When King Charles evicted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from their cottage in Windsor, they were left homeless in this country.
However, the California-based couple has made sure to maintain their presence on this side of the Atlantic.
The Daily Mail understands that Prince Harry and Meghan have bought a house in Portugal.
They are not the only royals to own a Portuguese property, as Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank own a home at the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club, a 300-property luxury development. by the sea in Melides, south of the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.
Brooksbank, 38, works in marketing and sales for CostaTerra. He, Eugenie, 34, and their two sons, August, three, and Ernest, 16 months, divide their time between Portugal and London.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are believed to have bought a house on the coast of Portugal. The couple is photographed in Bondi, Hawaii, in 2018.
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank also own a Portuguese property, located at the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club. The couple appears in the photo with their two children.
The purchase of the house in Portugal could have allowed the Sussexes to acquire the so-called Golden Visa, according to which they would have visa-free access to the Schengen area of the European Union.
This could have been a big draw for Meghan, who is an American citizen. When the couple became engaged in November 2017, Kensington Palace said Meghan would apply for British citizenship in due course, with a spokesperson confirming that she “will go through the process (which) takes several years.”
However, she ultimately abandoned her bid to become a British citizen after she and her husband left the country in March 2020, less than two years after their wedding.
A spokesperson for the Sussexes confirmed in January last year that the king had asked them to give up their British home, Frogmore Cottage.
The five-bedroom property in the grounds of Windsor Castle was offered to Prince Andrew, the King’s brother, who rejected a move from the much larger Royal Lodge elsewhere in Windsor.
The King’s move came after the publication of Harry’s highly controversial memoir, Spare, in which he criticized members of the Royal Family, including his stepmother, Queen Camilla, and his brother and sister-in-law, the Prince and Princess. of Wales.
Frogmore Cottage was given to the Sussexes by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2018, shortly after the couple married at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. However, officially the Crown Estate owns the property.
CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club (pictured) is a luxury resort an hour south of Lisbon, on Portugal’s picturesque Atlantic coast.
José Santos, president of the Alentejo Tourist Board, confirmed that the Sussexes enjoyed a “brief stay” at CostaTerra
Harry and Meghan carried out taxpayer-funded renovations worth around £2 million, although they later repaid the cost in full through a contribution to the Sovereign Grant.
After Harry and Meghan moved to North America and stepped down from royal duties in 2020, Frogmore Cottage was leased to Eugenie and Brooksbank until 2022.
The Sussexes are known to be close with Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank, who appeared in their 2022 Netflix ‘documentary series’, Harry & Meghan.
Last year, it was reported that the Sussexes enjoyed a “romantic three-night break” in Portugal after attending the Invictus Games in Germany.
The pair are said to have flown from Dusseldorf to Lisbon before traveling an hour south to Melides in a “mega-secret” operation.
A source close to the Sussexes confirmed that they had been in Portugal. At the time, they were thought to have stayed with Eugenie and Mr. Brooksbank, who visited them at their home in Montecito, California.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle shared never-before-seen photos while celebrating with Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank on Halloween in their Netflix documentary.
In a snap from the big night, Meghan can be seen posing for a fun selfie with Princess Eugenie.
José Santos, director of the Alentejo Tourist Board, confirmed that the Sussexes enjoyed a “brief stay” at CostaTerra.
“We don’t know how many people related to cinema, royalty, arts, design and fashion visit us, precisely because they value discreet trips, something they find in the Alentejo like nowhere else in Europe,” he said.
CostaTerra Golf is owned by a company founded by Mike Meldman, one of George Clooney’s business partners in the Casamigos tequila firm.
Brooksbank previously worked as a Casamigos brand ambassador.
The Sussexes’ main home is a £19.5 million Tuscan-style mansion in Montecito with seven bedrooms, 13 and a half bathrooms, library, cinema, gym, swimming pool and chicken coop.
A spokesperson for the Sussexes has been contacted for comment.