When Prince Harry first started dating Meghan Markle, there had been high hopes they could form a new ‘Fab Four’ with the now Prince and Princess of Wales.

But soon after Harry and Meghan wed in May 2018, cracks began to show and there was tension between the two couples, which has now led to a bitter rift between them.

In his bombshell memoir Spare, Harry revealed how this tension had actually started much earlier, noticing differences between the two couples not long after he introduced Meghan to his brother and sister-in-law.

And now a new book claims one factor that might have sparked this tension in the first place – and it all came down to where they were living.

Harry and Meghan announced their engagement in November 2017

According to new book, Catherine, The Princess of Wales: The Biography, which is being serialised in the Mail On Sunday, Meghan was “taken aback at the disparity between the brothers.” At the time she moved in with Harry, he was living in cosy Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace, while William and Kate lived in an apartment in the Palace. Author Robert Jobson writes: “Meghan had moved into cosy Nottingham Cottage on the Kensington Palace estate with Harry. When they went to have drinks at William and Catherine’s palatial apartment, she was apparently ‘taken aback’ at the disparity between the brothers.

“‘I am not saying Meghan was jealous, but she was surprised how lavishly Harry’s brother was living compared to where they were living,’ said a close source. ‘It was perhaps the beginning of all the tensions between the couples.’ Meghan understood, of course, that William was in the direct line of succession, but she felt that Harry, as a royal prince, deserved more than he had.”

Harry inside Nottingham Cottage
Both Harry and Meghan previously spoke out about their royal home their Netflix documentary in 2022. In episode four of the bombshell series, Meghan described the residence as “small”. “It sounds very regal but Nottingham Cottage was so small,” the former Suits actress said before Harry went on to add that it was “lean” with “low ceilings.” Harry continued: “As far as people were concerned we were living in a palace. [But] we were living in a cottage. On palace grounds. Kensington Palace sounds very regal of course, it does say palace in the name. But Nottingham Cottage was small.”

Their former home was written about by Harry in Spare, where he said he was worried that the property might not live up to expectations. He said: “I was excited to welcome Meg to my home, but also embarrassed. Nott Cott was no palace. Nott Cott was palace adjacent – that was the best you could say for it.”

Shortly after their marriage, they moved out of Nottingham Cottage and headed to Windsor to live at Frogmore Cottage, which was granted to them by the late Queen. They now live in a nine-bedroom mansion in Montecito, California.