Meghan and Harry's rules for neighbours: Don't ask about Archie or pat their dog

Harry and Meghan's neighbours received a bizarre list of rules relating to the couple. Photo / Getty Images

The neighbours of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been shocked to receive a bizarre list of strict rules relating to the royals next door.

The neighbours say the "do and don't commandments" were issued at a residents' meeting for people living near the couple's renovated Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.

The strict list states the neighbours are not allowed to talk to the couple, pat their dog or ask to see baby Archie.

"It would be funny if it wasn't so over the top," one of the neighbours said, according to The Sun.

"Even the Queen doesn't demand this," someone else said.

"It's extraordinary. We've never heard anything like it. Everyone who lives on the estate works for the royals and knows how to behave respectfully," a Windsor resident said.

"We aren't told how to behave around the Queen like this. She's very happy for people to greet her."

According to royal commentator Ingrid Seward: "Harry and Meghan's ­incessant demands for privacy means that palace officials are second-guessing what they might want.

"It's odd because it's just good manners to engage your neighbour in conversation in a pleasant way. It's a very normal British thing to say 'Good Morning' and pat a dog," Seward said.

"The Queen always chats to neighbours and even has tea with people on the estate as she's very friendly with them. The 'not petting the dog' is particularly strange.

"Maybe Harry doesn't want people approaching them and using their dogs as an excuse to talk. And of course the dog with no name keeps its privacy as they won't tell us its name!"

Meghan and Harry have a beagle named Guy, that came from Canada with the now Duchess. The couple also got a black labrador last September but have always refused to reveal the dog's name, even when people ask them.

Harry and Meghan spent $4.2 million of taxpayers' money on their new home and recently ruffled feathers when they decided to keep key details of Archie's birth and christening private.

"The Duke and Duchess had no knowledge of this briefing and no involvement in the concept or the content," a spokesman for Buckingham Palace said.

"This was a well-intentioned briefing to help a small local community know how to welcome two new residents and help them with any potential encounter.

"There was no handout or letter. The talk was undertaken by a local manager and was widely viewed as being well received."