Revealed: Why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle purchasing a home in Portugal where Princess Eugenie lives is a ‘power move’ to make them more ‘closely connected’ to the Royal Family

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s purchase of a home in Portugal is ‘extremely significant’ because it gives them a ‘base near Britain’ and could lead to faux royal tours of European countries, a royal expert has claimed.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who were evicted from their cottage in Windsor by King Charles last year, have ensured that they retain a foothold on this side of the Atlantic by buying a home in Alentejo, the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden reported.

They are not the only royals who have a Portuguese property, with the Prince’s cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, owning a home in Melides, south of Lisbon. 

Their decision to purchase a home near Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson‘s daughter highlights the two cousins’ close bond and ‘means we may see a good deal of Harry, Meghan and their family’, according to commentator Richard Fitzwilliams. 

Speaking to FEMAIL, Mr Fitzwilliams said ‘it emphasises that they still have goodwill’ in The Firm and ‘makes clear that they are connected closely to part of the Royal Family and it will be interesting to see how they intend to develop this.’ 

Commenting on the couple’s reported Portuguese purchase, Mr Fitzwilliams said: ‘This is a surprise and is extremely significant. We have known that Harry and Meghan and Eugenie and her husband Jack have been close for years. 

‘They moved into Frogmore Cottage when the Sussexes vacated it and have reportedly seen each other in California and in Portugal, where Jack works. 

‘This proves they are close and it also gives the Sussexes a base in the EU with the possibility of acquiring the Golden Visa which would give them free access to the EU’s Schengen area. This also gives them a base near Britain. 

‘It makes clear that they are connected closely to part of the royal family and it will be interesting to see how they intend to develop this.’ 

The expert continued: ‘Will it, for example, lead to more solo or perhaps even joint visits to Britain, but without participating in royal life or royal rituals at Sandringham and Balmoral? 

‘It might lead to a “faux royal” tour of an EU country following their trips to Nigeria and Colombia. 

‘It will certainly involve their children and we may see photos of Archie and Lili, in the future, possibly the distant future, we may well see them with Eugenie and Jack and their family. This move obviously advertises that the couples are close. 

‘Now we know that Harry and Meghan have a base in Europe, their exile in California is far less distant. 

‘The purchase of a home in Portugal means we may see a good deal of Harry, Meghan and their family. It emphasises that they still have goodwill in the royal family. It will be fascinating to see what their plan is in the coming months.’

Eugenie and Jack own a home in the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club, a luxury development of 300 properties by the sea in Melides.

Mr Brooksbank, 38, works in marketing and sales for CostaTerra. He, Eugenie, 34, and their two sons, August, three, and Ernest, 16 months, split their time between Portugal and London.

The Sussexes are known to be close to Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank, and the princess was the only member of the royal family to feature in the couple’s Netflix documentary.

In one sweet snap shared in the second episode, Harry and Eugenie enjoy a bike ride along a palm tree-lined stretch of pavement in California – after she became the first member of The Firm to publicly visit the Duke in the States.

The programme also featured previously unseen photographs of Harry and his wife Meghan partying with Eugenie and Jack on Halloween. 

Meghan previously revealed on the Ellen DeGeneres show how she and the Duke hit the town incognito in Halloween costumes with his cousin and her partner for a final night out before their relationship was revealed. 

‘He came to see me in Toronto and our friends and his cousin Eugenie and now her husband Jack, they came as well, and the four of us snuck out in Halloween costumes to just have one fun night on the town before it was out in the world that we were a couple,’ she recalled. 

‘It was a post-apocalypse theme, so we had all this very bizarre costuming on, and we were able to just have one fun final night out.’

In 2021, Eugenie shared a 40th birthday message to ‘dear Meghan’ and revealed she was supporting the Duchess’ new 40×40 campaign by offering her services as a mentor to help women get back into work.

The underlying message was clear: the bond between Prince Harry and his cousin is as close as ever.

Harry and Eugenie grew up playing together in royal parks and frolicking on the slopes on family ski holidays. Although their older siblings Prince William and Princess Beatrice were there too, it was always clear the relationship between Harry and Eugenie was special. 

Their connection is rooted not only in their shared experience as young royals and younger siblings finding their own path in life, but also as children of parents whose dirty laundry was aired in the press.

‘From an early age, Eugenie had to deal with the embarrassing headlines of both her father and mother,’ explained Nigel Crawthorne, author of Prince Andrew. ‘Harry had to deal with his share of headlines, too, and this bond between them was a great consolation for them.’

Over the years, Eugenie has been Harry’s close friend, confidante, and even matchmaker. Now she is seen as one of his closest allies within the royal family.

Despite being born five years apart, Harry and Eugenie often spent time together as children thanks to the friendship between their mothers Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson, who would pack up the children for joint family holidays.

Photos from a 1995 ski trip show William and Harry smiling in the snow with the two young York sisters, and trudging up the slope with the girls trailing determinedly behind. Beatrice and Eugenie were also included in the final Christmas card Princess Diana sent out before her death.

‘Out of all the Queen’s grandchildren, Harry and Eugenie have one of the most natural connections,’ Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand wrote in the Sussex biography Finding Freedom. The book also describes them as the ‘closest of friends’.

‘Like Harry, Eugenie is loyal, honest and great fun,’ the book continues. ‘The two had many nights out together in London, sneaking into back entrances of clubs, such as Mahiki, where Jack once was manager, or Tonteria, where in one of the VIP cave areas they downed shots from Mexican skull shaped glasses and a giant frozen margarita (with multiple straws).’

The cousins also bonded over their shared difficulty of carving a role for themselves within the royal family, with Eugenie, who is not a working royal, having to seek out her own career path.

