A home with hygge: how Meghan Markle's interior style is set to transform the royal couple's new 21-room Kensington Palace home

Prince Harry is not Meghan Markle’s only passion in life. The American actress and soon-to-be-royal bride also has a love of homeware.

The former actress and entrepreneur, who was based in Toronto during her role in the legal drama series Suits in 2011, ran and researched her own lifestyle website and frequently used the hashtag #theresnoplacelikehome when posting many interiors pictures of her Canadian home on her now deleted social media accounts.

When she set up her website, The Tig, it was branded “a hub for the discerning palate” and specialised in style, food, and travel. She closed the site last year with the message: “After close to three beautiful years on this adventure with you, it’s time to say goodbye to The Tig. What began as a passion project evolved into an amazing community of inspiration, support, fun and frivolity. You’ve made my days brighter and filled this experience with so much joy.”

Her now deleted Instagram wall was awash with her favourite interior design schemes and offers a glimpse into the sense of style she may have taken to her first home on the Kensington Palace grounds, Nottingham Cottage, and offers a glimpse of what might be planned for the 21-room apartment they are currently renovating next door to Will and Kate.

FROM COTTAGE CHARM TO PALATIAL GRANDEUR
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, when they were first married, lived at Nottingham Cottage. Nestled in a cluster of 17th-century buildings in the palace grounds, it may be the stuff of dreams for most young couples but by royal standards, it is rather modest.

There are some practical considerations. Prince William had to stoop to avoid hitting his head on the low ceilings.

However, when they moved into their more spacious present home, 20-room Apartment 1A, also at Kensington Palace, Prince Harry made the cottage his bachelor pad before his future bride moved in towards the end of last year.

The 1,324sq ft property has two Christopher Wren-designed bedrooms, a small living room, an intimate dining room, a kitchen — where Harry and Meghan now famously cooked roast chicken on the night the prince proposed — and his and hers bathrooms.

Before she was engaged to Harry, she — which has no doubt stood her in good stead when kitting out her 21-room new home, Apartment 1, part of the splendid Kensington Palace estate.

In their BBC interview following their engagement announcement, the couple stressed they are a team — but that might not always be quite the case. When the outdoorsy prince lived alone at the cottage he apparently prioritised installing a hammock in the yard. However, his California-born girlfriend prefers to make flowers her top priority and loves interiors that ooze cosy comfort, and creamy calm.

WHAT IS THE MARKLE STYLE?

Markle is all about Danish-style hygge — a quality of cosiness, conviviality and wellbeing — using cool, monochrome colours layered with sumptuous throws and feather-filled comfy cushions.

Her favourite selfie spots were set around her deep, wide white linen sofa cushions, or on her simple wooden-framed bed which is adorned with soft white linen, probably 800-plus thread count Egyptian cotton.

Other selfies showed her reflected in her large, smoked-glass, panelled statement gilded mirror which was in her Canadian living room. Fluffy sheepskin throws are draped over treacle-toffee-coloured rattan chairs — she would sit in one with her feet up on the other.

Wicker baskets are filled with logs, while a faux-cowhide rug, sometimes on a patterned Moroccan-tiled floor, adds a luxurious touch.

To accessorise, Markle likes to add clusters of silver photo frames, scented candles — Diptyque being a favourite brand — and luscious perfumed diffusers.

She loves crockery, too. She has already commented on how many teas she has had meeting the royal family but she has a particular love of pretty porcelain, and she serves tea in soft pastel-coloured crockery. Casting a gentle glow, low-hanging light bulbs float over her dining table and vintage prints hang on the walls.

Markle adores flowers, filling vases with milky-petalled, scented roses, and especially pink peonies, of which she says: “They make me so endlessly happy.”

Add the Scandi feel-good-vibe of a bold plant with big, soft green leaves, and you have the Markle look.

HER INSPIRATION

Markle collects style ideas on her travels. Much of what we saw in her living space on instagram will have been inspired by her favourite hotels, places and people. She adores Soho House and the Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire, which she visits with friends including Chelsea socialite Millie Mackintosh, and regularly speaks of her love for the beautifully curated farmhouse style: tweedy, oak-beamed interior spaces with crushed cranberry-coloured rugs and leather chairs.

Her favourite romantic retreat with Prince Harry is Botswana’s Meno a Kwena. Billed as the “ultimate tent and camping experience”, it comprises nine luxurious tents, all with en suite bathrooms, overlooking a river dotted with wildlife. The clever use of natural materials appeals to Markle’s cherished rustic aesthetic.

Being a girl from a sunny state she is partial to a splash of the Med. The Italian glamour of Le Sirenuse, an elegant former mansion that’s now a boutique hotel overlooking pretty Positano harbour on the Amalfi coast, sparked her penchant for Mediterranean tiles, encouraged on a later girly trip to Madrid.

In Greece, her favourite restaurant is Téchne in Hydra, a historic stone-built old boathouse with views over the Aegean Sea and towards the sunset. It inspired the pops of azure blue she added to her home, including in the form of a swirling blue rug she bought to remind her of the ocean.

Her London haunts include Italian restaurant Bocca di Lupo in Soho, the celebrity favourite Chiltern Firehouse in Marylebone and Albert’s in Brompton Road. She hunts for antiques in Portobello Road and is drawn to the foodie temptations of gold-and-turquoise-wrapped Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly.

She adores Kensington Flower Corner and for healthy-eating groceries heads to Whole Foods Market — just across the road from her new home.