As I’ve said before, I 100% enjoy the storyline about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex possibly buying a second home in Portugal. In 2024, the Mail was the first outlet to say that the Sussexes purchased a luxury villa at the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club in Melides, Portugal. At the time, the British press was in a tizzy about EU passports and/or Golden Visas, which would enable the Sussexes to travel with a lot of freedom around Europe. Allegedly, Meghan hired Soho House’s interior designers to work on the villa. It’s more than likely that the Sussex family also vacationed at the villa earlier this month, basing themselves in Portugal ahead of their UK visit. It’s worth noting that the Sussexes have never confirmed anything about purchasing a villa. But it’s win-win for them, and it’s a tacit admission by the tabloids that, actually, the Sussexes are doing very well financially, well enough to buy a villa in a fancy resort community in Portugal. Well, much like their Montecito mansion, it looks like the Portuguese villa was probably a fantastic investment.
After the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, along with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, had a private meeting with King Charles and Queen Camilla earlier this month, there have been rumours about Harry making a potential comeback to the UK. Insiders have suggested that the royal couple purchasing a property in Portugal in 2023 was a way to be closer to Britain. But could their real estate move actually have a different hidden motive?
Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index revealed in Q2 of 2025 that Portugal had an 18 per cent annual growth, being one of the fastest-growing European housing markets. Therefore, it would be an extremely savvy place to make a purchase.
Data from the Institute of National Statistics for Portugal suggests that a property in Portugal bought at the beginning of 2025 would now already be worth 20 per cent more just a year later.
Portugal would also have been a desirable location due to the ease of the buying process there. Both UK and US citizens can freely purchase property with no restrictions on type or quantity.
The couple have also been working on renovations, overhauling the interiors, according to reports, which will, of course, also raise its value. The MailOnline reported that their property is currently undergoing a design makeover. It’s a special project because Harry and Meghan have brought in designers from Soho House, the members’ club where they had their first date in 2016, to spearhead the transformation.
It is also probably no coincidence that Princess Eugenie also has a base in Portugal, considering that she and Prince Harry have remained close despite his estrangement from the rest of the family. Eugenie has been seen to have taken many trips stateside since Harry relocated in 2020. Eugenie and her family are based on the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club in Comporta. It is not known where the exact location of Harry’s home is.
Hello Magazine then tried to make it sound like the Montecito real estate market is facing a downturn, but come on – they bought that place in 2020 for $14.65 million and even in a weak buyer’s market, I’m sure that their mansion has easily doubled in value. If they bought the Portugal villa early, in 2023, as the properties were likely first coming to market, I’m positive that this was an excellent investment for them as well. Notice how they deflect away from admitting what the Portugal property means financially too – that the Sussexes don’t actually need money, therefore they’re not desperate to get back in the Windsors’ good graces and beg for scraps. But… but… they’re broke, the Mail swears!!
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
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- Handout photos of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle during their official visit to the school of drums of the cabildo in Cartagena. Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Where: Cartagena, Colombia When: 17 Aug 2024 Credit: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of SussexAbaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Bogota, COLOMBIA – Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, Vice President Francia Marquez during a summit in alliance with The Archewell Foundaiton and Luminate in Bogota, on the first day of their 4 day visit to Colombia. Pictured: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 15 AUGUST 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Bogota, COLOMBIA – Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, Vice President Francia Marquez during a summit in alliance with The Archewell Foundaiton and Luminate in Bogota, on the first day of their 4 day visit to Colombia. Pictured: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 15 AUGUST 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Handout photos of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle during their official visit to the school of drums of the cabildo in Cartagena. Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Where: Cartagena, Colombia When: 17 Aug 2024 Credit: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of SussexAbaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Handout photos of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle during their official visit to the school of drums of the cabildo in Cartagena. Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Where: Cartagena, Colombia When: 17 Aug 2024 Credit: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of SussexAbaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Handout photos of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle during their official visit to the school of drums of the cabildo in Cartagena. Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Where: Cartagena, Colombia When: 17 Aug 2024 Credit: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of SussexAbaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Handout photos of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle during their official visit to the school of drums of the cabildo in Cartagena. Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Where: Cartagena, Colombia When: 17 Aug 2024 Credit: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of SussexAbaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
28 Responses to “The Sussexes’ purchase of a Portuguese villa was probably a great financial move”
Hello, like People Rag, is another snake-in-the-grass.
