Meghan markle cottage

All about Frogmore Cottage, Harry and Meghan's UK home

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After a controversial renovation and a brief tenancy by Princess Eugenie, Frogmore Cottage in Windsor Great Park remains the UK residence of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

5 September 2022

Frogmore Cottage

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are still resident at Frogmore Cottage, their Windsor home, it appears, when they make their rare appearances in the UK. One of those is happening right now, as the couple prepare to embark on a tour of Europe by spending a little time at their UK residence. This summer saw their arrival for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, and reports emerged that they hosted their daughter Lilibet's first birthday at the cottage, a casual picnic party complete with royal guests and one very charming photograph.

The autumn of 2020 saw reports that Frogmore Cottage had new tenants in the form of Prince Harry's cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank. The couple, who had their first child together in early 2021, had moved into the property owned by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with arrangements for the tenancy kept under wraps. According to The Sun, 'The Sussexes' prized possessions were hauled out of Frogmore Cottage in the dead of night to make way for their new tenant.' However, it was reported within a few weeks that the couple had swiftly moved out.

The house is still owned by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who used £2.4m of taxpayer money to renovate the property, before paying it back in full when they moved to California. The news of the tax refund came in the wake of confirmation that the couple signed a multi-million dollar contract with Netflix, and reports that they are no longer receiving funding from Prince Charles, as they were when they first left the UK. Even though they have bought their family home across the pond, Frogmore Cottage does remain their UK residence.

The ten-bedroom house on the Windsor Estate became ready in April 2019 after months of extensive renovations. The cost was rather staggering, even though the couple mostly paid for 'fixtures and fittings' themselves. The house, which had previously been split up into sections for offices, was returned to a single residence, and major works were necessary, including replacing ceiling beams and floor joists and replacing, rewiring the electrical system, and installing new gas and water mains.

When news broke that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were stepping back from royal duties, moving to North America and focusing on commercial ventures instead of receiving public funds, there was some controversy around the cost of renovations to the British public. Following this, Prince Harry apparently offered to pay back the cost early on in the process of negotiating his new role. The couple are now also said to be paying commercial rent to the royal estate for Frogmore Cottage, as part of their move to become financially independent, although they will not be living there full time.

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The surroundings of the cottage are certainly dear to Harry and Meghan's hearts - their engagement photos were taken in the grounds of Frogmore House, the larger, grander house on the estate, and their evening wedding reception was also held there. That house, built in the seventeenth century, was once used as a country retreat by Queen Charlotte, and it was later occupied by various royals including Queen Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent; Princess Helena, the third daughter of Queen Victoria; and the future George V and Queen Mary.

Frogmore Cottage itself is a slightly less grand affair, but still very lovely indeed. It was built by Queen Charlotte for the use of her daughters at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the young Henry James spent some time there with his family in the 1840s. The building is Grade-II-listed and has ten bedrooms, but was for some time used as accommodation for palace staff.

Renovations of the cottage took months and included some very modern and unexpected changes. As well as the general refit to turn it into a five-bedroom property, and the addition of two orangeries to the house, the couple have added a vegetable garden and even a yoga studio. Meghan is an avid yoga fan, and her mother, Doria Ragland, teaches yoga in Los Angeles. A royal source told the Daily Mail, 'The duchess has a passion for cooking so it was suggested to include a small plot in the spacious garden where they can grow some of their own produce.' Soundproofing has been installed to tackle noise from planes going in and out of Heathrow, which reportedly cost £50,000 but has been paid for by Meghan and Harry themselves.

The couple reportedly looked to the interiors mastermind behind Soho Farmhouse to decorate their home, opting for vegan and organic paint in the nursery. Vicky Charles of Charles & Co design studio is the woman who scooped the job. Charles spent 20 years as the Soho House, eventually leaving her role there as global head of design to open her own practice in 2016. And she’s no stranger to high-profile clients: Charles has worked with the Clooneys, the Beckhams, The Ned in London and Bon Appétit’s Test Kitchen. While we're sure never to get a glimpse of the interior, we imagine it's a far cry from the gilded affairs that are typical of royal residences.

