Prince Harry will renew Frogmore Cottage lease to keep serving Queen

The Duke of Sussex has renewed his soon-to-expire lease on Frogmore Cottage and will continue to be allowed to deputise for the Queen, the Telegraph understands.

The Duke, who lives in California but is still a UK citizen, is 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, which expires on March 31. The Telegraph understands that 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 because of 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 handful of occasions since moving his family to the USA.

A spokesman for the Duke said: "There are no planned changes to the current arrangement."

In September 2020, the Sussexes paid back £2.4 million for renovations to Frogmore Cottage, 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 California.

Details of Prince Harry’s UK living arrangements have unexpectedly become a constitutional matter, The Telegraph has learned, thanks to his role as one of the Queen's four remaining Counsellors of State.

A source with extensive knowledge of the legal issues said counsellors must only be "domiciled" in the UK, with two historic examples of individuals who lived abroad while remaining in the role – one against his will as a prisoner of war and the other working in a realm.

As the 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 fulfill 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 out of action.

The Duke of York has stepped down from public duties entirely since his infamous Newsnight interview about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

This week he paid a reported £12 million to Virginia Guiffre to settle a US civil lawsuit in which she accused him of sexual assault and rape when she was under age. Critics have argued that he must be stripped of the role.

Dr Craig Prescott, an expert in UK constitutional law, said change seemed "inevitable", while Hugo Vickers, the historian, 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 the Counsellors of State can only be changed through legislation, with the decision lying with Parliament. But constitutional experts have told The Telegraph it would never realistically happen unless the Queen herself requested it.

The only two changes to the position during the Queen's reign – to add the Queen Mother and Duke of Edinburgh – have come as a direct result of Her Majesty asking Parliament.

One source with knowledge of the legal issues said it was "quite clear-cut that there was nothing disqualifying" the Duke of York from remaining in the role, which falls to the 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 an additional Counsellor of State. She will become one anyway at the accession of Prince Charles as the spouse of a monarch.

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.