Basic research would confirm that Harry and Meghan got their Montecito house at an absolute steal of a price, considering that it was actually listed at around $34 million (or was it 39?) in the years before they purchased it. It was only a matter of time before the markets moved back in that direction, and their fame would only have made the value go up more (not that there aren’t many other famous people living in Montecito).
I love that they don’t know where the location of the Sussexes’ house is located in Portugal, and can’t actually confirm whether they do have a home in that country, although you know they have spent at least a year searching high and low for information. Harry and Meghan can move like ninjas, and I love that for them! Starve the leeches who would not be able to put food on their tables or pay their rents without writing or talking about them.
And despite all of the Sussexes’ financially savvy property moves, these self-appointed experts will still turn around and claim that they are broke and desperate to go crawling back to the Windsors. They contradict themselves frequently, and without shame.
Yeah the sussexes aee so broke, yet they can afford a home in Montecito and property in Portugal.
They have no idea. “They bought a villa from Eugenie’s husband at CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club in Comporta”. Which were not even built, you could buy from a plan. The resort was under development back in 2023. “Meghan brought in a team from SoHo house to decorate the villa”! The villa no one knows if it exists. Now they “working on renovations, overhauling the interiors” of a newly built villa?
I wish they would at least get their lies straight.
The broke Sussexes begging Charles and Elton John for money are buying/renovating/decorating a million dollar villa in Portugal, while begging Charles to give them a job as govenor in Australia, while begging to move back to the UK as working royals to live from Charles’s allowance once again. Silly summer or simply daily business for the rota rats who have one thing in common: They know nothing.
So basically just an endless cycle of tabloids writing how desperate Harry and Meghan are, how everyone hates them, and how broke they are. Just for magazines like People or HELLO to then come back in and point out how smart the move they made was?
They’ve done the same thing with their business endeavors too. Oh Netflix isn’t giving them an exclusive deal ( like everyone else that was under an exclusive deal that ended), this means the end of their Hollywood producer ambitions. A few months later here’s how their deal is just like everyone else’s and here’s all the things they have in the pipeline.
I’ve said FOREVER that Harry and Meghan probably own quite a bit of property under a Trust because they know that the media scours public listings for their names and Archewell. This entire financial constraints storyline is just part of the rotation along with Harry’s unhappy in the U.S and lonely, and Meghan has been dropped by her friends. Whichever one is in prominence just depends on where in the cycle they are.
‘they bought that place in 2020 for $14.65 million and even in a weak buyer’s market, I’m sure that their mansion has easily doubled in value’ – What in the property market?? Is that truly how much growth you see in the US? That’s wild.
That’s certainly the case for my much more modest home. The real estate market is wild across the US.
I dont know that it’s doubled in 6 years, but I’m not familiar with that level of real estate in Montecito, lol. I do think they got it for a steal so I would not be surprised if the value has gone up significantly.
The property was being sold under value at the time they purchased it, so it would not surprise me at all if the home has doubled in value.. all you have to do is look at other similar size homes/property sales in the area to get an idea of what it is actually worth and probably tack on a few % points because of who the owners are. I was always impressed with the price they purchased that home for, it was a great investment. I’m sure the property in Portugal is a great investment also, I really like the idea that they have a second home that’s not in the UK or Commonwealth for some reason.
California real estate? Easily. All property has doubled in price since 2020. High end stuff? If not more. That’s why large chunks of west coast houses sit empty bought up by hedge funds for investment.
Their Montecito property is worth just north of $31million today. The British press have gotten so lazy because it’s easier to makeup nonsense than to do a simple search and get accurate information.
