Meghan Markle believed Prince Harry ‘deserved more materially’ when he first showed her his royal home, a royal book has claimed.
The Duke of Sussex was living in Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace when he met the American actress and introduced her to his brother and sister-in-law in 2018. Much smaller than other royal residences, ‘Nott Cott’ had two bedrooms and one bathroom, in comparison to Prince William and Kate’s spacious 20-room Apartment 1A.
Meghan immediately noticed stark differences between the two princes and where they were living, royal biographer Robert Jobson said in his book, Catherine, The Princess of Wales. The 25-year royal reporter and royal editor of the London Evening Standard wrote in his new biography that the Suits star was “taken aback” by the “disparity”.
The author wrote: “When they went to have drinks at William and Catherine’s palatial apartment, she was apparently ‘taken aback at the disparity between the brothers. Meghan understood that William was above her husband in the royal pecking order as the heir to the throne, but she thought Harry was also a royal prince, so he deserved more materially.
Jobson added: “She was piqued by the disparity.” Harry also reflected on feeling ’embarrassed’ by his royal residence when he brought Meghan home, as he didn’t feel it lived up to the ideals of a royal prince. He wrote in his memoir Spare in 2023: “I was excited to welcome Meg to my home, but also embarrassed. Nott Cott was no palace.”
The couple was later given the five-bedroomed Frogmore Cottage as a wedding gift from the late Queen Elizabeth and made it their own with a £2.4million renovation. They moved in during 2019 and stayed until announcing their decision to step down from the Royal Family in 2020. King Charles then asked them to hand over the keys last year.
The cottage was Harry and Meghan’s last remaining foothold in the UK and they now live in a £12m mansion in Montecito, California. The pair are now raising their children Archie, five, and Lilibet, three, in the US, thousands of miles away from his royal relatives back in Blighty. Harry has made only a handful of trips back to the UK since.
Having lost his taxpayer-funded security when he quit, Harry has said he does not feel safe bringing his family over and is planning an appeal to have it reinstated. He previously said in a written statement: “It was with great sadness for both of us that my wife and I felt forced to step back from this role and leave the country in 2020. The UK is my home.
“The UK is central to the heritage of my children and a place I want them to feel at home, as much as where they live at the moment in the United States. That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe when they are on UK soil. I cannot put my wife in danger like that and, given my experiences in life, I am reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm’s way too.”
