Princess Eugenie of York is set to marry Jack Brooksbank in October, but they’re already shacking up together on a royal property! How scandalous! I actually noticed that there were some photos of Eugenie coming and going from Kensington Palace around the same time as Prince Louis of Cambridge traveled to the palace, and some sites painted those photos as “Eugenie visited the baby!” Maybe she did visit the baby, but she was going in and out of KP because she and Jack have just moved into Ivy Cottage, a three-bedroom residence within the grounds of Kensington Palace. Note: I think the royals use the word “cottage” for what I would call a “townhouse.” Eugenie and Jack are right next to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry now.
Princess Eugenie and her fiance have quietly moved in next door to royal lovebirds Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The two couples, both due to wed at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, now live at adjacent cottages at Kensington Palace.
Last Monday, while the Duchess of Cambridge was having baby Louis, Eugenie, 28, and wine merchant Jack, 31, took over three-bedroom Ivy Cottage. Harry and Meghan are in the two-bed Nottingham Cottage.
A pal said: “Harry and Eugenie are great mates. She was one of the first people who met Meghan. They have been on loads of dinner dates together. The two couples have been on loads of dinner dates together, and Jack and Eug hung out with Meghan while she was still living in Toronto. Eugenie is so pleased. It’s the first time she and Jack have lived together. They wanted to move in earlier but there were arguments over who paid for renovations.”
Also at the palace are William, Kate and family, the Dukes and Duchess’s of Gloucester and Kent plus Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.
I’m very curious about “there were arguments over who paid for renovations.” Eugenie makes some money: she has a good job at an art gallery, and one would assume that her father helps pay for her lifestyle as well. Jack also makes some money as a “wine and beer merchant,” although I don’t believe he’s making a lot of money. So what was the argument about? Which one of them would pay for the renovations, or whether her father would pay, or whether the Queen would pay? Hm. As for this move into a three-bedroom cottage… it’s nice. It doesn’t seem like the kind of spacious accommodations one would expect for a blood princess, but maybe this is the equivalent of a “royal starter home” and the Queen will give them a bigger place after a few years, and after Eugenie has a baby. I think the same thing will happen with Meghan and Harry: once they’re married and once Meghan is pregnant, the Queen will give them a much larger spread in London, probably one of the massive apartments at KP.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Pacific Coast News.
I was just rewatching The Crown episode about Princess Margaret and the squabbles in the Kensington Palace compound. It’s like the royal/nob suburban cul de sac, with all the attendant tensions and lack of privacy.
Obviously makes sense in terms of security and pap-deterrence, though, even with regard to the costs thereof.
Princess Michael of Kent lives there also? Ughhhhhhh. I didn’t realize that not-so-fun fact.
Her place overlooks HM’s place.
How are accommodations handed out? Does her Majesty choose? How far down the line do you go in providing housing to royals? This is all so fascinating to me. I mean I know they have vast amounts of land and buildings but at what point down the line does a Royal get cut off and have to pay their own way?
It used to be that the monarch’s younger sons and grandsons were given homes in the royal properties, and the great-grandchildren were left to their own devices. The monarch’s daughters would generally move to their husband’s family home. So the Dukes of Gloucester and Kent were given homes in KP as the grandsons of George V. Their older sister, then the Princess Royal, moved on when she married.
Similarly, Margaret’s children (George VI’s grandchildren) don’t live in KP or any of the royal properties, nor do her grandchildren.
It’s an open question as to what will happen with the next generation and how determined Charles is to “streamline” the monarchy. Which of his nieces and nephews will be given apartments in KP or other royal properties will be his decision, eventually. Anne’s children already have homes of their own. Andrew’s daughters live in royal properties (Charles probably will not evict them, but he will not let their children stay). Edward’s children are still children living with their parents.
I know the Kents have to pay rent of about 120.000 pounds a year. Don’t know about the rest, but I know that the Kents now hire themselves out for lots of things to make money.
It seems like the Queen gives Wills and Harry country estates but not the girls even though Charles will be the wealthiest of the queen’s offspring. If I were a girl in that family, i’d be feeling like the forgotten stepsister.
I’m sure Beatrice and Eugenie will be crying in their tea in the 30 million Swiss chalet they’ll inherit one day.
NOTA, that is not the point, as I’m sure you know. The point is that Charles’ kids will get a lot more than a 30 million house from the Queen eventually. What about their other brothers?
Are you having fun yet?
That is the point. You’re railing against a monarchy with primogeniture. Why? That is the way primogeniture works, and how royalty works in many cases. It almost all goes to the first born and the first born’s line. The rest are left with whatever private funds the family decides to give them.
The Queen isn’t “giving” homes to William and Harry. They are getting to live rent free in those houses, but eventually it all goes to Charles then to William. That’s the way it works. Just like the houses, property, and titles of the aristocracy go to the first born male and the women are left in the cold.
They all have trust funds, starting with funds from the Queen Mum years ago. Zara and Peter are set with Gatcombe, which they will inherit from Anne (purchased for Anne with private funds years ago).
Beatrice and Eugenie are set with Ivy cottage lease for Eugenie, plus inheriting their father’s Royal Lodge pre-paid lease. That is their country house set for 75 years. Beatrice is moving to NYC, likely to an apartment purchased for her by someone (HM, father?) with private funds. Plus the Swiss chalet they’ll inherit. And the money and property put in trust for them instead of it going to Sarah for a divorce settlement.
