Joining Team Windsor was inevitable step for Harry and Meghan
In swapping their London base for Windsor, Harry and Meghan have aligned themselves more closely with Harry’s cousins than with his brother Prince William.
TEAM Windsor just got some heavyweight new recruits with the news Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex are decamping to the town. Like a game of Royal Survivor, Harry and Meghan have swapped sides with the announcement they will be making a home in Frogmore Cottage, on the Windsor Estate.
By choosing Windsor over Kensington Palace, where they currently live and where it was previously assumed they would move into a grand apartment next door to Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, they have aligned themselves more with Harry’s cousins than his brother.
He’s the latest royal family member to choose the country over the capital and despite previously being so close to William, Harry is leaving his brother to live a distinctly separate life as second-in-line to the throne.
Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York live in Royal Lodge on the Windsor Estate, where they brought up Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Princess Anne and Sir Timothy Laurence, similarly, have a London base in St James’s Palace but live in Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire, where Zara and Mike Tindall and Peter and Autumn Phillips also live on the estate. Harry and Meghan’s country home in the Cotswolds is nearby.
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Prince Edward and Sophie, Duchess of Wessex, live in Bagshot Park, Surrey.
Despite rumours of a rift, it’s an inevitable step for Prince Harry to separate himself from his brother, now he is married and starting his own family. But it is also a clear indication that he means to live his own life, by his own terms, whether William and Catherine approve or not.
This week the British press has abounded with stories of tension between Catherine and Meghan, suggesting the pair do not get on and that Catherine was seen in tears at the bridesmaids’ fitting pre-Meghan’s wedding.
But Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty Magazine, suggests much is being made of nothing. “I am taking no notice of the alleged friction between the Duchesses,” he says. “It was obvious that the Sussexes would have to move from Nottingham Cottage when the baby arrived, due to the lack of space.
“Frogmore Cottage will afford Harry and Meghan much more privacy than at Kensington Palace.”
It has all played out before: Prince Andrew also separated himself from Prince Charles, setting up a rival court in Windsor from where he would reportedly annoy his brother by lobbying for his daughters to become full-time royals.
And before that there was the most famous rift of all, between the Queen’s father King George V and his brother Edward VIII, who sensationally abdicated the throne for Wallis Simpson. Ironically, Edward and Wallis are buried in the grounds of Frogmore.
So how will the new courts play out? Harry and Meghan have shown themselves to enjoy their Hollywood-style reputation and it is expected they will continue to travel the world supporting causes close to their hearts, with far less formality than William and Catherine.
Now they are in Windsor, they will no doubt turn to Andrew and Fergie for advice on local schools and raising their family.
Future playdates with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will be harder to organise now they are no longer neighbours, but instead the junior Sussexes will get plenty of cuddles from aunties Beatrice and Eugenie when they visit home.
Harry is close to Beatrice and Eugenie and shares friends with his cousins including Tom Inskip, Ellie Goulding, James Blunt and wife Sofia Wellesley and Harry’s ex Cressida Bonas.
Once Harry and Meghan become parents they will slot into a relaxed family scene that involves meeting up at country events such as the polo and letting their children play together. Peter and Autumn Phillips’ daughters Savannah, seven, and Isla, six, are often snapped teasing cousins George, five, and Charlotte, three, and Mia Tindall, four, is always the tearaway tot at family events.
Harry and Meghan will find much support as new parents with their royal rellies who freed themselves from formality.
One of the most obvious manifestations of this is the clothes the kids wear. While Mia is clad in leggings, jeans and muddy wellies, George and Charlotte are always uncomfortably trussed up in classic childrenswear.
So, while Harry is moving away, don’t expect him to fade away. The court of Windsor is about to start partying.
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