MAY WE SUGGEST: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex hire the mastermind behind Soho Farmhouse to decorate Frogmore Cottage

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The wooden exterior of Soho Farmhouse.
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A bathroom has a freestanding bath and floral fabrics.
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Meghan already owns the tea set used at Soho Farmhouse, which is sold by Soho Home and starts at £8.

Valued for its privacy

Prince Harry has been said to value the privacy afforded by the home’s location in the grounds of the Frogmore estate in Windsor. “Frogmore, which is inside the Windsor security zone, is secluded, peaceful, tranquil and, most importantly, private”, a royal insider told the Daily Mail.

Until recently Prince Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie lived in the cottage with her husband Jack Brooksbank and their baby son August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, who was born in February 2021. The couple are currently living in Portugal, according to The Sun.

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Harry and Meghan, who live in a mansion in Montecito, California, allowed Eugenie and Jack use of the property “as it offers them more space for their growing family”, celebrity magazine Hello! reported.

Frogmore Cottage has remained Harry and Meghan’s base in the UK, with Harry reportedly staying there when he crossed the pond to unveil a statue of his mother, Princess Diana, in Kensington Palace’s Sunken Garden on 1 July last year.

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As the property is split into two self-contained cottages, Harry was able to quarantine without coming into contact with Eugenie and her family.

“By agreeing to extend the lease, and with Jack and Eugenie focusing on Portugal, [Harry and Meghan] have a firm presence smack bang in the middle of the Windsor court where it’s all happening,” a source told The Sun. “They can now come and go any time they please.”

The Frogmore renovation

Harry and Meghan completed extensive renovations before moving into Frogmore Cottage in April 2019. The cottage was remodelled from five separate living quarters into one large official residence for the couple and their son Archie.

According to Hello!, Meghan hired Soho House’s interior designer Vicky Charles to decorate the space and the paint used was vegan and organic in keeping with Meghan’s “largely vegan diet”.

Royal accounts showed that £2.4m was spent on renovating the house, with costs paid for by taxpayers via the sovereign grant. However, The Times reported in 2019 that the total sum was likely to be “even higher” as “some of the work was not started until the new financial year”.

Harry and Meghan forked out for some of the fittings themselves, but the cost of replacing ceiling beams, floor joists, heating, gas, electrical systems and re-plumbing was met by the public purse, according to the BBC.

Royal aide Michael Stevens, keeper of the privy purse, said: “The property had not been the subject of work for some years and had already been earmarked for renovation in line with our responsibility to maintain the condition of the occupied royal palaces estate.

“The building was returned to a single residence and outdated infrastructure was replaced to guarantee the long-term future of the property.” He added that Harry and Meghan had paid for “substantially all fixtures and fittings” at the time.

Repayments ‘could take a decade’

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are in the process of paying back the costs of renovating Frogmore Cottage in instalments that could take more than a decade.

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They agreed to foot the bill for refurbishing the property following meetings with the Royal Family and Buckingham Palace officials in January 2020, The Times reported in May of that year.

The same month the Mail on Sunday revealed that it was “quietly arranged for the couple to start
paying rent on the property”, beginning in April 2020.

The paper reported that the pair are paying “just shy of £18,000 a month to keep Frogmore as their official British base”. The arrangement has been described as a “‘rental-plus’ agreement” and sees the couple pay more than the commercial rate, enabling them to pay down the renovation costs over time.

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The Mail on Sunday said that it would take more than 11 years of payments at £18,000 per month to cover the £2. 4mn debt. This, the paper added, is without taking into account additional interest or the running costs of the cottage.

The history of the cottage

Charles II began building Frogmore House in 1680, on land bought by Henry VIII in the 16th
century.

Not only are “Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson buried there (you know them from The Crown), [but] Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s mausoleum is on the Frogmore House grounds”, said Cosmopolitan.

The estate is part of the larger Windsor Estate and is close to the River Thames, with the
surrounding marshy land attracting many frogs – hence the name.

Rumoured additions to property

The cottage was described by Cosmopolitan as “pretty dilapidated” before the renovation work
began.

As well as restoring the house to a habitable condition, sources told the magazine that refurbishments included a yoga studio with a special floor, an “elaborate Gone With The Wind- style double staircase” replacing a “hotchpotch of stairs criss-crossing the interior” and new grand fireplaces in the main rooms.

