Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Were Reportedly Surprised By William and Kate Middleton's Lavish Home

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were reportedly "surprised" by Prince William and Kate Middleton's lavish home. The luxurious space shared by the royal couple became the bone of contention between the two couples according to a royal commentator as reported by The News. In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry disclosed his modest residence and compared it with the residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales. 

When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex started seeing each other Harry was allotted Nottingham cottage, nearby the Kensington Palace. The modest residence was a two-bedroom cottage. When Harry first invited Markle to his place he said he was embarrassed. "I was excited to welcome Meg to my home, but also embarrassed. Nott Cott was no palace. Nott Cott was palace adjacent - that was the best you could say for it." Years later when the couple were invited by William and Kate to their place, the Duke of Sussex felt embarrassed after looking at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's "museum-like" residence. 

Robert Jobson, the royal author of a biography, Catherine, Princess of Wales penned that this marked the onset of their first strife. "I am not saying Meghan was jealous, but she was surprised at how lavishly Harry's brother was living compared to where they were living. It was perhaps the beginning of all the tensions between the couples," the royal commentator noted. According to The News, Jobson wrote, "Meghan understood, of course, that William was in the direct line of succession, but she felt that Harry, as a royal prince, deserved more than he had." The Suits star and Harry were later shifted to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor - a 10-bedroom property when she was expecting Prince Archie in 2019. 

Highlighting the favoritism played by his father King Charles III, Harry described the interiors of his brother's place. "The wallpaper, the ceiling trim, the walnut bookshelves filled with volumes of peaceful colors, priceless works of art," he wrote calling it "magnificent." Comparing it to his interiors and furniture Harry continued to write, "We congratulated them on the renovation without holding back the compliments while feeling embarrassed of our IKEA lamps and the second-hand sofa we'd recently bought on sale with Meg's credit card on sofa.com," as reported by Harpers Bazaar.

Adding on, he expressed, "All of these royal residences at Kensington Palace are called apartments, which of course makes people immediately think they are flats like the American term for an apartment. They are not. If you think of Kensington Place, in a way, it is built around three courtyards…if you kind of think of them as being these wonderful red brick terrace houses, because they are all joined but separate houses," as reported by Cosmopolitan. 

When Oprah Winfrey visited the couple for tea she expressed her surprise at the size of their house. Markle said, "People thought we lived in a palace and we did. Well, a cottage in a palace." Harry added as he chuckled, "The whole thing is on a slight lean, [with] really low ceilings. So I don't know who was there before but they must have been very short," according to the Daily Mail.