Frogmore Cottage


Frogmore Cottage is a historic Grade II listed house in the grounds at Frogmore House built in 1801 at the direction of Queen Charlotte on the Frogmore Estate, part of Home Park, Windsor, England. A part of the Crown Estate, when they are in the United Kingdom, it is the home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

History

The cottage was originally known as Double Garden Cottage and was listed in Queen Charlotte's 1801 accounts for her garden as having been built for £450 by a Mr Bowen. Queen Victoria had breakfast at the cottage on 28 June 1875 and noted an "immense number of little frogs" which she found "quite disgusting". The cottage has been listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England since October 1975. The listing provides little of the history: "Early C19 plain 2 storey house with parapet. Centre break with porch. Glazing bar sashes. Stucco faced."

Tenants

The cottage was a retreat for Queen Charlotte and her unmarried daughters. The theologian Henry James Sr. and his family lived at the cottage in the 1840s. A personal secretary of Queen Victoria's, Abdul Karim, moved to Frogmore Cottage in 1897 with his wife and father. Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia in exile from her native Russia stayed there in the 1920s.
In the early 21st century, the cottage was a series of five separate units housing Windsor estate workers.
In 2019, the house was converted into a four-bedroom-and-nursery, single-family home, at a reported cost from the Sovereign Grant of £2.4 million. As a property of a royal palace of state and designated heritage site, Frogmore Cottage was always scheduled to be renovated, regardless of occupant, something also confirmed by the Keeper of the Privy Purse Michael Stevens. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex later announced they would repay Sovereign Grant expenditure, while it is to remain their family home. The couple, who in 2018 had their wedding reception at nearby Frogmore House, moved from Nottingham Cottage to Frogmore Cottage in 2019, before the birth of their first child, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.