Frogmore Cottage is a historic Grade II listed home on the Frogmore estate, which is part of

Home Park Home Park is a football stadium in Plymouth, England. The ground has been the home of Football League One club Plymouth Argyle since 1901.Windsor, England. Built in 1801 at the direction of

Queen Charlotte Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...

in the gardens near

Frogmore House Frogmore House is a 17th-century English country house owned by the Crown Estate. It is a historic Grade I listed building. The house is located on the Frogmore estate, which is situated within the grounds of the Home Park in Windsor, Berks ...

, Frogmore Cottage is part of the

Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priv ...

, the monarch's public estate. The cottage is the official residence of the Duke and

Duchess of Sussex Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (; born Rachel Meghan Markle; August 4, 1981) is an American member of the British royal family and former actress. She is the wife of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles III. Meghan was ...

in the United Kingdom, and was their primary residence before they moved to Montecito, California in the United States. In 2020 the Frogmore Cottage was described as a ten-bedroom single-residence Grade-II listed house.

History

The cottage was originally known as Double Garden Cottage and was listed in

's 1801 accounts for her garden as having been built for £450 by a Mr Bowen. Queen Victoria had breakfast at the cottage on 28 June 1875 and noted an "immense number of little frogs" which she found "quite disgusting". The cottage has been listed Grade II on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

since October 1975. The listing provides little of the history: "Early C19 plain 2 storey house with parapet. Centre break with porch. Glazing bar sashes. Stucco faced."

Tenants

The cottage was a retreat for

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, the queen consort of

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, and her unmarried daughters. The theologian Henry James Sr. and his family lived at the cottage in the 1840s. A personal secretary of Queen Victoria's,

Abdul Karim ʻAbd al-Karīm (ALA-LC romanization of ar, عبد الكريم) is a Muslim male given name and, in modern usage, also a surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Karīm'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which give ris ...

, moved to Frogmore Cottage in 1897 with his wife and father.

Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia (russian: Ксения Александровна Романова; – 20 April 1960) was the elder daughter and fourth child of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia ...

in exile from her native Russia after the Russian Revolution stayed there in the 1920s. In the early 21st century, the cottage was a series of five separate units housing Windsor estate workers. In 2019, the house was converted into a four-bedroom-and-nursery single-family home at a reported cost of £2.4 million from the

Sovereign Grant The Sovereign Grant Act 2011 (c. 15) is the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which introduced the Sovereign Grant, the payment which is paid annually to the monarch by the government in order to fund the monarch's official duties. It ...

for the Duke and

prior to the birth of their son,

Archie Mountbatten-Windsor Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor (born 6 May 2019) is the son of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. He is a grandson of King Charles III and is sixth in the line of succession to the British throne. Birth, family a ...

, in May 2019. As a property of a royal palace of state and designated heritage site, Frogmore Cottage was always scheduled to be renovated, regardless of occupant. However, in January 2020, Buckingham Palace announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would step down as senior working members of the royal family and shared the couple's "wish to repay Sovereign Grant expenditure for the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage". In September, that sum was reportedly settled in full by the Duke and his lease on the property was extended to March 2022.

Princess Eugenie Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank ( ; Eugenie Victoria Helena; born 23 March 1990) is a member of the British royal family. She is the younger daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York. She is a niece of King Ch ...

and her husband,

Jack Brooksbank Jack Christopher Stamp Brooksbank (born 3 May 1986) is an English bar manager and brand ambassador. He is the husband of Princess Eugenie of the United Kingdom, making him a member of the British royal family. Early life and family Brooksban ...

, took up residence at the cottage in November 2020, and resided there with their son. In February 2022, it was announced that Prince Harry planned to renew the lease on the cottage, which would allow him to remain domiciled in the UK. In May 2022, it was reported that Harry's lease of the property had been renewed, while Eugenie had moved out of the property to divide her time between London and Portugal.

References

{{Royal palaces in the United Kingdom 1801 establishments in England Grade II listed houses Grade II listed buildings in Berkshire Royal residences in England Houses completed in 1801 Frogmore Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz