Well, given that Meghan is at least three months pregnant, probably four, and the Sussexes will need an at least decent sized London residence of some sort in future years, a decision will have to be made by somebody soon.
Meghan has no convenient Bucklebury to take her baby to, Nott Cott is miles too small for the couple, plus nanny and baby, and so...? Do they go off to a rented property in the Cotswolds for several months, then?
Considering every one of the Queen's children has one property not bought by themselves, plus William has too, are Harry and Meghan just going to be left to their own devices, with the dismissive tone in that article 'Oh they have their own money, they can buy elsewhere in London' prevailing? Apparently Harry is to be treated differently to everyone else.
Plus, the report at the term of William and Kate's wedding that the Gloucesters were oh so willing to move out of their apartment in favour of the Cambridges was a bunch of lies apparently. Either that or the Press has decided to push 'The Sussexes want to throw a hardworking couple out of their old home' line!
Harper's Bazaar today made two announcements, the second an update from a royal source, the first probably repeating info being gossiped by Daily Fail. So, in the second update, according to HB's source at KP, the Duke & Duchess of Sussex have no plans to leave KP. They also do not plan to move into Apt 1 at KP. For the time being,
"Harry and Meghan are happy with life in Oxfordshire and are using Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace as their London pied-à-terre."*
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celeb...-prince-harry-moving-house-kensington-palace/
*pied-à-terre =
French for 'foot on the ground,' is a small living unit usually located in a large city some distance away from an individual's primary residence.
Earlier in this thread a poster provided the below very interesting blog post link, which includes lots of wonderful photos of Soho Farmhouse in the Cotswolds, the Great Tew Estates, and even
a couple of lovely old photos of the Gloucesters inside Apt. 1. While this is a speculative blog post, I found it rather delightful and interesting to read. Of course reader comments are a bit rich, but the blogger herself is fun and lighthearted about her passion for the Sussexes.
https://cotedetexas.blogspot.com/2018/06/harry-meghans-new-house-pssst-i-found.html
The blogger relays as well as debunks a lot of the faux news that comes out almost daily from DF. For myself, I rarely if ever these days click on DF stories because they are generally so scurrilous and are always trying to stir something up about the British royals, and the Sussexes in particular. The blog post was written in late June of this year. It's definitely worthwhile checking out, especially for all the photographs.
In fact, I did not even realize, as mentioned by the blogger, that the Duke of Gloucester grew up in Apt. 1. I never realized that residence had been his parents' London home at KP for many years. So, ding ding: Apt 1 is the Gloucesters' family home, and they aren't about to give it up. So much for them being 'empty nesters!' I would never have given any credence to the reports that the Gloucesters were willingly going to move, had I known that the Duke grew up there with his parents and his older brother, William, who died in a light aircraft crash in 1972. Now, I'm very suspicious too of earlier reports that the Gloucesters had offered to move out of Apt. 1 for W&K. I seriously doubt that! Probably all along there were plans to renovate Apt. 1A for W&K. Both 1 and 1A used to be one huge residence at KP many years ago before being divided, and that's why the adjoining door.
It now makes sense to me that H&M are not interested in living next door to W&K via adjoining door. H&W are close, but their lives are now diverging a bit since they are both married. Harry was the single man, and third wheel tagging along with W&K for awhile. Now, things have changed in a natural, organic way. As print sources indicate, and I think is true: W&K have their own set of friends who are somewhat different from H&M's set, in the sense mainly that Meghan brings an added group of friends to go along with Harry's closest pals. Will & Harry do have a number of similar friends of course, but their wives do not.
Osipi mentioned too awhile ago that M&H may have a totally different outlook on where they are comfortable making their home. For now, apparently Nott Cott is fine for them. It only has two bedrooms, but maybe there's an area where a third bedroom might be carved out. Meghan previously lived life simply and elegantly in her lovely three-bedroom home in Toronto. See the inside in a gallery of photos released by the realtor who put Meghan's former home on the market for $1,395,000:
https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/meghan-markles-toronto-rental-is-for-sale-253633
We've seen some pictures before that Meghan posted on Instagram (of parts of her former bedroom and the living area), but I've never seen a full view of the kitchen and the bathroom, which are interesting to see. This gives me a further sense of Meghan and Harry enjoying living in luxurious style, but also unpretentiously. They may both feel they don't want a huge 21-room apartment at KP, at least for the forseeable future. Perhaps they are nostalgic about Nott Cott. Perhaps Meghan's mother will visit initially for a period of time to help take care of baby Sussex before H&M decide on employing a nanny.
I think Harry is charmed by Meghan's normal, down-to-earth, yet well-bred, middle-class upbringing in California. It's likely a huge part of her appeal, because it is what has made her who she is, as much as her college days in Chicago, her experience on a Hollywood television set as a teenager, and her amazing life in Toronto have played important roles in her adult evolution. Meghan is classy and savvy, and she clearly enjoys the good things life has to offer, but neither she nor Harry may wish to live a grand, palace lifestyle. They have access to that on formal occasions, and when visiting Windsor and Sandringham. But for their personal lives, they may be seeking something a bit smaller, cozier, and less grand scale.
There may possibly be a smaller venue being prepared for H&M at KP that's somewhat larger than Nott Cott. Or, the Sussexes may feel comfortable residing at Nott Cott for another year or so, while they are in London, which apparently is not for long, extended periods of time currently.
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