‘Exasperated’: Harry complains about having to ‘fix’ £12m mansion in chat with Meghan
PRINCE HARRY appeared to mention issues with his mansion in Montecito during Meghan Markle’s latest interview.The Duke of Sussex made a comment in passing about his £12million house after introducing himself to the journalist who penned his wife’s front cover article released on Monday. Allison P. Davis, who penned the story, recalled complimenting Prince Harry on his home after being welcomed in.
The sixth-in-line to the throne, she said, responded with an “exasperated” remark. Harry was quoted in the New York magazine The Cut saying: “We’re fixing all these things, the pipes, but that’s a whole story in itself.” Prince Harry only made a brief appearance in the magazine interview, mostly to speak about the organisation he and Meghan launched in late 2020, Archewell.
The Duchess, the star of the profile story, spoke further about their home in the star-studded neighbourhood of Montecito, in Santa Barbara, for which they paid $14.65million (£12.49million). After saying they initially resisted going to view the residence as they “didn’t have jobs” when they first moved to California, the Duchess recalled one of the main details that stood out for Prince Harry when they finally decided to go and see the mansion.
She said: “One of the first things my husband saw when we walked around the house was those two palm trees. “See how they’re connected at the bottom? He goes, ‘My love, it’s us’.” Meghan and Prince Harry relocated to the US in late March 2020, days before they were to relinquish their roles as senior members of the Firm. They initially stayed at the Beverly Hills home of producer Tyler Perry who, as claimed in Meghan’s latest interview, also provided them with security detail.
The Duke of Sussex mentioned living in the Los Angeles area for a few weeks when he appeared in an episode of the Armchair Expert podcast in May last year. Speaking about media intrusion, he said: “Now living here, it’s a feeding frenzy here. “We spent the first three and a half months living at Tyler Perry’s house – he let us stay. “The helicopters, the drones, the paparazzi cutting the fence, it was madness. “The response was, ‘well, what do you expect if you live in LA?’
“Well, first of all, we didn’t mean to live in LA, this is a staging area before we find a house. “But how sad, if you live in LA and you’re a well-known figure, you just have to accept it?” The Duke later added the situation was much better in Montecito – although he revealed his A-lister neighbour Orlando Bloom had been in touch to warn him of a couple of paparazzi waiting to take covert pictures of passing celebrities.
Meghan, Harry and Archie moved into their new mansion in the summer of 2020 and have been paying for it with a mortgage. The residence includes nine bedrooms and 16 bathrooms, as well as a pool, a home office and a large garden including a chicken coop. While the Montecito mansion has become their family home, the Sussexes retain also Frogmore Cottage in Windsor. Meghan, Harry and their two children stayed there in June, when they visited the UK to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee. During this stay, Meghan told her interviewer, she packed up the belongings left there prior to stepping back as working royals.
