While the rest of us tend to give our relatives nice bath towels, fancy spoons, or cards that read “IOU” (and then just hope they forget about it) as wedding gifts, Queen Elizabeth is reportedly giving Prince Harry and Meghan Markle something a bit more … lavish as a gift for their upcoming May 19 nuptials. And by that we mean: Oh, just a house.
The Mirror reports the Queen is said to be giving the former Suits star and her royal ginger a country home as a gift, just as she did with Kate Middleton and Prince William. Kate/Wills were given Anmer Hall, their Norfolk, U.K., country home in 2013 as a present from the Queen — and Meghan/Harry may reportedly be given York Cottage, which is also located on the Queen’s Sandringham property in Norfolk.
York Cottage was apparently the former home of King George V and Queen Mary back in the day, and is very close to Anmer Hall, which will be very convenient for familial hangouts. The Mirror also notes that the cottage looks like “three Merrie England pubs joined together,” which will be very convenient if they build an indoor bar and hope to never have to go to a regular pub again.
“It’s their sanctuary, it keeps them sane,” royal expert David McClure told News Corp. about the royal tradition of giving a fancy home as a wedding gift. “William and Kate would do that with Anmer, they’d just disappear.”
Meanwhile, Meghan and Prince Harry have asked the rest of us to donate to their favorite charities in lieu of sending gifts.
