The British monarchy is known for its princely palaces, but not all properties in the Crown’s portfolio are created equal.
One of the royal family’s humblest estates is Nottingham Cottage, a 1,324 square-foot home on the grounds of Kensington Palace. Both Prince William and Prince Harry lived there at different times in the 2010s—Harry even proposed to now-wife Meghan Markle in the cottage’s walled garden. While the grace-and-favour property served the brothers as a solid starter home, it pales in comparison to their current multi-million-dollar estates in Windsor and California, respectively.
Even Oprah Winfrey couldn’t believe the decidedly unroyal nature of “Nott Cott,” as it’s often nicknamed. “Oprah came over for tea, didn’t she?” Harry asked his wife in the couple’s 2022 docuseries Harry & Meghan, per People. The Duchess of Sussex confirmed the media mogul had joined them for tea at Nottingham, and Harry continued, “And when she [Oprah] came in, she sat down and she goes, ‘No one would ever believe it!'”
Here’s everything to know about Nottingham Cottage, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s first home.
It was built in the 17th century alongside Kensington Palace.
A man sits and admires Kensington Palace in London, England. Circa 1930.
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The story of Nott Cott is entwined with the story of Kensington Palace itself. King William III and Queen Mary II purchased the estate that would become the palace and its grounds in the late 17th century, according to the palace website. The property on the estate was then known as Nottingham House, after the Earl of Nottingham. Its initial purchase price in 1689? £20,000, per The Telegraph—a pittance compared to its estimated value of over £400 million today.
William and Mary commissioned renowned architect Sir Christopher Wren to renovate and expand the house. A later royal resident, Queen Anne, also tapped Wren to make further changes. Somewhere in the process, the two-bedroom Nottingham Cottage came to be. It joins a few other accessory properties on the Kensington Palace grounds: Ivy Cottage and Wren Cottage.
Prince William and Kate lived there with a newborn Prince George.
Prince William, wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and newborn Prince George in July 2013.
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Before Harry and Meghan made Nottingham Cottage their home, William and Kate maintained it as their London residence from 2011 to 2013. Their primary home during that time was a private four-bedroom house on the island of Anglesey, in North Wales.
When Prince George arrived in July 2013, the new parents left Anglesey for good and spent their first months as a family of three at Nottingham Cottage, per The Telegraph. In the fall, they moved into the more spacious Apartment 1A—which, despite its name, is actually a 20-room house—following $7.2 million worth of renovations to remove asbestos and modernize the property.
Prince Harry proposed to Meghan Markle at the cottage.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at their engagement photocall at Kensington Palace in 2017.
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Following Prince William and Kate’s exit, Prince Harry moved into Nottingham Cottage in late 2013. The media quickly dubbed it his “bachelor pad.” That would all change in November 2017, when Harry asked then-girlfriend Markle to marry him at the cottage. He shared the sweet proposal story in the couple’s joint engagement interview with BBC News, noting it was “just a standard typical night for us” when he got down on one knee.
Markle recalled they were “[t]rying to roast a chicken and it just—[was] just an amazing surprise. It was so sweet and natural and very romantic.”
“She didn’t even let me finish,” Harry added of the emotional moment. “She said, ‘Can I say yes? Can I say yes?’ and then [there] were hugs, and I had the ring in my finger and I was like, ‘Can I—can I give you the ring?’ She goes, ‘Oh, yes, the ring.’”
In his 2023 memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex elaborated on how he set up the perfect proposal, explaining that he laid out a blanket in the cottage’s walled garden and surrounded it with electric candles. “I wanted it to look like Botswana, where I’d first thought of proposing,” he wrote. Botswana is widely considered the place where the pair fell for one another.
Harry was both ‘excited’ and ‘embarrassed’ to bring Meghan there.
Prince Harry and fiancee Meghan Markle in April 2018.
Yui Mok / POOL / AFP
Harry’s homey bachelor pad caused him mixed emotions when it came time to bring Meghan there. “I was excited to welcome Meg to my home, but also embarrassed,” he wrote in Spare, InStyle previously reported. “Nott Cott was no palace.”
He and Markle had previously detailed the property’s shortcomings in the 2022 docuseries Harry & Meghan. “Kensington Palace sounds very regal—of course, it does, it says ‘palace’ in the name, but Nottingham Cottage was a small [house],” the Duchess told host Winfrey as they recalled her visit to their first home as a couple (via People).
“The whole thing’s on a slight lean. Really low ceilings—I don’t know who it was ever for. They must’ve been very short,” Harry joked.
“He would just hit his head constantly in that place, ’cause he’s so tall…It was just a chapter in our lives where I don’t think anyone could believe what it was actually like behind the scenes,” Meghan added.
Upon their marriage in May 2018, Queen Elizabeth II gifted the couple the roomier Frogmore Cottage as a wedding present. Following £2.4 million (about $3 million) in renovations, they moved in shortly before welcoming son Archie in the spring of 2019. They left Frogmore in 2020 as they stepped down from their roles as senior royals and relocated to the States.
Princess Eugenie reportedly moved in with her family in 2022, although they primarily reside in Portugal.
Jack Brooksbank and Princess Eugenie in April 2025.
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When Harry and his family departed, another royal supposedly took up residence at Nott Cott: Princess Eugenie. In 2022 and 2023, reports from various outlets including Hello! suggested the Duke of Sussex’s close cousin had moved in with husband Jack Brooksbank and their two sons, August and Ernest. However, the same year, the family made a publicized move to Portugal, indicating that their Kensington residence is only used part-time.