Royal watchers have been left stunned by the news that Harry and Meghan are relocating back to the UK. In an astonishing U-turn six years after their “Megxit”, the Sussexes are ditching life in sunny California for a new home back in Blighty by the end of the month. It is being reported that the couple and their children Archie and Lilibet, will set up home in a non-royal residence outside of London.
From a quintessential English cottage to a sprawling California compound, here are the properties that Harry and Meghan have called home since going public with their relationship in 2016.
Nottingham Cottage and the Cotswolds Farmhouse
Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace was Prince Harry’s former bachelor pad and the couple’s first home together. This two-bedroom property in the grounds of Kensington Palace is one of the smallest on the estate, featuring two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bathroom. Harry moved in in 2012, after Kate and William moved into a larger home. It is where Meghan stayed while visiting Harry during their transatlantic early relationship, and where Prince Harry proposed in the garden outside in 2017.
Before their wedding, the couple signed a two-year lease on a £2.5 million, Grade II-listed farmhouse in the Cotswolds. The 18th-century house is on four acres of private land on the 4,000 acre Great Tew Estate. Renovation work completed by the owner in 2011 turned one of the four bedrooms into a dressing room and created a large dining room and outdoor seating area.
Frogmore Cottage and Vancouver Island
Frogmore Cottage is a Grade II-listed Georgian house in the grounds of Windsor Castle. Prince Harry and Meghan moved there from Kensington Palace in 2019, spending £2.4 million on renovations to turn the five separate apartments into one home. Following the Sussexes’ move to Montecito, California, Frogmore Cottage was gifted to Princess Eugenie, Jack Brooksbank and their son August. More recently, Prince Harry and Meghan have reportedly been asked to give up the use of Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor Estate.
Following their 2019 tour of South Africa, the couple took an extended holiday to Vancouver Island in Canada. The luxurious waterfront home, estimated at £11 million, is thought to be where the couple worked out the details of their plan to step back from being working royals. The main house, called Mille Fleurs, has five bedrooms and eight bathrooms.
Los Angeles Rental and Montecito Estate
The couple left Canada in early 2020 and stayed at actor and producer Tyler Perry’s house in the gated Beverly Ridge Estates. “We didn’t have a plan,” said Meghan in the couple’s 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. “We needed a house, and [Tyler Perry] offered his security as well, so it gave us breathing room to try to figure out what we were going to do.”
After three months there, Harry and Meghan bought their family home in Montecito in California’s Santa Barbara County, thought to have cost $14.7 million (£11.8 million) in 2020. The home had nine bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, a library, gym, saunas, game room and cinema room — plus a two-bedroom guest house.
Portuguese Paradise
Harry and Meghan are reported to have paid £6.3 million for a holiday home in Costa Terra, Portugal, in 2023. The golf and leisure resort is situated in Comporta, a coastal retreat 90 minutes south of Lisbon. Features include an organic farm. “Activities are the glue that brings families together and everything is about the experience,” says Kevin Blary, who set up an outdoor pursuits programme at Costa Terra.
