You’ve probably seen the headlines about the "royal renovation" or the "megawatt mansion," but the reality of the Frogmore Cottage floor plan is actually way more interesting than just a bunch of expensive paint and a yoga studio. It’s a Grade II listed building. That means you can’t just go knocking down walls because you feel like it. Historically, this wasn't even one house. It started as a retreat for Queen Charlotte in the 1790s, and by the time Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved in, it had been chopped up into five separate housing units for estate staff.
Converting five cramped apartments back into one cohesive family home is a literal architectural nightmare.
Most people think of a "cottage" as a tiny three-bedroom place with low ceilings. Frogmore isn't that. But it’s also not Buckingham Palace. It sits on the Home Park in Windsor, tucked away near Frogmore House, and the floor plan had to respect the original 19th-century bones while trying to drag the interior into the 21st century. It’s a weird mix of stucco, parapets, and green-tiled roofs. Basically, it’s a historic puzzle.
The layout shift from staff quarters to family home
When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex took over, the Frogmore Cottage floor plan had to undergo a massive structural overhaul. Think about it. You have five separate kitchens, five sets of plumbing, and five front doors. The renovation, which reportedly cost around £2.4 million from the Sovereign Grant (later repaid by the Sussexes), wasn't just for "luxury" finishes. It was largely boring stuff. Rewiring. Joist reinforcement. Soundproofing.
The ground floor was reimagined as a communal flow. Instead of the jagged, boxy rooms typical of staff housing, the redesign focused on opening up spaces to allow for a large, modern kitchen-diner. Honestly, the kitchen is usually the heart of these royal homes, but at Frogmore, it had to be positioned in a way that didn't mess with the load-bearing walls of the original structure.
You’ve got a massive footprint that covers about 5,000 square feet. That sounds huge, right? It is, but when you divide that over two floors with the constraints of a historic building, the rooms don't end up being these vast, echoing halls. They are relatively intimate. The layout was rumored to include about five bedrooms, which is actually pretty modest for a senior royal residence. For context, some of the apartments in Kensington Palace are way more sprawling.
Living in a historic fishbowl
Privacy was the number one driver for how the Frogmore Cottage floor plan was finalized. You can't just put windows wherever you want on a listed building. The architects had to work with the existing apertures. To make the home feel private, the internal flow was oriented away from public-facing views and toward the private gardens.
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Vicky Farrow, a designer who has worked on similar historic restorations, often points out that with properties like this, the "flow" is dictated by the chimneys. You can't just move a chimney stack in a Grade II building. So, the fireplaces often dictate where the "seating zones" are. At Frogmore, the living areas were likely centered around these original hearths, creating a series of interconnected snugs rather than one giant open-plan "great room" that you’d see in a modern California mansion.
People kept talking about the "vegan paint" and the "yoga studio." While the paint (Auro) is a real thing used in the house, the "yoga studio" was likely just a repurposed room with a floating floor. In a floor plan this old, "flex rooms" are essential. One year it’s a gym, the next it’s a nursery for Archie. The versatility is built into the layout because the walls themselves are too thick to move every few years.
Comparing the Sussex layout to the Windsor standard
The Frogmore Cottage floor plan is often compared to Adelaide Cottage, where the Prince and Princess of Wales live. Adelaide is even smaller. It’s a four-bedroom home. What makes Frogmore unique in the Windsor portfolio is its independence. It’s not attached to a larger complex.
The upper floor of Frogmore was designed to accommodate the master suite, the nursery, and guest rooms. Unlike the sprawling floor plans of the 1980s, these rooms are notoriously difficult to heat. Part of the renovation involved installing a green energy unit—basically a high-tech boiler system—which required its own dedicated space in the basement or an outbuilding. You don't see that on a glossy architectural drawing, but it's a huge chunk of the footprint.
There’s also the issue of the "granny flat" or the staff wing. Even though the house was unified, the layout maintained a degree of separation for security and support staff. You need a place for the RPO (Royal Protection Officers) to sit without them being in your living room while you're watching Netflix. This "annex" style design is a staple of royal architecture. It keeps the family side private while the operational side of the monarchy keeps humming along in the background.
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The reality of the "Luxury" upgrades
When we talk about the Frogmore Cottage floor plan, we have to address the "extravagance" myths. Most of the money went into things you can't see. When you take a building that hasn't been properly touched in decades and try to make it livable for a modern family, you find rot. You find damp. You find Victorian lead pipes that haven't been changed since the 1800s.
