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Recently, the Queen gifted Prince Harry and Meghan Markle a new house, Adelaide Cottage, but it seems that this gift has a catch to it.
Her Majesty has given the Duke and Duchess of Sussex a chance to swap their central London home for a two-story country cottage in the grounds of Windsor Castle. And from the positive reaction they gave after viewing the home, it seemed that the couple was ready to make it their second home.
But new reports have surfaced and it reveals a queer condition: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle won’t actually own Adelaide Cottage.
The Royal Musings blog explains: “Adelaide Cottage is not privately owned, but a part of the Crown Estates, which means the Sussexes would acquire a long lease, but would not actually own the home”.
This idea of young royals needing to go through the process of securing a lease and technically becoming renters is satisfyingly normal.
Prince William and Kate Middleton didn’t go through this, as Anmer hall was gifted to them by the Queen for their 2011 wedding and have been its owners since then.
In fact, even though the Queen and the royal family seem to own several properties around the UK, but in reality, not all are actually owned by them.
For example, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace and others are owned by the Crown, while others, like Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House, are personally owned by the Royals and have been passed down for generations.
Regardless, Harry and Meghan’s long, long lease will give them quite a picturesque place to call home.
Adelaide cottage is a pretty, Grade II listed property nestled in the heart of Home Park in Windsor (near where they were married) and has some unique character – like “a coved ceiling with gilded dolphins.”
The most important part of the property is reportedly the privacy that it offers Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, as the couple would like to be away from all the relentless paparazzi.
“There are seven-gated entrances and exits to Windsor Castle so the newlyweds could come and go without worrying about being photographed,” a source told Daily Mail UK.
Named after King William IV’s wife Queen Adelaide, the two-storey cottage has been called home by many interesting figures in the royal family’s history – not least Princess Margaret’s first love, Group Captain Peter Townsend, whose turbulent and heart-breaking relationship with the Queen’s sister we watched play out on smash-hit series The Crown on Netflix.
Adelaide Cottage was originally built by Sir Jeffrey Wyatville in 1831 and still has many gorgeous heritage features despite being renovated in 2015.
According to the Royal Collection Trust, Queen Victoria was also a fan of the cottage’s privacy and would often visit the cottage for breakfast or tea during her reign.
As well as a verandah running along the east side of the property and large French windows that open out onto a well-kept garden, the property also features a grand master bedroom complete with a marble Graeco-Egyptian fireplace.
Historic England describes the master bedroom as also having a, “coved ceiling with gilded dolphins and rope ornament reused from the Royal yacht.” Not too shabby.
