Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s new Frogmore cottage home is ready for baby!
The first photos of the royal couple’s new home show some of the renovations, including a fresh new white exterior, modern windows and a darker roof.
After more than six months of work, Frogmore Cottage — some 25 miles west of London — has been meticulously renovated from a staff residence once set up as multiple apartments into a single-family home of about five bedrooms.
Complete with a new green-energy center, springy “floating floor” (perfect for yoga) and nontoxic paint, the cottage marries English and California style.
The couple recently moved out of their cozy two-bedroom Nottingham Cottage in Kensington Palace — just days before the arrival of their first child — and into their new country home.
“They’ll enjoy it much more in Windsor,” says a family friend. “They feel claustrophobic in their place in Kensington Palace.”
Insiders say the couple have been overseeing last-minute touches, including bookcases built into alcoves and a custom kitchen and dining room, where Harry plans to “do some entertaining,” including hunting parties, says one pal.
With its lush gardens, green fields and serene lake, the grounds of Windsor — home to Windsor Castle, a primary residence for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip — offers endless acres to roam with the couple’s two dogs and new baby.
“It has the most amazing mulberry walk, where we would pick mulberries for Prince Philip’s mulberry gin,” says a former palace staffer. “And when the Queen is there on a Sunday afternoon, it is a five-minute walk up the hill for tea with Granny. It is gorgeous.”
The move represents a major lifestyle shift – the start of their new family and a breakaway from the confines of Kensington Palace alongside Prince William, Kate Middleton and their three children. (The two couples are also splitting their offices, a move that was formally announced on March 14.)
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Moving to Windsor “is a really healthy thing to do,” says a longtime friend, noting that the rigid constraints of Kensington Palace are not for all.
“I presume it must be nice to get out and away,” explains the source. “Without neighbors who are all either family or staff [at Kensington Palace], they will now have their own thing.”
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