Hed: Why Harry and Meghan Let Princess Eugenie Move Into Their Old Windsor Home
Dek: Eugenie and husband Jack Brooksbank are about to have their first child, and Frogmore Cottage is a short drive to her parents’ country home.
Prince Harry and his cousin Princess Eugenie have long been close and were occasionally spotted partying together before they both settled down. According to the recent biography, Finding Freedom, Eugenie was the first member of the royal family to meet Meghan Markle and they soon began to go on double dates with Eugenie’s then-boyfriend Jack Brooksbank. In September, Eugenie and Jack announced that they were expecting their first child and are now apparently putting that friendship to good use. On Friday, The Sun reported that the young couple has moved into Frogmore Cottage, the Windsor home owned and previously occupied by Meghan, Harry, and their young son Archie.
The tabloid claimed that all of Meghan and Harry’s furniture and belongings were shipped to California before Eugenie and Jack moved in. “Removal vans pitched up in the dead of the night and cleared out the cottage. They definitely did not want to be seen,” a source said. “Emptying their home and handing over the keys is a pretty strong sign Harry and Meghan have no plans to return. It appears they are tying up loose ends as they plan to extend their stay in the US perhaps permanently.”
When contacted by the Telegraph, Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the move. “Frogmore is the private residence of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and any arrangements are a matter for them,” a spokesperson said.
In early 2018, Eugenie and Jack moved into Ivy Cottage, a three-bedroom home on the Kensington Palace grounds, and in October 2019, Eugenie let Harry and singer Ed Sheeran film a public service announcement about mental health inside the sparsely-decorated cottage. During the coronavirus lockdown, Eugenie and Jack stayed with her parents, ex-spouses Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, at Royal Lodge in Windsor, where Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi also held their wedding reception in July. Eugenie, a director at the art gallery Hauser and Wirth, and Jack, a brand ambassador for Casamigos, are currently working from home, according to the Sun.
In September, a family friend told Vanity Fair that the couple wants to give their child, due early next year, as close to a normal life as possible. “Even if the Queen offered them a title as a gift, it’s not Eugenie or Jack’s desire for their child to have a title,” the friend said. “Eugenie knows that a title can be a curse as well as a blessing, and she and Jack want their child to live an ordinary life and eventually work to earn a living. Titles really don’t matter to Jack and Eugenie, they just want a happy, healthy child.”
By moving to Frogmore during the pregnancy, Eugenie and Jack are following in the Sussexes’ footsteps. In November 2018, a few months into Meghan’s pregnancy, the couple announced their decision to leave Nottingham Cottage in Kensington Palace, where Harry had lived since 2013, and move to Frogmore. They were splitting their office from Prince William and Kate Middleton and had a desire to raise their family in a more secluded location. (Harry and Meghan had also been renting a home in the Cotswolds even before they decided to leave officially.) Frogmore, a wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth, had served for years as a staff residence but a months-long, £2.4 million renovation turned it into a five-bedroom family home. When Meghan and Harry finalized their royal exit, they agreed to repay the money that taxpayers spent on the structural renovations—the Duchy of Cornwall had paid for the fixtures and fittings—and finished making payments this September, after inking their lucrative Netflix deal.