghan said that they are looking forward to creating content that will have unprecedented reach. “Through our work with diverse communities and their environments, to shining a light on people and causes around the world, our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope,”
read the statement. “As new parents, making inspirational family programming is also important to us, as is powerful storytelling through a truthful and relatable lens.”Harry and Meghan’s Netflix payday has not been revealed and likely won’t be made public, but considering the couple just paid off their Frogmore Cottage debt and bought a
$14.7 million home in
Santa Barbara, California, it’s safe to say that the deal was a big one.[video_embed id='-1']Before you go: Hilarious husky puppy totally fails at playing catch[/video_embed]
