The Windsor Estate, a castle where only the Queen and Prince Philip had private apartments, has plenty of cottages and mansions attached and it seems Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wanted to live within the grounds.
When they got married, the Queen declined the couple’s request to live at the estate and gifted them Frogmore Cottage which is close by.
The late monarch is said to have “politely but firmly suggested” that they live in nearby Frogmore Cottage instead. A further claim about the decision to give her grandson and his wife the impressive home as a wedding gift was made in royal expert Katie’s Nicholl’s book The New Royals.
The Queen deemed it “innapropriate” to let the couple live in Windsor Estate which has been the home to the Royal Family for almost 1,000 years, with the late Queen and Prince Philip, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson among the most recent residents.
But Frogmore Cottage was also dear to the Queen, being in her back yard, a place she coveted a great deal.
Ms Nicholl wrote that the late Lady Elizabeth Anson, who died in 2020, said the Queen described the Windsor home as a “big deal” and shared her hopes that Harry and Meghan would “respect” her generosity.
Lady Elizabeth is quoted as saying: “The cottage was a big deal. The Queen’s entrance into the gardens is right next to their cottage. It is essentially her back yard, her solitude, and her privacy.
“She was giving that up in gifting Harry and Meghan Frogmore Cottage. We all thought it was very big of her. She said, ‘I hope they’ll respect it.'”
But now Harry and Meghan could lose Frogmore Cottage too as contraversial royal Prince Andrew needs a new home, with King Charles looking to evict him from his current residence at Royal Lodge.
A source close to the couple denied that the pair were shocked by the decision as they told The Times: “It is what it is. They are not fighting it. “They realise they have a home [in California]. They have a roof over their heads. They were very privileged to have a second residence. It’s not going to work out for them there, and that’s OK.”
The source added that “the world seems to be more distraught over it than they have been” and accept that “change was inevitable” as the King was always planning to have a slimmed-down the monarchy.