Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have decided to go big or go home as their long-discussed return to the UK takes on a much more serious tone. The former “Suits” actress has pulled out all the stops to make sure she and her young family are entirely comfortable as they scout for a sprawling countryside estate in England.
They want space—lots of it. According to a fresh report by journalist Alison Boshoff, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are currently house-hunting in earnest across the picturesque Cotswolds now that they have “boots on the ground” in Britain. There is zero rush to sign a contract, primarily because the couple and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, are bunking at a massive estate owned by a close confidant. Boshoff reported that the family is staying “indefinitely in a spare house on the land of an extremely wealthy friend on the fringes of the Cotswolds”. Because their benefactor has no immediate need for the property, the Sussexes can afford to take their sweet time browsing the market.
Money is apparently no object for their new British base, and the couple has arrived with a very specific, uncompromising list of requirements. As Boshoff revealed, “Meghan wants nine bedrooms and a film studio, and Prince Harry wants a lot—and I mean a lot—of land, and no footpaths going across it to protect their privacy”. Harry’s obsession with securing private acreage stems from a desire to create a safe sanctuary for his children, ensuring no public rights-of-way cut through their grounds. Meanwhile, Meghan’s request for nine bedrooms matches the scale of their main Montecito mansion, while the requested on-site studio facility would allow her to produce content for her lifestyle brand, As Ever.”
A friend of the couple explained the emotional weight behind the lengthy search, telling Boshoff: “Online viewings are all very well, but the houses that they are looking at are so huge that you need to go in person and it’s also a really big commitment… With houses you don’t know until you step into them if they are where you want to raise your children. Is this the snug where we will light a fire and watch a film; is this the kitchen where I will cook meals for the next ten formative years of my child’s life?”
Predictably, the news that the couple is hunting for a multi-million-pound UK compound while retaining their $15 million California home and an $8.5 million retreat in Portugal has set tongues wagging across the British press. Neighbors in the Cotswolds are reportedly gossiping frantically over WhatsApp groups and local deli counters.
Yet, fiercely loyal supporters of the couple are quick to push back against the online outrage, posing a simple question: why do critics care so much how the couple spends their money? Supporters point out that unlike Prince William and Kate Middleton, whose official residences, security detail, and royal lifestyles are heavily subsidized by the British public and royal duchies, Harry and Meghan operate as entirely private citizens. Not a single penny of British taxpayer money is funding their house hunt or their high-end lifestyle.
As one insider noted regarding Harry’s new perspective as a private buyer: “This will be the first time that Harry has lived in the UK as a private citizen where no one can demand any access to him. It will be very different to when he was a working royal… Now he is going to have a chance to enjoy all of the things he loves about the country, but as a private citizen.”
Whether critics like it or not, the Sussexes are quietly building their dream English countryside life entirely on their own terms and their own dime.
