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

The Queen at 90

Although this website focuses on the children of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and eventually any children of Prince Harry, I have decided it timely to include some information about the official celebrations this weekend to mark H.M. The Queen's 90th birthday.

The Queen was born Princess Elizabeth, first child of the Duke and Duchess of York. Her birth took place on 21st April 1926 at 17 Bruton St, Mayfair, London. Her father Prince Albert was the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. Whilst being second in line to the throne it was never anticipated that Albert would ever succeed the throne.

The heir to the throne was the Prince of Wales, Prince Edward and when King George V died in 1936, Edward became King Edward VIII. However a coronation never took place. Edward was given a choice- be crowned King of England and hence Head of the Church of England or abdicate and marry his divorced American lover Wallis Simpson. He chose the latter and formally abdicated in December 1936.

Overnight the lives of the York family changed forever. Albert became King George VI, his wife now Queen Elizabeth and his daughter Elizabeth became heir to the throne. Although she had a younger sister Princess Margaret Rose, should the King and Queen have a son in the future, the boy would overtake Elizabeth as heir.

It is interesting to note that before Princess Charlotte's birth in 2015,  the law was changed so that younger brothers could not overtake older sisters in the line of succession.

Princess Elizabeth would go on to marry Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark on 20th November 1947. Prince Philip's surname was the German Battenburg but this was "softened" to Mountbatten ( his mother's British family name) to reassure Britons still suffering after World War II. Philip also had to renounce claims to the Greek and Danish thrones and covert to the Anglican Church.

Philip was a serving British Naval Officer and whilst the couple met previously, it was a meeting at the Dartmouth Naval College when the Princess was 13 that they became attracted to one another .

The couple had Prince Charles in 1948 and Princess Anne in 1950.

When King George VI died of lung cancer on February 6th, 1952 at Sandringham House, Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Elizabeth I was of course the daughter of Tudor King Henry VIII.

The Queen's coronation took place on 2nd June 1953 at Westminster Abbey. Prince Charles and Princess Anne looked on with their grandmother who would come to be fondly known as the Queen Mother. 

The Queen later had two further children, Prince Andrew in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964.

The Queen has gone on to become Britain's longest serving Monarch and is also it's oldest ever Monarch.

Over this special weekend when the formal birthday festivities takes place, I will add further posts.

Royal Family 2015 Trooping The Colour source: royal.gov