Harry will keep UK address to serve Queen
Duke remains ‘domiciled’ in Britain so is eligible to serve the Queen as one of four Councillors of State
Until now, that decision has been considered a matter for the Sussex family...but now become a constitutional matter thanks to his role
THE Duke of Sussex has renewed his soon-to-expire lease on Frogmore Cottages and will continue to be allowed to deputise for the Queen, The Sunday Telegraph understands.
The Duke, who lives in California but is still a UK citizen, is still eligible to serve his grandmother as one of her four Counsellors of State because he qualifies as being “domiciled” in Britain thanks to his old Windsor address.
He and the Duchess have had to decide whether to renew the lease that expires on March 31 of this year. The Sunday Telegraph understands they plan to continue the arrangement.
Until now, that decision has been considered a matter for the Sussex family, with the Duke this week insisting he still considers the UK “home” but feels unsafe visiting due to unresolved security arrangements.
Through lawyers, he has emphasised his wish to return to Britain to see his family and friends, as well as his old charity patronages, but has so far returned on only a small handful of occasions since moving to California.
In September 2020, the Sussexes paid back £2.4 million for the renovations to their Frogmore Cottage home, including rent up to March 2022 in a complicated arrangement detailed only in part in the Palace annual accounts.
Princess Eugenie, Jack Brooksbank and their son August are reported to have been living there while her cousin is in LA. Details of Prince Harry’s UK living arrangements have unexpectedly become a constitutional matter, The Sunday Telegraph has learned, thanks to his role as one of the Queen’s four remaining Counsellors of State.
A source said counsellors must only be “domiciled” in the UK, with two historic examples of individuals who lived abroad while remaining in the role.
Four adults next in line to the throne – the Prince of Wales, Duke of Cambridge, Duke of Sussex and Duke of York – can undertake some of the Queen’s duties at her request, should she fall temporarily ill.
While the role has been little-known to the public for decades, it is now at the centre of significant concerns about what should happen if the Queen is unable to fulfil her duties for a short period of time through illness or injury.
Earlier this year, the Duke of Cambridge was overseas while the Prince of Wales was in isolation with Covid, leaving both of them out of action.
The Duke of York has stepped down from public duty entirely since his Newsnight interview about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. This week he paid a reported £12 million to Virginia Guiffre to settle a US civil law suit.
Dr Craig Prescott, an expert in UK constitutional law, said change seemed “inevitable” while historian Hugo Vickers said: “If Prince Andrew is not taking part in royal life, then he shouldn’t be taking part as a Counsellor of State either.”
Buckingham Palace insists that the Counsellors of State can only be changed through legislation, with the decision lying with Parliament.
But constitutional experts have said it would never happen unless the Queen herself requested it. A source said it was “quite clear-cut that there was nothing disqualifying” the Duke of York from remaining in the role, which falls to four people next in line to the throne over the age of 21. It has recently been reported that the Duchess of Cornwall may be made a Counsellor of State.
At the Queen’s request through Letters Patent, counsellors are able to carry out most of her official duties including Privy Council meetings, signing routine documents and receiving the credentials of new ambassadors.
They cannot create peers or appoint a prime minister, and can only dissolve Parliament at the express instruction of the monarch. The mechanism was last used in 2015, when the Queen went on tour to Malta.
A spokesman for the Duke said: “There are no planned changes to the current arrangement.”