Instagram: @meghan
Meghan Markle has celebrated her 45th birthday in suitably Californian style, but it’s the rare glimpses of her idyllic life at home with Prince Harry that have caught our attention. The Duchess of Sussex marked her birthday on August 4, sharing playful photographs from an early birthday celebration that saw her leap into a swimming pool clutching a bunch of balloons. While the pool in question wasn’t at the couple’s own property, the occasion has put the spotlight back on the impressive Montecito estate Meghan and Harry have called home since 2020.
And for interiors lovers, their private residence remains something of a mystery. Despite building an increasingly home-focused lifestyle brand – complete with cooking, gardening and entertaining – Meghan has been surprisingly selective about how much of her real home she reveals.
Over the years, however, carefully framed social media posts and snippets from the couple’s life in California have gradually offered a peek behind the gates.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Montecito home
Harry and Meghan reportedly purchased their sprawling Montecito property for US$14.65 million just months after stepping back from their roles as senior working members of the royal family in 2020. Set across more than 5.3 acres in the celebrity-favoured Californian enclave, the estate centres around a Mediterranean-style mansion measuring more than 14,500 square feet.
And this is no modest family home. The property reportedly contains nine bedrooms and 16 bathrooms, alongside generous open-plan entertaining spaces and an enormous eat-in kitchen. Outside, the resort-like grounds include a swimming pool, tennis court, children’s playground and extensive vegetable and flower gardens.
It’s those gardens, in particular, that appear to have become an important part of Meghan’s life in California.
A private slice of California
While we haven’t been given a complete tour of the Sussexes’ home, the glimpses Meghan has shared reveal an aesthetic that feels relaxed, warm and unmistakably Californian. Rather than ultra-modern minimalism, the interiors we’ve seen lean towards a softer, more traditional look, with creamy neutrals, natural materials and character-filled details.
One rare glimpse into Meghan’s real kitchen revealed a wonderfully inviting space featuring warm timber cabinetry, a traditional tiled splashback and shelves filled with crockery and everyday kitchen essentials. It’s a considerably more lived-in look than the immaculate kitchen viewers may recognise from her lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan.
That’s because, despite appearances, the kitchen featured throughout much of the Netflix series doesn’t actually belong to Meghan and Harry.
The With Love, Meghan house isn’t actually hers
When With Love, Meghan premiered, viewers were introduced to a dreamy Montecito farmhouse where Meghan cooked, arranged flowers and entertained friends. But the beautiful property was actually another Montecito residence, reportedly located just a few miles from the Sussexes’ own home. The four-bedroom farmhouse sits on five acres and was reportedly valued at around US$8 million when the series debuted.
Security considerations were reportedly behind the decision to film the majority of the show away from the family’s private residence. Select outdoor scenes, however, have given viewers a glimpse of the real Sussex property, including its garden and chicken coop. Those little details arguably tell us more about Meghan’s decorating style than a perfectly staged room ever could.
The gardens are the real showstopper
Beyond the interiors, the sprawling grounds surrounding Meghan and Harry’s home seem to be where the Montecito dream really comes to life. Along with manicured gardens, the estate has space dedicated to growing vegetables and flowers, while previous glimpses have revealed chickens and other charming elements of country life tucked into the property.
It’s a fitting backdrop for Meghan’s increasingly garden-to-table lifestyle, and provides plenty of room for Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, to enjoy a childhood away from the spotlight.
Montecito itself has long been prized for precisely this combination of privacy and natural beauty. The affluent enclave near Santa Barbara has attracted a lengthy list of famous residents, and Meghan has previously spoken warmly about the community her family has found there.
“We have such a beautiful, embracing community,” she said in an interview earlier this year.
A home designed for entertaining
Given Meghan’s well-documented love of cooking and entertaining, perhaps it’s unsurprising that the heart of the home appears to be its kitchen and outdoor spaces. The estate’s substantial footprint allows for the kind of indoor-outdoor living California does particularly well: large entertaining areas inside, lush gardens beyond and plenty of places to gather around a table. It’s a style of living Meghan has increasingly made central to her public persona, from homemade preserves and flower arranging to garden produce and beautifully laid tables.
Yet her real home remains refreshingly private. Rather than opening every room to the cameras, the Duchess has revealed it slowly: a corner of the kitchen here, a garden moment there, a glimpse of family life in between. And perhaps that’s exactly why we remain so intrigued. Because behind the grand gates, 16 bathrooms and multimillion-dollar price tag, the snippets Meghan chooses to share suggest the space she values most isn’t necessarily the most extravagant one. It’s simply home.
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