Louise and James – those are the ones that concern me. Edward and Sophie do not own a house, unlike either Anne or Andrew. My assumption is that HM and Prince Philip have made provisions for them, or quietly purchased real estate in their names years ago.
Yeah that jumped out at me, too. LORD. Why????
Yes, Anastasia – perfectly put. Whyyyyy?!
The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent are official working royals. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent aren’t, although they do engagements and charity work. These two aren’t funded by the Sovereign Grant. They had a peanut rent at Kensington Palace until an expose was done about it.
At the time, rumors were the Queen offered to purchase homes for Gloucesters and Kents, to get them out of KP. Ended up with the Queen paying the Kents rent personally at market rate. A few years later they sold their beautiful country manor, doubling down on the passive-aggressive “You’ll drag our dead bodies out of KP” move.
Myself? I would have left KP and kept their former house, Nether Lypiatt. That place is beautiful.
The Duke of Kent has also had money problems over the years. He sold off parts of the Cambridge Sapphire parure.
That would make sense, also because HM used to let them live free at Anmer Hall years ago. The Duchess left several decades ago to start a new life for herself as a music teacher. He’s been in Wren Cottage London, I think without country home, and getting the space in exchange for royal duties.
Yeah, I would hate to live next door to her.
Get your own damn place.
There were arguments about renovations because it’s a rental property. Tenants, or their parents, shouldn’t have to pay for refurbishments to a property they don’t own.
Anyone know the square footage and how much they will pay in rent, then?
Exactly, Jane. The KP property managers would be required to fix the damp in the walls for any other renter; they are required to fix it for these renters too.
Why scandalous for Eugenie and not Harry, hmmm? Also Eug as a nickname?
Believe Kaiser was joking. W&K lived together for years. Sophie lived with Edward in Buckingham Palace for years before their engagement.
In my head, it would sound like Trump’s unique way of saying “huge” aka “Yooge”.
By the way, who pronounce it, YOU-jen-ee, and who pronounces it “you-JEE-nee”?
The British use the former, I believe.
She has joked it is pronounced like Use Your Knees, You-gheh-knee. Her fiance said her name in their engagement interview that way, so I hope he is pronouncing it correctly.
I heard the queen pronounces it like you- Jenny. I like the name, however it’s pronounced!
@Kaiser, they aren’t right next to Harry and Meghan, but they are close. They are next to the Duke of Kent in Wren Cottage. The Duchess doesn’t live with him, she moved out decades ago. There is a garden on the corner. H+M are around the small corner, adjacent to that garden.
She gets a bigger house (3bdrm) than Harry who only has a 2bdrm. And Harry is further up the line. But that will change soon I believe. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester have offered to give up their spacious apt at KP, and move to smaller accommodations.
Harry and Meghan live rent free at Nottingham Cottage.
aquarius64, they would live rent-free in any space in KP, just as W&K live rent-free in the 50 room Apartment 1A.
The Gloucester rumor has been around since before W&K took the museum space in 1A away, as the Gloucesters were said to offer their space to W&K before that. Don’t know how much truth there is to it.
If they did move out, I think it would be in exchange for being allowed to retire. They only became working royals by accident. His older brother died making him heir, then his father soon after that. He is 25th in line to the throne; he and his wife do combined 300+ engagements a year at 73 and almost 72.
At some point in the not too distant future, Chaz & Camilla will move to Buckingham Palace and either Will & Kate or Harry & Meghan will move to Clarence House. W&K may stay put and let H&M take Clarence House simply because Apartment 1A is absolutely large enough for their purposes and they will eventually relocate to Buckingham Palace anyway. Clarence House is a more prestigious property than KP, but Charles couldn’t use it until after the Queen Mother died and it was fully renovated.
Letting Eug & Jack have the larger space in KP is a reflection that she will be there longer than Harry and will have fewer options for a larger home – one that will not be financed by the Crown, since they are really not working royals (as much as her father may want her to be treated like one).
People are saying that Charles does not like BP and will stay on at Clarence House when he is King, so who knows?
I read Harry and Meghan have been renovating Apartment 1-A, 21 rooms, next door to Will and Kate.
Every time I see a story about this…I remember wonderful series “The Tudors”…MEIN GOTT…the fighting for proper living space was BRUTAL!!! And I’m sure nothing has changed…
Who? Princess Michael?
The stable is too good for Princess Michael. They should get her a cardboard box.
Eugenie is a pretty woman. She looked great in her engagement photos.
I’m real curious to see what kind of coverage they will receive leading up to their wedding. Sarah so was extra after the engagement announcement, I do wonder how will she behave as the wedding date draws closer?
“Sarah” and “behave” are rarely in the same sentence. As this wedding isn’t televised, we’ll only be treated to arrivals and departures in public view to see.
I’d love to see a reality show…The Royals of Kensington Palace, lol.
This is all so awkward for those marrying in. I mean, sure, it’s a great accommodation rent free in a prime part of London, but imagine marrying your husband/wife and suddenly living in the same place as ALL your in-laws? It would overwhelm me.
Kensington Palace , was not too long ago known derisively in the family as ‘The Aunt Heap’ ( basically a home for obscure royal relatives) and has only relatively recently become a desired address . How times change.
The street where KP is situated is full of oligarchs and the seriously rich. What rarified surroundings! Great security though!