New Instagram Site For Sussexes

Baby Harry and brother William

Plenty of changes are being put in place for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex ahead of their baby arriving.

The couple will be moving into their newly renovated home, Frogmore Cottage in Windsor any day now from Kensington Palace. Their official household is being separated from that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, based in Kensington Palace.

Meghan and Harry will now share staff with other royals at Buckingham Palace under the umbrella of the Queen. It is expected that an apartment will be made available to them for times when they will need to be in London.

No longer will the Sussexes share the @kensingtonroyal twitter and instagram sites with Catherine and William. 

The Cambridges will keep the existing social media sites and Harry and Meghan will use the newly created @sussexroyal

View this post on Instagram

“Welcome to our official Instagram; we look forward to sharing the work that drives us, the causes we support, important announcements, and the opportunity to shine a light on key issues. We thank you for your support, and welcome you to @sussexroyal.”- Harry & Meghan

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on Apr 2, 2019 at 7:16am PDT

Harry & Meghan's New Home - Frogmore Cottage

Announcing The New Tab "Frogmore Cottage" On This Blog- See Menu Under Header Photo

Frogmore Cottage is located in  “Frogmore House and Gardens”, part of Windsor Home Park and about half a mile south of Windsor Castle.

The original Frogmore House was built in 1680 by Charles II’s architect Hugh May. The land was on the estates of Great and Little Frogmore which were bought by Henry VIII in the sixteenth century.

Frogmore Cottage

Frogmore House has been a royal residence since 1792 when George III’s wife Queen Charlotte purchased the lease. Charlotte used the property for herself and unmarried daughters when the moods and reported instability of the King left the ladies needing a bit of quiet!

After Queen Charlotte’s death in 1818, Frogmore House passed onto her daughter Princess Augusta and then subsequently to Queen Victoria’s mother the Duchess of Kent in 1840. Two years before her death the Duchess asked Victoria’s consort Prince Albert to organise a mausoleum be built in the gardens for her.

In time a Mausoleum was built for Prince Albert in 1871 and then his widow joined him in 1901.

Notably, Queen Victoria’s beloved dog Dash is buried in the grounds.

South of this mausoleum is the Frogmore Royal Burial Ground where members of the royal family have been buried since it’s consecration in 1928. The Duke of Windsor ( aka abdicated Edward VIII) , his wife The Duchess of Windsor ( formerly Wallis Simpson that other American divorcee!) are also buried here.

A series of royal relatives have lived in the main House over the following years and in the 1980s a repair, restoration and redecoration project was undertaken. This is where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex held their evening wedding reception in 2018 and was also the location for their engagement photos in 2017.

Frogmore Cottage ( Harry and Meghan's new home) was built in 1801 at the instigation of Queen Charlotte. Over the years the Cottage has housed some interesting tenants!

Queen Victoria’s Indian servant Abdul Karim, his wife and father took up residence in 1897. The exiled Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia resided here in the 1920s.

Most recently, Frogmore Cottage was divided into five separate apartments for Windsor estate workers. Now, builders have been feverishly transforming it into a modern, comfortable residence befitting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Fireplaces, staircases, shutters and a floating floor over the existing floorboards are being added. A yoga studio, nursery and accomodation for a nanny are also planned. Total cost is estimated to be in the region of £ 3 million. Renovation costs will be met by the Sovereign Grant ( i.e. the taxpayer) but furnishings will be paid by the couple themselves.

High tech security systems are planned to keep the family safe and a £ 50,000 green energy unit will provide heat, hot water and electricity.

We look forward to seeing the finished result!

According to Royal Collection Trust, Frogmore House and Gardens are open as follows:

Frogmore House is only open to individuals on three Charity Open Days each year, when all proceeds are donated to specially selected charities. The next Charity Open Days will be in May 2019.

Frogmore is also open to pre-booked groups of 15 people or more during August only.

Note: this does not include Frogmore Cottage or the Mausoleums

Frogmore House

Cambridge And Sussex Households

William 1983

Prince William of Wales, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry of Wales, Duke of Sussex grew up primarily in Apartments 8 & 9 in Kensington Palace and Highgrove House in Gloucestershire.

After their parents divorced, Prince Charles's London residence became St James's Palace and later, after the Queen Mother died, Clarence House on The Mall.


In 2011, Prince William and new wife Catherine moved into Nottingham Cottage in Kensington Palace. Later, after Prince George's birth in 2013, Apartment 1A became the Cambridge's home where they are raising their three young children.

Wales brothers 1985

Prince Harry moved into Nottingham Cottage when his brother vacated it and Kensington Palace also houses the official offices for the Cambridges and Sussexes. This has been a secure, convenient and convivial arrangement for the royal brothers, however this will now change.

Late last year, it was announced that Prince Harry and wife Meghan will move to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor Great Park. The property has been converted from five apartments for Estate workers to a comfortable family home for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their new baby, due in the next few weeks.

Last week Buckingham Palace confirmed that the newly formed Household of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be located in the Queen's official London residence. Harry's father the Prince of Wales along with the Queen will assist with the establishment and staffing. This is much the same arrangement for the Queen's sons the Duke of York, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and daughter the Princess Royal and husband Sir Timothy Laurance. Most likely apartments will be allocated to the Sussexes for their London engagements. 

