INSIDE FROGMORE COTTAGE: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Former U.K. Home Holds a Fascinating Royal History — And One Detail About Their Life There Still Has Everyone Talking.

Inside Frogmore Cottage, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Former U.K. Home

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry lived at Frogmore Cottage from 2019 to 2020 before relocating to California

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry; Frogmore Cottage.Credit : John Nacion/WireImage; Shutterstock

NEED TO KNOW

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle lived in a newly renovated Frogmore Cottage from 2019 to 2020 before relocating to North America
They permanently vacated Frogmore Cottage in 2023
As of August 2026, Prince Harry and Meghan are set to move back to the United Kingdom, but are not expected to live at Frogmore Cottage

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are preparing for a return to the U.K., but their next chapter in Britain won’t include Frogmore Cottage.

The Windsor property became the couple’s primary residence in 2019, shortly before they welcomed their son, Prince Archie, that May. Before the move, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had been living at Nottingham Cottage, a two-bedroom home on the grounds of Kensington Palace.

Their time at Frogmore was relatively short-lived. After stepping back as working members of the royal family in early 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan relocated with Archie, first spending time in Canada before ultimately putting down roots in California. Their daughter, Princess Lilibet, was born there in 2021.

Although California became their full-time home, Frogmore Cottage remained their base during some subsequent trips to the U.K. However, two months after the January 2023 release of Prince Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were asked to vacate the property, PEOPLE confirmed at the time.

By June 2023, the couple had officially moved their remaining belongings out of Frogmore. At the time, a source told PEOPLE that Prince Harry and Meghan were “matter-of-fact” about leaving the residence behind.

Now, six years after their move to California, the Sussexes are headed back to Britain. PEOPLE reported on Aug. 19 that Prince Harry and Meghan plan to live in a privately owned home with Archie and Lilibet while retaining their homes in California and Portugal.

Here’s everything to know about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s former U.K. residence, Frogmore Cottage.

Frogmore Cottage is located in Windsor, England

Frogmore Cottage.GOR/Getty

Frogmore Cottage sits on the Frogmore estate near Windsor Home Park, roughly half a mile from Windsor Castle. Queen Charlotte commissioned the cottage in 1801.

Long before Prince Harry and Meghan called it home, Frogmore Cottage housed another notable resident: Abdul Karim, Queen Victoria’s trusted aide and the first Indian member of the royal household, who lived there for about a decade. His close relationship with the monarch was met with racism and resentment from members of the royal family and court.

Following Victoria’s death in 1901, senior royals and courtiers reportedly arrived at Karim’s home shortly after the Queen’s burial and ordered that her letters to him be destroyed. Karim was subsequently sent back to Agra, India.

More than a century later, the Frogmore estate became an important setting in Prince Harry and Meghan’s relationship. The couple posed for their engagement photos on the grounds of Frogmore House in 2017 before marrying at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in May 2018. They returned to Frogmore House later that day for their evening wedding reception.

Queen Elizabeth gave the home to Harry and Meghan as a wedding gift.

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Frogmore Cottage underwent extensive renovations in 2019

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with their children at Frogmore Cottage.Netflix/Youtube

Before Prince Harry and Meghan could settle into Frogmore Cottage, the royal residence needed a major overhaul. Royal biographer Ingrid Seward previously described the property to PEOPLE as “pretty dilapidated,” and the renovation ultimately took about six months to complete.

The approximately $3 million project turned what had been divided into five staff housing units into a five-bedroom family home. The work went beyond cosmetic changes, with the cottage’s heating, electrical, gas and water systems also receiving upgrades.

The cost of the refurbishment attracted considerable attention because the structural work was covered by the Sovereign Grant, the taxpayer-funded program that supports the royal family’s official duties and properties. However, Prince Harry and Meghan personally covered many of the expenses involved in customizing the home.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry lived there briefly

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at Frogmore Cottage.Netflix

Prince Harry and Meghan’s time living at Frogmore Cottage was relatively brief, spanning from 2019 until their departure from the U.K. in 2020.

After the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced that they would step back as senior working members of the royal family, they also made plans to reimburse the public money spent renovating the Windsor property. Buckingham Palace said at the time that the couple wished to repay the Sovereign Grant expenditure used for the refurbishment.

Prince Harry ultimately “fully covered” the roughly $3 million renovation cost later that year. A source told PEOPLE that the couple had taken the initiative to make the repayment as they worked toward becoming financially independent and wanted to avoid an ongoing reliance on public funds.

“It is an important step that they have wanted to take,” the source said. “It is something they have proactively wanted to do since the word go.”

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry vacated Frogmore Cottage in 2023

After relocating to the U.S. in 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan maintained ties to Frogmore Cottage, which continued to serve as their U.K. residence when they returned to Britain.

Prince Harry and Meghan returned to the cottage with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in June 2022 while in the U.K. for Queen Elizabeth‘s Platinum Jubilee.

Prince Harry also stayed at Frogmore Cottage during a solo trip to Britain in 2023, when he traveled to London to testify in his case against Mirror Group Newspapers.

That March, a spokesperson for the couple confirmed to PEOPLE that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had been “requested to vacate” Frogmore Cottage. They officially moved out that June, ending their use of the Windsor property.

Frogmore Cottage is currently vacant

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at Frogmore Cottage.Netflix/Youtube

Frogmore Cottage didn’t immediately sit empty after Prince Harry and Meghan relocated to California. In late 2020, Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, moved into the Windsor property as they prepared to welcome their first child in February 2021.

At the time, a source told PEOPLE that Harry and Meghan were “delighted” to share the home with Eugenie and Brooksbank as they started their family.

Around the time they were asked to vacate, The Sun reported that King Charles was considering offering the property to his brother, the former Prince Andrew. That move never came to fruition, and Andrew now resides on the Sandringham Estate.

Per a May 2026 report, plans are in motion to “reverse” the roughly $3 million worth of renovations made to Frogmore Cottage, potentially subdividing the property or splitting the residence again. It had previously been two semi-detached homes when Queen Elizabeth gave it to Harry and Meghan.

INSIDE FROGMORE COTTAGE: Meghan Markle and Prince ...