One royal biographer has claimed that Meghan Markle felt “shunted off” by the royal family after realizing that she and Prince Harry would be living in Nottingham Cottage after their 2018 wedding, and not within Kensington Palace as expected.
Author Tom Quinn, of last year’s Scandals of the Royal Palaces: An Intimate Memoir of Royals Behaving Badly, stated this week on the “Pod Save the Queen” podcast that though Meghan was “drawn in” by the idea of the royal family, she was quickly disappointed to learn that she and Harry would be living in “a little cottage” on the Kensington Palace grounds instead of in the palace itself. However, opposing biographers contend that Meghan was actually “thrilled” to finally be living with her long-distance love, no matter how small their abode was.
Royal Biographer Claims Meghan Markle Felt 'Shunted Off' To Nottingham Cottage
Quinn told "Pod Save the Queen" that though Meghan was originally excited by the fantasy of the royal family, she became disappointed once her and her new husband settled into married life in the "little cottage." The cottage in question is Nottingham Cottage, a 2-bedroom bungalow located on the grounds of Kensington Palace, which served as the couple's first marital home before their eventual move to Frogmore College—and, of course, long before their eventual exit from royal life and move to California.
Harry had lived at Nottingham since 2013, joined by Meghan just prior to their engagement in November 2017. Despite this, Quinn said that Meghan was seemingly surprised that the couple wouldn't be upgraded to the Palace proper after their wedding, musing that "I think that actually, she wasn’t too keen on that...It seemed like they were being shunted off to a little prefab in the grounds." However, other royal authors differ on their perception of Meghan's feelings on the subject, arguing that the Duchess of Sussex actually "felt at home" in the residence.
Opposing Royal Writers Say Meghan 'Felt At Home' At 'Nott Cott'
Authors Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie, who penned the bio Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, contended in the 2020 tome that the former Suits actress actually enjoyed living in "Nott Cott," as the bungalow is affectionately known. "After months of long-distance, Meghan was thrilled to finally be sharing a postcode, W8 4PY, with her partner," the pair wrote in the Harry-and-Meghan-centric book. "She felt at home at Nott Cott with Harry—she’s always been able to bloom where she was planted, but she hadn’t moved to London to start a new job. She had moved to London to start a new life."
Prince Harry himself described the residence as "lean" in the couple's Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, adding, "As far as people were concerned we were living in a palace. [But] we were living in a cottage. On palace grounds. Kensington Palace sounds very regal of course, it does say palace in the name. But Nottingham Cottage was small." However, the Duke of Sussex didn't have anything negative to say about the home aside from this observation. Meghan simply agreed that it was indeed "small."
The Sussexes weren't the only royal couple to reside at Nottingham Cottage—Prince William and Kate Middleton lived in the bungalow for the 2 years following their wedding in 2011, before moving to Apartment 1A inside of Kensington Palace itself.
