The Duke & Duchess of Sussexs full-time residence will be Frogmore Cottage

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A million royal stories broke over the long holiday weekend, so we’re going to do this in phases, or chapters. Because if I tried to do everything in a mega-royal thread, I would lose my mind and I would probably miss half the gossip. So, for months now, I’ve been wondering why there was no confirmation about where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would live, because obviously they could not stay in the two-bedroom Nottingham Cottage. There was some speculation about how Harry and Meghan could possibly move into the large “apartment” next to William and Kate at Kensington Palace, but we heard that the Cambridges AND the Sussexes had no desire to live that close to each other. Well, now we know where Meghan and Harry are headed: Frogmore Cottage, at Windsor Castle, which is where the Sussexes staged their engagement portraits. Huh.

Prince Harry is splitting from brother William by leaving Kensington Palace. The brothers have always been incredibly close, but Harry and Meghan are setting up their home in the grounds of Windsor Castle. The Queen has given them Frogmore Cottage, which is having a multi-million pound refit paid for by the taxpayer. It will provide ten bedrooms and a nursery for their baby, due in April. The couple are expected to move in next year.

A royal source said: “The initial plan was for Harry and Meghan to move out of their cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace and into one of the main apartments. But there has been a bit of tension between the brothers. Now Harry and Meghan don’t want to live next to William and Kate and want to strike out on their own. The cosy cottage the pair currently live in as previously home to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge before the couple moved into a 20-room apartment inside the palace.

“They need more room and hope Frogmore Cottage will be ready in time for when they have the baby.”

Frogmore Cottage needs major building work to turn it back into a luxury family home, boasting 10 bedrooms & a new nursery plus space for a gym & yoga studio. Currently it’s been chopped up into 5 units where palace staff have been living.

[From The Sun]

The Sun’s exclusive was later confirmed by the palace, and this was the official statement: “Windsor is a very special place for Their Royal Highnesses and they are grateful that their official residence will be on the estate.” It’s not shocking to me that the Queen has finally given them a larger space, with room for a nursery and space to grow. The fact that the Sussexes are being shuffled off to Windsor though… that’s a surprise. It’s not that Windsor Castle is so far away from central London – the journey, according to Google, is about 40 minutes by car – it’s that this move to Frogmore Cottage will leave Harry and Meghan without a home anywhere in central London. This doesn’t have the same feel as when William and Kate suddenly decided to live full-time at Anmer Hall several years back, which was the Cambridges’ choice and it was a choice that seemed to leave the senior royals in shock. This has the feel of Meghan and Harry being physically pushed aside.

The other argument, perhaps, is that Meghan and Harry don’t want to be in London right now, and they don’t want to raise the Royal Polo Baby in central London. Us Weekly has claimed for a few months that Meghan and Harry have been wanting to make a full-time move to “the country” and they want to raise their kids “out of the public eye….They never loved living in London. They enjoy their time in the country much more than the city and feel most at home there.” Very curious. We will have more in upcoming posts. Please don’t threadjack.

The Royal Family attends a Service to commemorate the Armistice on the centenary of the end of WWI

Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex visit to Sussex

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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