Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet’s fairytale cottage at $14m home is every child's dream

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have shared several corners of their $14 million Montecito mansion over the years.

For the first time in 2022, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex opened the doors to their family home while filming their Netflix docuseries, giving royal watchers a rare glimpse into the stunning property they purchased to start anew after stepping away from royal duties.

In an interview with The Cut, Meghan opened up about how the 16-bedroom sprawling residence is a "calm and healing" place to raise her children and ultimately, makes her "feel free".

Most magical about the 7.4 acre compound, however, is the fairytale playhouse that stands in the expansive lawns - which Harry and Meghan have turned into a mini pastel-coloured property just for their children; Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, two.

To mark Archie's second birthday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared a new photo on the Archewell website that showed the Prince playing in the garden with lots of balloons in his hand.

In the background, a charming white playhouse with a thatched black roof and split stable-like doors could be seen. This isn't the first time we've seen the cute playhouse – in fact, Harry and Meghan shared a close-up of the garden feature back in 2020 when they released their festive family Christmas card.

The photo, shared on the Mayhew charity's social media accounts, showed the Duke and Duchess and Archie posing in front of the garden structure, with the painting showing little concrete steps leading up to the blue front door.

INSIDE ROYAL HOMES

• King Charles' very particular living conditions that lead to a 'constant battle' with Queen Camilla

• Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's grand dining room at $30m Montecito mansion is fit for a castle

• Inside Prince William & Kate's idyllic life in candy pink Adelaide Cottage with George, Charlotte and Louis

To the side is a wooden garden chair, perhaps where the royals sit while they watch their children play.Despite bearing a striking resemblance to the late Queen Elizabeth II's childhood playhouse,  Archie and Lili's cottage wasn't actually built with them in mind.

The original listing on US property website, Zillow, revealed that it actually came with the home.It read: "The estate sits on an approximate 7.38 acre site," and goes on to reference the "children's cottage" as well as various other garden features including "tiered rose gardens, tall Italian cypress trees, blooming lavender, century old olive trees, a tennis court, tea house, and a pool".

While the Sussex children got to spend very little time with their great-grandmother, the Queen, they can continue her everlasting legacy by making new memories together in their royal lookalike playhouse.

In 1932, on her sixth birthday, Her Late Majesty was gifted a two-story thatched cottage – called 'Y Bwthyn Bach' or 'The Little House’'– by the people of Wales.

The then-Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret adored the house and proudly looked after it themselves. It is not open to the public and never has been.

Elsewhere at Harry and Meghan's mansion in California, the children also have the most amazing adventure playground.

Photographs taken from former listings of the home show that his play equipment includes two slides, a climbing frame, a tightrope, a helter-skelter, and two types of climbing wall. Design wise, each feature follows the green, blue and yellow colour scheme, including a green tarmac floor.

The children's bespoke playhouse isn't the only aspect of the family's sprawling garden that Archie and Lili have grown fond of.

Detailing the moment she toured the property for the first time, Meghan told The Cut: "One of the first things my husband saw when we walked around the house was those two palm trees.

See how they’re connected at the bottom? He goes, 'My love, it’s us.'"

The doting mother-of-two then detailed how her eldest, Archie, greets the trees every day. "He says, 'Hi, Momma. Hi, Papa,'" Meghan shared of her son's sweet morning ritual.

What is going on with the royal family's health at the moment? Find out everything you need to know about Princess Kate's surgery and King Charles' hospital stay in HELLO!s A Right Royal Podcast.