The floor plan had to be stripped back to the studs. This allowed for the integration of smart home technology, which was a big talking point at the time. But "smart home" in a 200-year-old cottage usually just means hidden speakers and a thermostat that actually works. It’s not Tony Stark’s lab.
The kitchen, designed by the high-end firm Viking (according to some reports, though never officially confirmed), was the anchor. In a traditional English floor plan, the kitchen is often hidden away. The Sussexes moved it into a primary position. This reflects a shift in how the younger royals live—less "service-oriented" and more hands-on. They wanted to be able to cook for themselves without a chef hovering in a separate wing.
Why the floor plan changed again recently
Since Harry and Meghan moved out and Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank moved in (and then moved out), the Frogmore Cottage floor plan has likely seen more minor tweaks. It’s a transitional house now. When a new tenant moves in, they don't rip out the kitchen, but they do change the "function" of the rooms.
The house is currently a "grace and favor" asset that the King controls. Reports suggest it’s been offered to Prince Andrew, who currently lives in the much larger Royal Lodge. If Andrew were to move in, the floor plan would likely feel quite cramped for him. Royal Lodge has 30 rooms. Frogmore is a fraction of that.
The beauty of the Frogmore layout is its "Goldilocks" size. It’s big enough to be a prestigious royal residence, but small enough to be managed without a staff of fifty. It’s a "house," not a "palace." This distinction is key for the Crown Estate's long-term planning. They want buildings that are "lettable" or usable without costing a fortune in daily upkeep.
Breaking down the architectural specifics
If you were to look at a bird's eye view of the property, you’d see a roughly rectangular main block with two projecting wings. This is a classic "U-shape" or "H-shape" evolution common in British manor extensions.
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- The Entryway: Not a grand foyer. More of a functional boot room entrance, which is necessary for the muddy Windsor Great Park walks.
- The Social Core: The ground floor is dominated by the kitchen, a formal dining room (often used as a meeting space), and a drawing room.
- The Private Quarters: The first floor (second floor for Americans) contains the primary bedrooms. The ceilings here are lower than on the ground floor, a classic feature of 19th-century builds where the "show rooms" were downstairs.
- The Grounds: The floor plan extends to the exterior with a conservatory that was added during the renovation. This "glass room" helps bring light into what can otherwise be a dark, thick-walled house.
Honestly, the most impressive part of the Frogmore Cottage floor plan isn't a secret room or a hidden vault. It’s the way the architects managed to squeeze modern soundproofing into the walls. The house is directly under the flight path of Heathrow Airport. Planes scream over every few minutes. Without the specialized windows and wall insulation added during the 2019 refit, living there would be deafening.
Actionable insights for historic homeowners
If you're looking at the Frogmore Cottage floor plan because you're renovating a historic property yourself, there are a few real-world takeaways you can actually use. You don't need a royal budget to follow the same logic.
- Prioritize the bones: The Sussexes were criticized for the cost, but the bulk of it was "latent defects." In old houses, always budget 30% more for what’s behind the drywall.
- Zones over rooms: Use the "annex" logic. Even in a smaller home, creating a clear "work/security" zone versus a "family" zone makes the space feel larger.
- Light is luxury: The addition of the conservatory and the removal of internal "staff" partitions at Frogmore shows that light flow is more important than having a high room count.
- Respect the Grade: If you have a listed building, work with the chimneys and existing windows. Trying to fight the original floor plan is how you end up in a legal battle with heritage committees.
The floor plan of Frogmore Cottage will always be a subject of fascination because it represents the tension between royal tradition and modern life. It’s a building that was never meant to be a single-family home, forced to become one, and now stands as a symbol of the changing face of the British monarchy. It’s not just a house; it’s a blueprint of how the royals are trying (and sometimes struggling) to downsize and modernize.
To understand the house, you have to look past the tabloid drama and see the architectural struggle of fitting a 21st-century life into a 19th-century box. It’s tight, it’s complicated, and it’s a lot smaller than you think. But for a brief moment, it was the most talked-about floor plan in the world.
The next time you see a photo of the white stucco exterior, remember that inside, it’s a maze of reinforced joists, soundproof glass, and a kitchen that was designed to be the center of a very different kind of royal life. Whether it stays a family home or becomes a museum or an office, the layout will always reflect that one specific moment in 2019 when the monarchy tried to do something a little bit different.