That doesn’t sound very neighborly.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s security guards have been accused of rudely brushing off an elderly neighbor after moving into their mansion in Montecito, Calif., in 2020.
Frank McGinity, an 88-year-old US Navy veteran, who lives close by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex claimed that he approached their home soon after they moved in to gift them some films he has made about the history of the area.
He recalled the alleged exchange in a chapter of his memoir, “Get Off Your Street.”
“I have a big house next to Harry and Meghan’s property and I live in the guest house while renting the main house out on Airbnb,” he said, according to the Montecito Journal via the Independent.
“Harry and Meghan live on old McCormick property and I went up to their gate with the films on a CD, but they weren’t interested,” he claimed, adding that the couple’s security guard turned him away.
“The gate guy turned me away and wouldn’t take the film, just saying ‘they’re not interested.’ I was trying to be neighborly,” he alleged.
He added: “We don’t see them very much around here. It’s surprising they came here. People are typically older. It’s where the elephants come to die.”
McGinity said he lives a “tiara’s toss or two” from the Sussexes’ property.
The California-based royals moved into the property in July 2020 with their son, Prince Archie, 4. The couple welcomed a daughter, Princess Lilibet, two years later.
Pvnew exclusively reported that they paid $14,650,000 for the 18,000-square-foot home, which features rose gardens, century-old olive trees, a tennis court, a tea house, children’s cottage and a pool.
It also has a two-bedroom guest cottage.
A source told Pvnew that the abode is “the first home either of them has ever owned” and they were excited to “put down their roots in this house and the quiet community, which has considerable privacy.”
A spokesperson for the couple did not reply for comment.