The planned additions to the cottage also include “an eco-friendly green energy unit, two conservatory extensions and extensive landscaping to provide privacy for the couple and their baby, according to Elle.

The Sun claimed the renovations also included the building of a “gender-free” nursery decorated with vegan-infused paint in neutral greys and a mother-and-baby yoga studio complete with a “floating floor”.

Planners at Windsor and Maidenhead council reportedly gave approval for builders to tear up the original Victorian boards to build a sprung floor for the yoga studio in order to minimise vibrations and noise.

The i news site added that the couple were also given £50,000 to soundproof the entire property in an effort to tackle noise from nearby Heathrow Airport. And, according to Vanity Fair, Meghan and Harry were offered a choice of paintings from the Queen’s private collection to hang in their home.

What Frogmore Cottage looks like: it was presented to Meghan Markle, but she did not want to live there

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Photo: Getty Images

Frogmore House has been owned by the British crown since the 17th century. The cottage was built there at the end of the 18th century, when Queen Charlotte created a place to relax with her loved ones. The estate is located less than a kilometer from another castle of the royal family, which gave them a surname - Windsor.

Frogmore House was built 1680-1684. royal architect Hugh May for his nephew Thomas.

Photo: Getty Images

The main house was built between 1680-1684. royal architect Hugh May for his nephew Thomas and is a listed building, one of the landmarks of Berkshire. Frogmore got its unusual name ... because of the frogs that inhabited the local swamps in large numbers! Queen Victoria hated frogs, but it was on this estate that she buried her husband Albert and was later buried herself.

Frogmore Manor on an old engraving.

Photo: Getty Images

During the restoration in 1980, some elements of the former decoration were found. The Dukes of Northumberland painted the walls along the Grand Staircase with scenes from Virgil's Aeneid - the painting was done by the French artist Louis Lager, but it was painted over in 1760. A room decorated by the artist Maria Moser has also survived: she decorated the walls and ceiling with bright colors.

Antique engraving of Frogmore House.

Photo: The Print Collector / Heritage-Images

In the 1980s, Frogmore House was extensively renovated - it was supposed that the Duke and Duchess of York would move here, but this never happened. In 1997, after the decommissioning of the royal yacht Britannia, part of the ship's furnishings, including a mahogany table, were moved here. Nowadays, the residence is used by the royal family for celebrations. It was here that Harry and Megan announced their engagement, and here in May 2018 a solemn reception was held on the occasion of their wedding, but they never had a chance to live in a large palace. The couple got a small cottage in the neighborhood, where they moved in anticipation of their first child.

Photo: Google Earth

However, before moving into the house, the couple made extensive repairs, which cost £2.4 million from the state treasury. Now it is not five separate buildings, but a single building with ten bedrooms, a large nursery in gray shades, a gym, a yoga studio and a spa.

Interior designer Vicky Charles from Soho House studio worked on the interiors, but the Sussexes were directly involved in the work. For example, it was they who insisted that organic paint without chemicals be used in the design and that an eco-friendly heating boiler be installed in the house.

The interiors of the cottage were not shown to the public, but the designers hinted that there would be a lot of velvet, fresh flowers and antique furniture inside.

Frogmar Cottage is located on the estate

Photo: Getty Images

While the renovation was going on, the British were very outraged by the expenses of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex: it was all done on citizens' taxes. But in 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the royal family and returned the money to the treasury. In the same year, they abandoned the cottage and left for Los Angeles, and Frogmore moved to Princess Eugenie. She also took up the renovation and added pastel colors.

In the summer of 2022, the Sussexes stayed at Frogmore Cottage during their visit to the UK on the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. In their social networks, they then called it their "official residence in the UK." What Princess Eugenia then thought about this, no one knew.

Photo: archewell_hm

Currently, the Sussexes are with other members of the royal family at Buckingham Palace, where the Queen's coffin was brought yesterday, September 13th. The funeral of Elizabeth II will take place on 19September 2022.

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Meghan markle cottage

All about Frogmore Cottage, Harry and Meghan's UK home

Inside Frogmore Cottage: everything we know about Harry and Meghan’s first family home

Valued for its privacy

The Frogmore renovation

Repayments ‘could take a decade’

The history of the cottage

Rumoured additions to property

What Frogmore Cottage looks like: it was presented to Meghan Markle, but she did not want to live there

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