King Charles has made a "big mistake" by requesting Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave Frogmore Cottage and reportedly offering it to Prince Andrew, a royal expert has claimed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have confirmed they have been "requested to vacate" their UK home in a move that has reportedly left them "stunned".
It is said that the home has now been offered to disgraced Andrew after the King insisted he must leave his current 30-room home Royal Lodge.
His Majesty has taken the extraordinary step to ask Harry and Meghan to vacate their UK base for good, following the publication of Harry’s explosive memoir.
According to royal expert and historian Dr Tessa Dunlop, many in the UK have been "gleeful" after learning of the King's tough stance with the Sussexes.
But she believes the move has gone against that of his late mother the Queen, who tried to keep Harry on board - and she adds that the "optics are terrible".
She told the Mirror: "Britain's response to the news has, on the whole, been gleeful. On one level the vitriol is understandable.
"Prince Harry had just lobbed several verbal hand grenades at his family and the former institution to which he belonged. But he did so from a position of weakness, on the outside, in pain and feeling side-lined.
"A broad-shouldered confident monarchy would have weathered the storm. With a coronation around the corner, the King has bigger fish to fry.
"Instead, by evicting the couple from the Queen's generous gift of Frogmore Cottage King Charles is going directly against the conciliatory style of Her late Majesty.
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"Worse, he has conflated the problem of the Sussexes with that of Prince Andrew by asking the latter to relinquish his larger home, the Royal Lodge, and move into Frogmore Cottage. Big mistake. The optics are terrible."
And even though Tessa admits that public opinion in this country may be on the King's side, the move could "diminish" the monarchy - just weeks before the Coronation.
She added: "The late Queen tried hard to keep Harry on board. Frogmore Cottage was part of that package. She was likewise lenient with Andrew.
"Charles, in his effort to stamp authority on his reign, has undone those efforts, and by conflating the separate issues of Harry and Andrew through the prism of Frogmore Cottage it looks like our King cares more for his disgraced brother, than his conflicted son and foreign daughter-in-law.
"The court of mainstream public opinion may currently be on the King's side, but internationally this move diminishes our monarchy just weeks before invitations go out to Britain's biggest state ceremony of 2023, the coronation.
"An event where you can now look forward to seeing Prince Andrew, but probably not the Sussexes."
Tessa Dunlop is the author of Elizabeth and Philip, The story of young love, marriage and monarchy.
