Meghan Markle’s wish list shows she’s not downsizing her US lifestyle for the “English countryside dream.”
Markle, 45, touched down in Britain this week with a very specific number in mind: nine.
That’s how many bedrooms the Duchess of Sussex is insisting on for the family’s new countryside estate, according to the Daily Mail, and it just so happens to match the exact bedroom count at the $15 million Montecito compound she already owns.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex landed at Birmingham Airport on Wednesday with Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, arriving by private jet before being driven off in a convoy of blacked-out SUVs.
Rather than moving into a home of their own, the family is currently holed up “indefinitely” in the spare house of a wealthy friend on the edge of the Cotswolds while the real estate hunt plays out.
And it’s a hunt with a very specific shopping list.
Meghan reportedly wants nine bedrooms and a film studio, while Harry wants “a lot, and I mean a lot, of land, and no footpaths going across it to protect their privacy.”
Three separate sources have told the Daily Mail that despite earlier reports of a $16.2 million property being locked in, no deal has actually closed.
Money doesn’t appear to be the obstacle. The couple is reportedly working with a “gargantuan budget,” even as their Hollywood ambitions have cooled and their big-ticket production deals have dried up.
Friends insist they’re not selling the Montecito place either, meaning the Sussexes could soon be juggling three properties: the California mansion, an $8.5 million vacation home in Portugal and whatever nine-bedroom trophy house they land in the historic Cotswolds.
That math has raised eyebrows across the pond. A person in the Santa Barbara luxury market told The Post there “have been rumblings” that the couple might quietly offload the Montecito estate, noting “every broker wants that listing.”
It’s not hard to see why the pressure is on.
The Post found the 7.4-acre property carries a mortgage and tax bill north of $600,000 a year, with the monthly mortgage payment alone landing somewhere between $40,000 and $43,000 and 2025 property taxes totaling $149,668, before factoring in security, insurance or upkeep.
Douglas Elliman broker Jason Streatfeild told The Post he has “a strong feeling that it’s already being discussed and shown,” and explained deals like this typically happen off-market, saying “many times properties like this will trade off-market with a nondisclosure agreement signed and all of the terms sealed until the property records at the county.”
Despite the financial juggling act, insiders describe the move to England as a full reset for the couple, something friends are calling “Finding Freedom 2,” a nod to the 2020 biography about their original royal exit.
One friend told the Daily Mail the appeal this time is that Harry gets to live in the UK as a private citizen rather than a working royal, explaining “they will have more freedom now — it is like finding freedom again.”
Another associate close to the couple was more blunt about why California didn’t work out, telling the outlet “he had no life in California, no friends. There was no common ground with anyone.”
Meghan, meanwhile, is reportedly eyeing that future film studio as a way to keep her As Ever brand alive from British soil, even though the product line currently doesn’t ship to the UK.
One source predicted she “won’t be able to resist building a film studio at their new home” and will end up producing “home making content” once she’s settled, adding “that is the heart of who she is.”
The kids’ schooling appears to be the one area where the couple is dialing back the showbiz instincts. A friend told the outlet that academics are “very low on the list” for Archie and Lili, with the priority instead being “a nurturing atmosphere” and an “outdoorsy and sporting ethos” that mirrors Harry’s own happy years at Ludgrove prep school.
Still, for a couple who left Britain in 2020 describing the royal family and British press as hostile, the return comes with familiar baggage.
Harry has said publicly he’s not rejoining royal life, just bringing his children back for the British school experience, and a source says he intends to be a “full-time dad” while Meghan continues splitting time between continents to keep her business interests running.