Prince William and wife Catherine will continue to have their household offices in Kensington Palace as they prepare for the time when William is heir to the throne and thus Prince of Wales. 

Diana's sitting room 1985

William in Palace walled garden

The future of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is unknown. Perhaps it will soon be time to split the Foundation to allow the couples their own areas of charitable interest.

Cambridge's Apartment

Cambridge's Apartment

George 2016

I hope you enjoyed a peek inside the Wales and Cambridge apartments at Kensington Palace over the years!


Baby Sussex
As previously stated, Harry and Meghan's first baby is due to arrive in the coming weeks. There has been no official advice as to where Meghan will give birth- London's Lindo Wing, Frimley Park Hospital near Windsor where the Countess of Wessex had Lady Louise and Viscount Severn or perhaps the Portland Hospital in London where Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were born. 

In public, Prince Harry has become a much more serious character since his engagement to Meghan and information flow is quite controlled. So we wait and see whether we welcome a new Lord or Lady Sussex, their birthplace and names. 

 

Blog author outside Kensington Palace 2017

Half Term For George And Charlotte

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have cleared their diaries for this week for a very special reason. Prince George, 5 and Princess Charlotte, 3 are enjoying half term break from Thomas's Battersea and Willcocks Nursery School respectively.

This time in 2016, when Charlotte was 10 months old the Cambridge family headed for a snowy holiday in the French Alps. Photos were released upon their return and they were able to enjoy the break in relative privacy.

Whether they head to the ski slopes for Prince Louis' first winter holiday or stay at their country home Anmer Hall in Sandringham remains to be seen. 

Meanwhile, Catherine took young Louis for a stroll in Kensington Palace Gardens on Valentine's Day. By all accounts the Duchess was friendly to passers-by and was dressed in skinny jeans and coat.

And for Baby Sussex news...

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are still hoping to move into Frogmore Cottage in Windsor in March. The new home is being renovated at a cost of 3 million pounds but there is still much work to be done including roofing. 

Harry and Meghan's baby is due in the spring but dates are not known. Perhaps early April? The couple are hoping to be in their new home in time for the baby's arrival so depending on building works they may still be in Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace.

It has also emerged that the Cambridge and Sussex courts will also split soon. Until now Prince William and Prince Harry shared staff but this is to change. 

When the Queen passes away and Prince Charles becomes King, William will be invested as Prince of Wales and also assume the title Duke of Cornwall. The Duchy is a huge business and alongside William's new roles in the royal firm, it will mean his responsibilities will be very different to that of Harry.

Baby Sussex

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have certainly had a busy time since becoming engaged in November 2017.

Meghan moved to London from Toronto where she was an actress on the television series Suits. The couple has been living in Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace but will move to Frogmore Cottage, Windsor in March before the birth of their first baby. 

Since their wedding at St George's Chapel in the grounds of Windsor Castle last May, the couple has quickly established Meghan as a "working Royal" and introduced her to royal engagements which she frequently now does solo.

The day after arriving in Australia for a tour in October, Meghan and Harry announced they were expecting a baby in the northern Spring. The tour took in Australia which was hosting Harry's Invictus Games, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand. 

On a few occasions the tour program was altered for Meghan to have rest days as pregnancy fatigue and jet lag took their toll. Other than that, the couple won over fans and Meghan was able to do a crash course in royal engagements. 


The Duke and Duchess have been renting a home in the Cotswolds for the past year. The property has not been identified and is quite inaccessible, ensuring privacy away from the press and public. 

It was assumed that a larger home would be found for the Sussexes in Kensington Palace where Harry grew up in Apartments 8 & 9. Brother William and the Cambridges are in Apartment 1A. However, it was recently announced that the Queen had gifted the couple Frogmore Cottage in Windsor. 

Frogmore Cottage was split into five apartments but rapid building works are turning it into a large home for the new family. The tax payer will cover the cost of the renovation and restoration but the Duke and Duchess will pay for the furnishings themselves. 

Little is known about where Meghan plans to have her baby. Frimley Park Hospital is close to Windsor and is where Sophie, Countess of Wessex had her and Prince Edward's two children Lady Louise and James, Viscount Severn.

However, it has been revealed that staff at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington have been asked not to take leave in April. The Lindo Wing is where William, Harry, Zara and Peter Phillips, and the children of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were born. More recently, Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte entered the world here.

New homes and renovations, a new country in which to live, marriage, baby on the way and a whole new career and way of doing things under the gaze of the media and public. It certainly been a whirlwind for the new Duchess of Sussex.

Baby Harry

Frogmore Cottage

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of the readers of this Royal Children blog.  

Catherine, Charlotte and George were spotted at The Range discount store in Kings Lynn a few days ago. Members of the public saw them in the arts and craft and toy sections. Nice to know we aren't the only ones doing last minute shopping!

The Cambridge's country home Anmer Hall is on the Queen's Sandringham estate in Norfolk. The royal family will celebrate Christmas in Sandringham House ( pictured) over the coming days.

2018 has been a big year for the Cambridge family- welcoming baby Louis in April and Charlotte starting nursery school in January.

The Sussexes will feature more often now that a baby is on the way in the (early?) northern spring. Of course the wedding of Harry and Meghan, an Australasian royal tour and a pregnancy have kept their heads spinning I'm sure. Now a move to their first family home, Frogmore Cottage soon.

Have a safe and enjoyable Christmas with those you love.