OPINION:
The Queen wears many hats, both literally and figuratively.
She is the head of state, leader of the armed services and, my personal favourite, owner of all porpoises and dolphins in British territorial waters.
She is also a hugely successful property developer.
The Crown estate belongs to the reigning monarch meaning that Her Majesty is, amongst her myriad other responsibilities, in charge of a portfolio of 793,185ha consisting of more than 250 properties across Britain.
And surely there is not one of these properties that has caused her more of a persistent, throbbing headache than Frogmore Cottage.
The two-storey home, which sits on the Windsor Great Park estate, is hardly a glittering jewel in her real estate crown. The squat, unassuming building until recently housed estate workers - that is, before the 94-year-old sovereign "gave" the property to Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, last year.
By rights, there this far-from-thrilling tale of real estate should have come to a dull stop. Because, the world might be addicted to all things Harry and Meghan but even they can't make endless discussions about cornices and cladding actually interesting.
However, like many, many things Sussex-related, controversy soon dogged their move to Frogmore with news that $4.6 million from the Sovereign Grant had been used to do up the joint, thus setting off a whopper of a PR crisis (the couple paid for all internal fixtures and fittings themselves. In September this year it was revealed that they had repaid the full amount).
Frogmore, or at least Harry and Meghan's choices around it, might just be the ducal duo's kryptonite with the "cottage" having triggered another hullabaloo over the weekend, with news breaking that they had handed over the keys to the home to his cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank.
Not only that, but the Sun reported that "the Sussexes' prized possessions were hauled out of Frogmore Cottage in the dead of night to make way for their new tenant".
The paper quoted a source saying: "Removal vans pitched up in the dead of the night and cleared out the cottage. They definitely did not want to be seen."
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "Frogmore Cottage is the private residence of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and as such any arrangements are a matter for them."
The house will officially remain the couple's British base when they decide to pop across the pond.
The paper later reported that the move had come at the instigation of the younger HRHs. An insider told the Sun: "Senior royals were initially blindsided by the idea for Harry and Meg to let Eugenie and Jack move in.
"Obviously the Queen was told after the couples had spoken about the plan.
"But it is very much a deal done between Harry, Meghan, Eugenie and Jack. There is a close bond between them."
Assuming this is indeed correct, then this is big news. HUGE.
The symbolism of the Sussexes basically turning their backs on their British home – a home lavishly renovated on the Sovereign Grant's dime (initially) and which was meant to provide them with a base from which to launch their royal careers of constant do-goodery- is glaring.
With one real estate manoeuvre, they have demonstrated just how unfussed they seem to be about severing one their few remaining ties to Blighty. Cheerio old chaps! We're off for a kombucha at Ellen's house! Good luck with that Brexit thingummy!
What makes this weekend's news so striking is that Harry is a man for whom his dedication to serving his country has been the north star of his career.
During a United States fundraising event for veterans last week, the royal said: "I was born into a life of duty, but it was during my decade in the Army that I committed to a life of service."
Given all of this, one would think that no matter that he and Meghan's "forever home" is just down the road from Oprah's and two shakes of a Tesla away from the Pacific Ocean, he would want to do everything in his power to reinforce his commitment to his homeland.
Instead, if the Sun is right, they've had people squirrel away their remaining belongings in the middle of the night, PR repercussions be damned.
This latest development hardly bodes well for their remaining professional ties to London. While they may no longer be official representatives of the Queen, they do still hold a number of patronages and official roles bestowed upon them by Her Majesty such as president and vice-president of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust.
While Frogmore might pale in size compared with Prince Edward's Bagshot Park (which is rumoured to have 120 rooms) or be far less grand than Anmer Hall, the 10-bedroom Norfolk estate of William and Kate, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Sussexes' Windsor house carries with it far, far deeper symbolic meaning.
After Harry and Meghan wed in 2018, they were living in the "Nott Cott" in the grounds of Kensington Palace. In the run-up to their married life, the prestigious 21-room Apartment 1 in that palace was made available for the duo, with the previous tenants, Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, moving out after 50 years to make way for the newlyweds.
However, the Sussexes decided they didn't want to set up home inside Kensington Palace, specifically in an apartment smack bang next door to the Cambridges, with whom we have since learned they were not on the best of terms. So the Queen gave them the use of Frogmore Cottage last year and let the couple get on with making the property, which at that point was five separate apartments, into a spiffy new home.
In essence, the house represents the lengths Her Majesty went to try to make things work for the couple.
No right-thinking person who understands the agonies and torment Harry has endured since childhood would begrudge him the chance to build the life he wants.
But, in cutting this last, deeply emotionally freighted connection to the country of his birth, it is hard not to read this as something of a repudiation of the Queen, the royal family and Britain itself.
What must Harry's 94-year-old grandmother make of the couple turning the property over to new tenants?
Because there was no one clamouring for them to let anyone else live in Frogmore, nor was there any expectation they would ever live there again full-time. For Harry and Meghan to hand over the keys and whisk away their (I'm guessing) collection of pricey coffee-table books, cashmere throws and Tibetan singing bowls is just wholly unnecessary.
Also, does anyone really think the house of Windsor is running so low on its stock of stately homes to hand around to the younger generations that they are having to share? Hardly.
Like so many of the Sussexes' moves and choices, the unanswered question in all of this is, why?
Sure, there might be altruistic and practical reasons why a pregnant Eugenie and Jack moving into Frogmore makes sense given the home has largely sat empty for a year now, but Harry and Meghan had to know what sort of furore this development would set off.
The allegedly clandestine manoeuvrings to move the Sussexes' stuff out of Frogmore would seem to suggest they realised that news of this about-face would spark a huge press ruckus, not to mention it would go down like a lead balloon with an already fractious public who feel slighted by the duo's quitting of Britain.
So, again, why? Why do something that seems to have achieved nothing but hurt feelings and bad press? Why undertake a move guaranteed to only upset people and for zero gain?
It's not as if they are even saving money this way. Sources close to the duke and duchess confirmed to ITV's Chris Ship that the Sussexes will "retain financial responsibility" for the property.
Frogmore Cottage is only a seven-minute drive away from Windsor Castle and the silver lining of this imbroglio is that the Queen will least get to see plenty of Eugenie's bub, who will be her ninth great-grandchild.
Hopefully all those squishy baby cuddles will offer her some comfort given she has not seen her eighth great-grandchild, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, for at least a year and he is currently about 8000km (or a 13-hour flight) away.
• Daniela Elser is a royal expert and writer with more than 15 years' experience working with a number of Australia's leading media titles.
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