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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Nottingham Cottage is a two-bedroom home on the grounds of Kensington Palace in London—not a palace apartment itself. Prince Harry’s description of feeling “embarrassed” comes from his memoir Spare, where he recalled being excited to bring Meghan Markle home but worried that the cottage would seem modest beside the royal residences she had seen.
Where is Nottingham Cottage?
Nottingham Cottage sits within the Kensington Palace estate. Historic Royal Palaces describes Kensington Palace as a working royal residence and identifies it as the Sussexes’ first marital home. That setting explains why the couple could accurately say they lived on palace grounds while still occupying a relatively small cottage.
The distinction matters: Nottingham Cottage was estate accommodation, not one of Kensington Palace’s grand state apartments. The sources establish its past association with Harry and Meghan, but do not establish who occupies it now.
Why was Harry embarrassed to show Meghan?
Harry’s own explanation appears in Spare, as quoted by The Independent: “I was excited to welcome Meg to my home, but also embarrassed. Nott Cott was no palace.” The sentence is a personal recollection, not an independent assessment of the cottage’s quality.
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Coverage of the memoir says Harry was conscious of the contrast between his home and the larger accommodation associated with his brother William and Catherine. A separate Independent report, citing author Rob Jobson and an unnamed close source, says Meghan noticed that disparity after seeing Apartment 1A. That account should be treated as reported commentary, not as a verified statement from Meghan.
What was Nottingham Cottage like inside?
Public descriptions are limited, and there is no official floor plan in the sources reviewed. The Evening Standard reported the following arrangement:
| Feature | Reported detail | Source and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Bedrooms | Two | Reported by the Evening Standard and The Independent |
| Reception rooms | Two | Reported by the Evening Standard |
| Bathroom | One | Reported by the Evening Standard and The Independent |
| Outdoor space | A small garden | Reported by the Evening Standard |
| Ceilings and structure | Low ceilings and a slight lean, according to the couple | Subjective descriptions from Harry and Meghan in their Netflix documentary, as quoted by The Independent |
Harry and Meghan supplied the most vivid interior observations in their Netflix documentary. Meghan said, “But Nottingham Cottage was so small!” Harry described the cottage as having low ceilings and a slight lean. Those remarks convey how the rooms felt to the occupants; they are not a measured structural survey.
Reports also connect the home with IKEA lamps mentioned in Harry’s memoir. No specific lamp model is identified, so the reference does not support identifying particular furnishings or a definitive decorating scheme.
How small was it compared with palace accommodation?
The cottage’s scale becomes clearer when contrasted with the larger apartments elsewhere on the Kensington Palace estate. The Independent reported in 2024 that Apartment 1A had 20 rooms at the time of its report. That figure is secondary reporting rather than an official comparative floor plan, and the two homes have not been measured in a single property survey.
| Home | What the reporting establishes | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Nottingham Cottage | Two bedrooms, two reception rooms, one bathroom and a small garden; the couple recalled low ceilings and a slight lean | A compact cottage within the palace estate |
| Kensington Palace Apartment 1A | 20 rooms, according to The Independent’s 2024 report | A much larger palace apartment by reported room count |
Harry summarized the apparent contradiction in the documentary: “As far as people were concerned we were living in a palace, and we were, in a cottage…” The phrase captures the central point. The address carried royal prestige, while the dwelling itself was comparatively modest.
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When did Harry and Meghan live there?
Published accounts place Harry at Nottingham Cottage before his marriage and describe it as the setting for his UK courtship with Meghan. The Standard reported that William and Catherine lived there briefly before Harry moved in, giving 2012 for his move. Another Standard report places Harry and Meghan there around their 2017 engagement period.
Because these are press accounts rather than a primary occupancy record, the dates should be read as reported chronology, not a definitive tenancy history. Historic Royal Palaces’ broader account confirms Kensington Palace’s importance to the couple but does not provide a detailed Nottingham Cottage timeline.
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Nottingham Cottage represents the gap between public assumptions and private reality. To outsiders, “living at Kensington Palace” suggested a grand residence. Harry and Meghan’s own descriptions instead point to a small home with ordinary domestic limitations, including cramped proportions and low ceilings.
That contrast also explains why Harry’s memoir wording is so specific. His embarrassment was about presenting his actual home in a setting associated with palatial rooms, not proof that the cottage was uninhabitable or that Meghan publicly condemned it. The documentary comments add her reaction to the size, while the memoir gives Harry’s personal concern before she arrived.
What is not established about Nottingham Cottage
- There is no verified current-occupancy information in the cited material.
- The cottage is not established as open to public tours.
- The reported room counts are descriptions from newspapers, not an official published floor plan.
- The commonly repeated floor-area figure and an attribution to Sir Christopher Wren are not sufficiently established here to present as settled facts.
What can be said with confidence is narrower and more useful: Nottingham Cottage was a small, two-bedroom residence on the Kensington Palace estate, associated with Harry and Meghan before their move to Frogmore Cottage, and Harry himself said he felt embarrassed to introduce Meghan to it because “Nott Cott was no palace.”
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