Harry has always confided in Eugenie and she was reportedly among the first to know about his relationship with Meghan, whom she already knew through their mutual friend Misha Nonoo. 

‘Not only did he trust her implicitly, but friends said that she gives great advice and has always been ‘beyond wise’ for her years,’ Scobie and Durant wrote.

Eugenie and Jack, who married in October 2018, just six months after Harry and Meghan, went on double dates with the couple in Toronto and London.

The Princess and her then boyfriend were at a party in Soho House in Toronto in 2016 when Harry and the Suits star were first seen together. Eugenie was instrumental in keeping their relationship secret.

In the explosive tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview, in which Harry and Meghan criticised the Royal Family, Eugenie was singled out for praise.

Meghan said: ‘Eugenie and I had known each other before I had known Harry, so that was comfortable […] We’re friends with them as a couple.’

The Sussexes, Eugenie and Jack were all guests at Misha Nonoo’s lavish Rome wedding in the summer of 2019.

They also have mutual friends in singer Ellie Goulding and George and Amal Clooney, who were guests at Harry and Meghan’s nuptials.

Harry and Eugenie’s relationship came under strain in 2018 when he and Meghan reportedly told senior royals they were expecting their first child together at Eugenie and Jack’s wedding.

The official announcement came just days later, eclipsing any lingering coverage of Eugenie’s big day.

However it would seem any bad blood between the cousins was soon washed away.

In a sign of how close they are, after Harry and Meghan moved to North America and quit royal duties in 2020, Frogmore Cottage was leased to Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank until 2022.

For the funeral of his grandfather Prince Philip and the unveiling of the Princess Diana statue, Harry chose to stay with Eugenie at Frogmore Cottage.

Meghan also referred to the Duchess of York as ‘Fergie’ during her tell-all Oprah interview, hinting at a friendship that would have surprised many viewers.

Despite there being five years between Harry and his younger cousin, they married and had children at the same time.

Meghan and Eugenie reportedly bonded over motherhood and pregnancy and have taken similar approaches to presenting their children on social media – choosing to have photoshoots in the garden but obscuring the little ones’ faces.

Eugenie is also keen to show her public support for the Sussexes, previously dedicating an Instagram post to congratulating them on the arrival of daughter Lilibet.

At King Charles’s Coronation in May 2023, the cousins were also spotted chatting up a storm, with the Duke appearing to share a joke with Eugenie’s husband as they stood outside Westminster Abbey.

Then inside, Harry was seated in the third row between Jack and Princess Alexandra, the cousin of the late Queen.. 

They were joined by Eugenie and her sister Princess Beatrice as well as her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. A photo of Jack and Harry at their seats also seemed to show them enjoying a conversation.

A lip reader claimed that Harry even moaned he was ‘fed up with the way they treat me’ as he chatted to Jack.

It was not clear who was the target of his ‘fed up’ complaint, although there has been speculation he could have been speaking about the Royal Family, following ongoing tensions over his decision to quit as a working royal and publish a highly critical memoir.

Speaking of his friendship with Jack in the aforementioned book, Harry said that he and Meghan were ‘deliriously happy’ when he and Eugenie got married – adding ‘and for ourselves, selfishly, since Jack was one of our favourite people’.

In 2023, a source told People magazine: ‘[Harry and Eugenie] are still the best of friends and talk constantly’.

They added that the tensions between Harry, Meghan and the Firm has been ‘really stressful’ for Beatrice and Eugenie, and they find it ‘hard to watch’ because they ‘see both sides’.

Last year, it was reported that the Sussexes enjoyed a ‘romantic three-night break’ in Portugal after attending the Invictus Games in Germany.

The couple are said to have flown from Dusseldorf to Lisbon before travelling an hour south to Melides in a ‘mega-secret’ operation.

A source close to the Sussexes confirmed that they had been to Portugal. At the time, it was thought that they stayed with Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank, who have visited them at their home in Montecito, California.

Jose Santos, head of the Alentejo Tourism Board, confirmed that the Sussexes had enjoyed a ‘short stay’ at the CostaTerra.

‘We have no idea how many people linked to cinema, royalty, arts, design and fashion visit us, precisely because they value discreet travel, which is something they find in 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 tequila firm Casamigos. Mr Brooksbank previously worked as a brand ambassador for Casamigos.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that Meghan seemingly enjoyed her visit to Portugal enough to then purchase property there, considering she once mentioned her longing to visit ‘lovely Lisbon’. 

A resurfaced blog post from Meghan’s now-defunct lifestyle website The Tig reads: ‘Lovely Lisbon has long been on my list of places to travel (alliteration much?) – the wines and madeira, the history and culture rounding every cobblestone turn, not to mention the beaches, Baroque architecture, and the applause worthy sunsets.’

The purchase of the home in Portugal may have also allowed the Sussexes to acquire a so-called Golden Visa, under which they would have visa-free access to the European Union’s Schengen area.

This could have been a major attraction to Meghan, who is a US citizen. When the couple got engaged in November 2017, Kensington Palace said Meghan would apply for British citizenship in due course, with a spokesman confirming that ‘she will go through the process [which] takes a number of years’.

However, she eventually 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 spokesman for the Sussexes confirmed in January last year that they had been asked by the King 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 at Windsor.

The King’s move followed the publication of Harry’s highly controversial memoir, Spare, in which he criticised 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 were married at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Officially, however, the Crown Estate owns the property.

Harry and Meghan carried out some £2million worth of taxpayer-funded renovations, though they subsequently repaid the cost in full through a contribution to the Sovereign Grant.

After Harry and Meghan moved to North America and quit royal duties in 2020, Frogmore Cottage was leased to Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank until 2022.

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, pool and chicken coop.