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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been asked to leave their UK base of Frogmore Cottage, the couple’s spokesperson has confirmed.
It was earlier reported that the house, located in the grounds of Windsor Castle, had been gifted to the Duke of York.
A spokesperson for Prince Harry and Meghan confirmed the news. Buckingham Palace had no comment.
The Duke and Duchess now live in California with their two children, Archie and Lilibet.
They left royal life in 2020 and left the UK soon after.
Frogmore Cottage, a 10-bedroom Grade II listed property in the grounds of Windsor Castle in Berkshire, was a gift to the royal couple from the late Queen.
Prince Harry and Meghan renovated the property, owned by the Crown Estate, at an estimated cost of £2.4million in 2018-19. The cost was initially covered by taxpayers through the Sovereign Grant before being reimbursed in full by the Duke.
Buckingham Palace reportedly told them to vacate the property in January, days after Harry published his explosive memoir, Spare.
The book – which was published in January and has become the UK’s best-selling non-fiction book since records began in 1998 – included claims that Prince Harry had been physically attacked by his brother, the Prince of Wales. He also wrote that he and his brother, the Prince of Wales, begged their father not to marry Camilla, now Queen Consort.
Prince Andrew, the late Queen’s second son, lives in the nearby 31-room Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, Berkshire.
He stepped down as a senior royal in 2019 after a controversial Newsnight interview about allegations he sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre. He has repeatedly denied the allegations.
In February 2022, he paid an undisclosed sum to settle the civil sexual assault case Ms. Giuffre brought against him in the United States.
Reports from recent weeks, unconfirmed by the BBC, suggest the King must cut Andrew’s annual grant which could leave him unable to pay the running costs of his household.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are the latest in a long list of high-profile figures who have lived at Frogmore Cottage
The lodge has a rich and varied history. Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, had it built in 1792 so that she and her daughters could escape court.
At the time, it was fashionable for the wealthy to build large houses disguised as idyllic rural lodges.
Surviving relatives of Tsar Nicholas II also lived there after fleeing to the UK, following the murder of other family members by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
Since World War II, the cottage has reportedly been used as a home for Royal Household staff, before Prince Harry and Meghan moved in.