The remarkable story behind the Frogmore idyll where Harry and Meghan played out their romance.,

The remarkable story behind the Frogmre idyll where Harry and Meghan played out their romance

There are other places nearby with stronger claims to the past: Fort Belvedere for example, across Windsor Great Park, where Edward VIII signed away his kingdom rather than give up the love of Wallis Simpson. 

Also in close proximity is the Royal Mausoleum where Victoria was interred next to the tomb of Prince Albert. 

But none, surely, can match the intrigue of Frogmore Cottage — not to be confused with its grander and more famous neighbour, Frogmore House, the fairytale Georgian pile where Prince Harry and Meghan held their wedding night party.

A visit to Harry's grandmother will mean a five-minute walk up to Windsor Castle, should they so wish

Since that May day, the Duke and Duchess have been looking for their own private oasis. They have spent time in a rented farmhouse on the Great Tew estate in Oxfordshire, close to the private members' club which they like to frequent, Soho Farmhouse.

But it was never going to be a permanent home, and Frogmore Cottage offers an elegant solution to their exacting demands, with privacy their number one requirement. Frogmore also occupies a special place for the royal couple, not just because of the wedding reception.

They used it as a backdrop for their engagement photographs — in which Meghan wore a £56,000 couture gown — and have travelled down to Windsor often over the past six months to wander unseen in the park. 

The house stands only a few yards from the Long Walk, along which the couple rode so handsomely in an open-topped landau during their wedding procession, while a visit to Harry's grandmother will mean a five-minute walk up to Windsor Castle, should they so wish.

This is a place that already holds poweful emotional resonance for the newlyweds. 

The spot retains the enchantment intended by its creator, George III's wife, Queen Charlotte, of a magical glade hidden amid trees.

While Frogmore House itself was designed as a pavilion where the Queen and her daughters could pass their days painting away from the mad king, the cottage had a more humble purpose. 

It was built for her gardener so he could be close to the Queen's glasshouses, where she grew the shrubs and trees that were planted out in the surrounding park.

The Duchess of Windsor, seen here in 1972 with Lord Mountbatten and the Duke of Kent

Queen Victoria and her exotic Indian manservant Abdul Karim, whose grace-and-favour home was Frogmore Cottage

This tranquil location has always been a royal favourite. Not just for family picnics and walks — the Queen likes to exercise her two remaining dogs, dorgis (corgi and dachshund crosses) Candy and Vulcan there — but also because it houses the royal burial ground. 

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor are interred side by side there. Indeed, the only other American divorcee to marry a Windsor prince lies just a few yards from the house where Meghan is going to live.

Frogmore Cottage is a pretty modest way to describe a property with potentially up to ten bedrooms, though it is more likely to be five. It is currently sub-divided into flats to accommodate staff working for the Crown Estate.

By the time of its multi-million-pound refit, it will be transformed into a luxurious family home with a nursery, gym and yoga studio.

It has been a family home before, of course, but its most notorious incarnation was as the home of 24-year old Abdul Karim, known as the Munshi, or 'teacher'.

This mysterious figure gained extraordinary influence over Queen Victoria, for which few could account and even fewer could stomach.