At some point, you have to ask what these stories say about the audience that they’re written for, for whom they function like a Pavlovian bell. Why do people have such a tragic imagined investment in the notion that Harry and Meghan are suffering, poor, broke, etc.? Why do they need to see them this way? I would posit — as a trained economist but an amateur cultural anthropologist — that it says a great deal about the state of the UK. These people have a record of leaving situations in which they are treated as collateral, in which they were taken for granted. They have a track record of advocating for themselves and just changing the dynamic, changing the script, creating novel opportunities, networking, getting outside the box, following through, making strategic choices about their own financial investments and generating investments on behalf of other people who can use that money to do good. They stay connected to what matters and that’s their North Star. They aren’t posing for photographers like trained monkeys or reciting lines they’ve practiced delivering to canned applause. They’re not fulfilling the predictable stages of a prescripted scene. They’re not leaking to the tabloids. They’re not baiting other family members or bitching about their relatives. They just do their own thing and keep their side of the road pretty clean. They set the record straight. And then they let people draw their own conclusions. It tells you a lot about the state of England — I’m leaving out Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, since they all have bigger fish to fry — that that kind of couple is held up as an example of moral failure. It doesn’t bear much deep analysis to infer that the haters are seeking some narrative to justify their own learned helplessness and impotent frustration at the deplorable state of their lives. And that is the root of their bitterness: they did what they were told. The results are — on a collective level — poverty that has them pegging level with Mississippi, an NHS that everyone can see is simply broken, a Brexit that they now regret bitterly, education that is effectively a post code lottery, ….and very little money for sunny holidays, even if they could get to Europe, without the epic queues that leaving the EU have generated. It’s a pretty pathetic story.
This is a great comment. A lot of it is as you say projection of the dreary post Brexit state of affairs in England.
Portugal due to it’s ease of buying for foreigners has been a hot market for a while. It’s just smart on their part not to put all their eggs in one basket, nothing to do with trying to get closer to the UK. Those people wish though.
For awhile around the elector seemed like everyone was talking about moving to Portugal for the ease of getting residency if you purchase a home. It’s a great financial investment sure but also just a great investment on your sanity if you can swing it.
Portugal shut down that property Golden Visa 2 (?) years ago, Spain shut down theirs two years ago. Many Golden Visas have been shut down in the EU.
Good for them but the sell-out of houses and land to the highest bidder (and the steep rise of prices) is a serious l, serious problem, also in Europe. I think there should be strict limits for foreigners to buy homes and land.
Some countries are more clever in that respect, if I am informed correctly you must be a danish citizen to buy a vacation house there.
They will still claim in their next breath that the Sussexes are still broke and desperate for KCs money. Facts don’t factor in here.
Weird not to mention that any property owned by a royal or celebrity surely gets added value purely BECAUSE of the connection. Being owned/stayed in by Prince Harry and Megan surely adds a few euros to any valuation?!
Portugal is so lovely. I hope it’s true that the Sussexes have a villa there.
Totally agree. In the early 90s I spent about a month traveling on the cheap through the upper half of Portugal and I absolutely loved it. The people, the food, the historical sites, the beaches …the food….!
Of course no one knows if this is true or not but I like the idea of them having a vacation home in Portugal- both because Portugal is a lovely country and I’m sure they would enjoy spending time there, and also because it blows the narrative that they’re broke and desperate to come back to the royal family out of the water.
If this is true, why is British press insisting that Harry and Meghan are broke? The press has no idea what’s going on with Harry and Meghan.
H&M – still playing by their own rules, still winning, still being relevant – all without the “good” opinions of the usual suspects!
Their Montecito mansion will forever grow in value. Even 40 years from now, just because H&M lived there.
And expect an uptick in visits to Althorp from the public.
I don’t believe it.
I think they were at Elton’s place in France. If I were them, I would keep a safe distance from Eugenie at the moment. Also, if they were in Portugal, she would have blabbed, as she did about meeting up in Canada.
Portugal is a big place. They could have a home in Portugal that is not in the development related to Eugenie and Jack.
If they purchased the place before the property visa program shut down? They may have the option for residence visas (if the US continues to go south and they need a non-UK escape route).
ex. Nate Berkus (Oprah connected designer) and his partner Jeremiah Brent purchased an estate in Portugal a few years ago. iirc Brent has some Portuguese heritage. It gives them an out if they don’t want to stay in the US. EU visas are getting harder to come by, even for wealthy US citizens.
I was thinking of Eugenie and her family being there. A great way for Harry to keep a close link to his family without the dreaded England connection. And I mentioned only Harry and not Meghan, because for HIM his family is important, even when they are murderers and sex offenders. Meghan will be glad to connect with Harry’s non-crazy family and Eugenie has two little boys, which is great for all the kids. I love this for the Sussexes.
Eugenie and her sister were way deep into Eppy. Harry’s kids don’t need to be around that.
It can’t be ignored that several rich celebrities have also relocated or bought second homes in Europe during this administration. It’s a hedge for them. Ryan Gosling (UK), Rosie O’Donnel (Ireland), Ellen Degeneres (UK), Beyonce/Jay Z (UK). This is probably a conflation of several things: politics, second home near family, investment.
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