The docuseries also includes footage of Meghan-who caught on to what was happening when Harry popped a bottle of champagne as she was making them a roast-FaceTiming a friend to say: “Oh my god, Jess. That autumn, the cottage’s walled garden provided the setting for Harry’s low-key proposal: he set up a blanket, flowers, and electric candles and got down on one knee to surprise his girlfriend. It ended her relationship with the family and ensured she was cast out of royal circles. Upon her retirement, the property was given to her for life, and she cherished it, describing it as “a dream come true… built of lovely seasoned red brick, with a tiled roof and roses round the door.” Her happiness was short-lived, however, because-in a Netflix-worthy twist-she was forced to depart just two years later, as a result of her publication of the tell-all memoir The Little Princesses: The Extraordinary Story of the Queen’s Childhood by her Nanny. Among them was Marion Crawford, the former governess to the then-Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Prince Harry certainly wasn’t the first senior royal to occupy the cottage-it was once home to Queen Elizabeth II’s uncle, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester-but from the mid-1950s, it became the home of several senior members of staff to the royal family.

Its previous residents include princes, private secretaries, and one renegade nanny Its name derives from Nottingham House, the original name of the main property, before it became Kensington Palace. It was designed by none other than Christopher Wren as part of the prolific architect’s redevelopment of the site when it was purchased by William III and Mary II in 1689 from the second Earl of Nottingham. It dates back to the 17th centuryĪlthough the two-bedroom cottage, at 1,324 square feet, is undeniably smaller than many other royal residences, it does have a rich history. Here, Vogue explores the history of the royal residence. Nottingham Cottage, in the grounds of Kensington Palace, became the now Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s first shared home in 2017, and it features heavily in the couple’s explosive new Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan.

Inside nottingham cottage