The Subtle Nod To Meghan She Has In Her Backyard And Can Share With Archie
After the birth of Archie Harrison, the Meghan and Harry’s first child, he and his parents have retreated to their new home at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.
There he will have anything he needs growing up. Being a mix of two parents from very different backgrounds, young Archie will most likely learn about both his British and American heritage as he grows up. And Meghan has a great way of showing him her California roots. Two giant redwood trees flourish in the gardens of nearby Frogmore Cottage-a tree that is a symbol of Meghan’s home state of California.
One of the redwoods is said to be over 160 years old, while the other was planted nearby around 30 years ago, so when the old one fails this one will carry one. (apparently, the addition of the second one gave a new lease on life for the ageing one) The gardens of Frogmore have quite an intricate landscape-and they have located only a short walk from Meghan, Harry and Archie’s home of Frogmore Cottage.
The royal couple’s family home is on the edge of the parkland that visitors pass when the gardens are open for three charity days each year. Frogmore House became open to the public on Tuesday in support of the National Open Garden Scheme.
It marked the first time the gardens have been opened to the public since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved into their newly renovated Frogmore Cottage.
The redwood trees aren’t the only reminder of America on the grounds of Windsor. Nearby-next to the mausoleum where Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert are buried-lies the grave of Wallis Simpson, or Duchess of Windsor, the divorced American-born socialite who wed King Edward VIII, forcing him to abdicate from the throne after less than a year because his family and the government wouldn’t accept her.
The idyllic garden close to the royal’s home was closed off to visitors. But the nearby lake, where Harry and Meghan actually posed for some of their engagement photographs, as well as where Lady Gabriella Windsor and her bridal party stood for her wedding pictures earlier this month, the breathtaking spot was open to hundreds of tourists on Tuesday.
A close friend of the royal couple said for PEOPLE that the move to Windsor “is a really healthy thing to do”, and a much better option for raising a child than the busy and crowded Kensington Palace.
“It must be nice to get out and away. Without neighbours who are all either family or staff [at Kensington Palace], they will now have their own thing.”
A former palace staffer added, “It has the most amazing mulberry walk, where we would pick mulberries for Prince Philip’s mulberry gin. And when the Queen is there on a Sunday afternoon, it is a five-minute walk up the hill for tea with Granny. It is gorgeous.”