Meghan Markle Hoped Frogmore Cottage Would Be a 'Grander Property': She 'Felt Tricked'

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry called Frogmore Cottage home before the duo relocated to their California mansion in 2020. Although the pair spent almost $3 million in renovations, royal expert Charlotte Griffiths claimed the Duchess of Sussex wasn't impressed with her royal estate.

"To me, it feels like he's trolling his dad a bit because he could have said that he's been a U.S. resident since 2020 when he quit the U.K. and moved to the States, but instead he chose the exact day that his dad kicked him out of Frogmore," Griffiths told GB News while discussing Harry changing his primary residence to the U.S. four years after leaving his native nation.

"The reason his dad kicked him out of Frogmore was that he'd slagged off Camilla in Spare," she said in reference to the Sussexes' 2023 eviction. "And it was a really difficult decision for Charles because no dad wants to kick their son out of their home. But he went beyond the pale."

Prior to being asked to vacate their royal estate, Harry often stayed at Frogmore Cottage while visiting England.

"Harry was incensed by this move. Nothing is by chance with Harry. He's kind of spiteful and he can't let go of the past," the editor explained. "Why is he so hung up on Frogmore?"

"This is the country he was desperate to get away from. This is a house he didn't particularly want to live in and didn't live in," she noted. "The thing that gets me is that Harry and Meghan left the U.K."

After emigrating from the U.K. in 2020, the Sussexes went on to complain about life behind palace gates.

"They said we're going to focus on a new life away from the h---hole in England and all the trauma they'd been through with the royal family," the writer stated. "All they seem to have done since then is look back and complain about the way they were treated?"

"And if this is right, that he chose this date to have a dig at the King, it's just another act of his quite vengeful nature," she added. "I'm sure that Harry being made to pay for the costs of the renovations sort of galvanized his anger towards the whole situation. He thought he was getting a fantastic freebie."

When the Sussexes settled into Frogmore Cottage, there were rumors the pair would live in a larger home.

"And there were a few reports at the time that Meghan actually thought she was moving into Frogmore House, which is a much grander property," Griffiths shared. "She sort of felt a bit sort of tricked or confused and hadn't quite realized it was actually a cottage which is only a mere eight bedrooms."

The Sussexes have a history of complaining about their royal homes, as the duo talked about Nottingham Cottage in Harry & Meghan.

"As far as people were concerned we were living in a palace," Harry said. "[But] we were living in a cottage on palace grounds."

"Kensington Palace sounds very regal, of course, it does, it says palace in the name," Meghan explained. "But Nottingham Cottage was so small."

"The whole thing was really small on a slight lean with low ceilings," Harry chimed in.