Since the release of a new book centered on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s lives, several revelations have focused on the couple’s experience while still living in England. The late monarch reportedly snubbed the pair in terms of residence following their wedding. Her Majesty was wary about the decisions the newlyweds made.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walked down the aisle on May 19, 2018, at St George’s Chapel in Windsor, England. The bride donned a Givenchy wedding dress designed by Clare Waight Keller, which caused quite a stir, especially for the reigning monarch, per Cosmopolitan.
Katie Nicholl, a royal reporter, claimed in her book “The New Royals” that Queen Elizabeth II wanted Markle to wear off-white like Camilla Queen Consort did when she married her son King Charles III.
Nicholl revealed that Her Majesty had “reservations” about the Duchess of Sussex’s “pure white Givenchy dress”. According to an insider, she was somewhat stunned by Markle’s bold option. The royal matriarch had a particular belief that had been known for generations:
“She believes if you’ve been married before, you wear off-white on your wedding day.”
Notably, because Her Majesty wanted to welcome the new addition to the Royal Family, she did her best to learn more about the new Duchess of Sussex.
Nicholl’s book unravels how the monarch felt about Markle and Prince Harry’s decisions. When the couple shared they wanted to live in Windsor after their wedding, the sovereign decided to give them a house at the back of her yard instead.
The former actress and the prince had their eyes set on some “apartments at Windsor Castle”. However, Her Majesty had other plans as she gifted them the Frogmore Cottage, Nicholl claimed in her book.
She said when the royal couple announced they were moving office from Kensington Palace; the monarch gave them the cottage “in Windsor Great Park as their new home”.
Nicholl wrote that although it was not the ideal home that the royal couple had wished for, Lady Elizabeth Anson, who passed away in 2020, said: “It was a generous gesture nonetheless”, adding the space was of significance to the Queen.
Anson explained that the monarch’s garden entrance was right beside the Duke and Duchess’ cottage. She revealed that it was the monarch’s backyard, her sanctuary, “solitude and privacy”, and she gave it in a sense of gifting it to the Sussexes.
Anson shared that she and others thought it was admirable for the Queen to go through such great lengths for her grandson and granddaughter-in-law.
That said, Markle and Prince Harry moved into Frogmore Cottage a year after they got married, but within a month, the pair moved their royal household from Kensington Palace to Buckingham Palace.
The move came after tension arose between the Sussexes and the formerly known Cambridges, Prince William and Kate Middleton, which Nicholl noted that it saddened the sovereign.
When Markle and Prince Harry relocated to the US in January 2020, they left their cottage without tenants. However, later on, the space got occupied by the prince’s cousin, Princess Eugenie, and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, but the couple has since left the cottage after announcing their move to Portugal.
Since then, there have been no occupants at the place following the Sussexes’ decision to extend their lease. The duo renovated the home and stayed there during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022.