Frogmore Cottage, a Dream Home for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

Frogmore Cottage c1872. Image from Royal Collection Trust via Wikimedia Commons

Before the end of 2018, news broke that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would permanently move to Frogmore Cottage, a small manor house close to bigger Frogmore House in Windsor Great Park. The couple would be the first members of the Royal Family to reside in this cozy home since, in the past, it was used only as a retreat .

The cottage, originally called Double Garden Cottage, was leased to Queen Charlotte in 1790 to serve as a retreat for her and her unmarried daughters. In her 1801 accounts, she wrote that the cottage was built by a certain Mr. Bowen for £450. Two years after acquiring the cottage, the queen bought the Frogmore Estate and focused her attention on the expansion of the nearby Frogmore House. After Charlotte’s death in 1818,  the estate was inherited by her daughter, Princess Augusta. It was later purchased by the Crown following her death and an Act of Parliament declared the estate as part of the royal domain.

In 1841, the Duchess of Kent, Queen Victoria’s mother, established her residence at Frogmore House. In the mid-1840s, the cottage was leased by American theologian Henry James, Sr., where he lived with his wife and two sons. The road in front of the house was later closed from the public to give the residents more privacy.

From the 1850s until the 1890s, the house passed either as a royal retreat or a property rented out to tenants. On June 28, 1875, Queen Victoria was having breakfast at the Frogmore Cottage and infamously remarked upon the “immense number of little of frogs”, which she found “quite disgusting”. It also served as an excess residence of Frogmore House. For instance, it housed guests, during the Silver Wedding Anniversary of Prince and Princess Christian in 1891, when Windsor Castle and their home, Cumberland Lodge, ran out of rooms.

Frogmore House. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Mohammed Abdul Karim, most popularly known as “the Munshi”, Queen Victoria’s personal Indian attendant, moved to the Frogmore Cottage with his wife and father in 1897. However, he was forced to return to India shortly after Queen Victoria died in 1901.

In the years that followed, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra frequented the cottage on summers where they enjoyed tea. It also became the home of Lord Coolebrook, the King’s Lord-in-Waiting.

King George V later offered the cottage to Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia while in exile in the 1920s. Here she lived with her family until 1936, when they moved to Wilderness House in Hampton Court.

The cottage eventually fell into oblivion and disrepair. It was subdivided and served as housing to a number of junior chefs and their respective wives and children. The cottage came under media attention when it was announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would move to Frogmore Cottage in the spring of 2019. 

In preparation, the cottage was given a massive renovation, estimated to cost £ 3 million. MailOnline reports that Frogmore Cottage “is in an extremely run-down condition and is needing a lot of TLC and heavy restoration to bring it up to standard ahead of the Duke and Duchess' moving in date.”

 “The Duchess is very involved in the project and wants a home that is perfect for her, the Duke and her new baby. She has been corresponding with the planning team regularly as to what she wants,” source told MailOnline.  The environmentally-conscious duchess also had an energy unit worth £50,000 installed in the property.

“Security procedures are also to be tightened up at the site and it is being made secure ahead of the royal arrivals.

Since October of 1975, Frogmore Cottage has been listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England.