People assume that every member of the British royal family lives in a grand palace or a sprawling country estate. However, two very famous royal couples started their married lives crammed into the same modest little cottage on the edge of Kensington Palace, a house so low-ceilinged that both tall princes reportedly kept banging their heads. Nottingham Cottage, affectionately known as “Nott Cott,” was the humble first home of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and later of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Here’s the story of the royal family’s most surprisingly ordinary home.

Nottingham Cottage was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, who built St Paul’s

For all its modest size, Nott Cott has an extraordinary architectural pedigree. According to Royal Central, the cottage was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, the celebrated architect behind St. Paul’s Cathedral. Also, it stands alongside two other grace-and-favour houses on the Kensington Palace grounds. (Grace-and-favour homes are properties owned by the Crown and granted to people connected to the royal household, traditionally rent-free.)

Its name comes from Nottingham House, the residence of the Earl of Nottingham that William III and Mary II bought in 1689 and expanded into Kensington Palace itself. So the royals’ coziest bolthole was dreamed up by the same mind behind one of London’s grandest landmarks.

Nottingham Cottage is one of the smallest royal homes, at around 1,300 square feet

This is the detail that surprises people the most. Nottingham Cottage measures roughly 1,324 square feet, The Times reported. It has two bedrooms, a couple of reception rooms, a bathroom, and a small garden. That makes it one of the humblest properties in the entire royal portfolio, smaller than many ordinary suburban family homes, and it’s a world away from the palaces and mansions the same couples would later occupy. It’s a striking contrast with the most valuable royal residences in the UK, which run into the hundreds of millions.

Both Prince William and Prince Harry started married life there

Here’s the twist at the heart of Nott Cott’s story. As Fortune reported, Prince William and Kate used the cottage as their London base after they were married in 2011, and they resided there for roughly two and a half years. They brought their firstborn, Prince George, home to Nottingham Cottage after his birth in July 2013. When William and Kate moved into their much grander Kensington Palace apartment, on their way to homes like Adelaide Cottage and later Forest Lodge, Prince Harry moved into Nott Cott, and it later became the first home he shared with Meghan Markle.

Prince William and Prince Harry were too tall for its low ceilings

The cottage’s diminutive proportions have become the stuff of royal legend. The London Evening Standard reported Prince William had to stoop to avoid hitting his head on the cottage’s low wooden beams. In the Sussexes’ Netflix series, Meghan recalled that Harry, who stands well over six feet tall, would repeatedly catch his head in the same spot. For a pair of princes, there was apparently no royal exemption from a low doorway.

Harry proposed to Meghan at Nottingham Cottage

Some of the most romantic moments in recent royal history happened inside this little house. As Today reported, Harry proposed to Meghan at Nottingham Cottage in 2017 during an ordinary evening at home. In their BBC engagement interview, Meghan recalled that the couple were preparing dinner when Harry got down on one knee. “It was just an amazing surprise,” she said, describing it as “so sweet and natural and very romantic.” Harry added, with a grin, that she “didn’t even let me finish.” The couple lived at Nott Cott until 2019, when they moved to Frogmore Cottage ahead of the birth of their son, Archie.

Even Oprah couldn’t believe how small it was

If you want a sense of just how un-palatial Nott Cott really is, consider the reaction of one very famous guest. Harry recalled in the couple’s 2022 Netflix docuseries that Oprah Winfrey came over for tea, and upon walking in and sitting down, she reportedly remarked, “No one would ever believe it!” Coming from someone who has seen her share of remarkable homes, it was quite the reaction, and a sign of just how unassuming Nott Cott really was.

Before the royals, Nottingham Cottage housed nannies, aides, and Diana’s sister

Nott Cott’s history is a quiet who’s who of royal life behind the scenes. As Vogue noted, one of its most notable past residents was Marion Crawford, the famous governess to the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Over the years it has also been home to royal aides and staff, including the Duke of Edinburgh’s former private secretary. According to the Wall Street Journal, it was also home to Lady Jane Fellowes, the sister of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Nottingham Cottage was also the setting for the William and Harry rift in ‘Spare’

Not every chapter of Nott Cott’s recent history is a happy one. In his 2023 memoir Spare, Prince Harry described an alleged physical altercation with his brother, Prince William, that he said took place at Nottingham Cottage, an account that drew global attention and was widely reported, including by the BBC.

Before the palaces and the titles, this little cottage was simply where two young couples started out, in a home so ordinary it surprised even Oprah. For all the grandeur that came later, neither of Diana’s sons began their married life in a grand palace.

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this, you might also like the surprising stories behind Clarence House and Highgrove. For more about historical homes and the royal family, I invite you to follow me on Yahoo.