".....In historian Robert Lacey's book Battle of the Brothers, which was published in 2020, it was revealed why refunding the public money was crucial to the couple.

Mr Lacey wrote: 'It was crucial that they should pay off - and should clearly be seen to pay off - the £2.4million that had become a persecutory refrain in almost every story about their base at Windsor.'

He added: 'As they would later explain via sussexroyal.com, the website that they developed during their Vancouver sabbatical, coming off the Sovereign Grant - the royal payroll financed by the British taxpayer - would "remove the tabloids'" justification in having access to their lives.'"

Same old, same old plus another article pushing Harry's "paranoia" with the media. It was all the media's fault that they paid back the renovation costs.
No, there was a huge uproar among the public after the ran away from their Royal responsibilities in the UK and wanted to settle in sunny Cali. The public correctly, wanted the Harkles to pay back the taxpayer funded renovations on the Sussex home that they may or may not have lived in for about six months. Harry and Meghan didn't want to pay back the money and fought tooth and nail to get out of it. The last I read, about a year ago, they had only "paid" the equivalent of around $650,000. This was despite Harry and Meghan stating it was completely paid off. Perhaps by Charles, but certainly not by Harry and Meghan.




https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-13693637/Harry-Meghan-Frogmore-Cottage-renovation-taxpayers.html