So many of the homes we associate with Meghan Markle are grand and even historic: There's Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where she first lived with Prince Harry when they became serious; and of course, there's Frogmore Cottage on the grounds of Windsor Castle, where the couple moved ahead of son Archie's birth. We're even familiar with her townhome in Toronto, where the two spent so much time together while dating before their romance became news. But there's another home, a rental, where Meghan lived as a newlywed during her first marriage. The Los Angeles home, in the neighborhood of Hancock Park, was recently put up for sale, offering a chance to look inside.
Although her first marriage — to producer Trevor Engelson — did not last, there are surely good memories tied to the home, a pretty Colonial-style house in a lovely neighborhood in the City of Angels. It may not be a castle or a $14.8 million home, like the one Meghan and Harry recently bought in the relatively remote but celeb-clogged Montecito, but for a couple of years, it was home. It's been seven years since Meghan lived there, but we can see how the home would appeal to the Duchess of Sussex, who has often talked about the laid-back, informal aesthetic she likes in her homes. Although the furniture in the following pictures never belonged to Meghan and her ex, we can still get a sense for how she may have decorated, and how she may have used the home, thanks to past interviews and posts from her old lifestyle blog, The Tig. So without further ado, here's a look inside Meghan's rented LA home where she lived just before being cast in Suits.
LA Lady
Though we tend to associate Meghan more with Toronto, where she filmed Suits, and places like Windsor and London, she was actually born and bred in Los Angeles. Since her parents were in showbiz — her mom was a makeup artist and her dad was a lighting director — it was only natural that she stay in LA while trying to break into Hollywood and become an actress after college. And it was also only natural that she and Prince Harry head back to Los Angeles after stepping down as a working royal.
Married & Moved In
Meghan moved into the Hancock Park home when she married producer Trevor Engelson in 2011. We can imagine them picking out the house and making plans to build a life, family, and careers together. But soon after Meghan landed a role in Suits, she spent nine months of the year filming in Toronto, which may have contributed to their divorce in 2013.
A Standout Exterior
Who wouldn't want to come home to this? The exterior of Meghan's former home is so charming. Built in 1924, it's a colonial-style property with classic clapboard siding, columned portico, and faux shutters on the second floor. We especially love how the red brick chimney spans the entire height of the house and contrasts with the white paint.
A Pretty Hood With a Royal Connection
Hancock Park is a neighborhood in the Wilshire area of Central Los Angeles and is known for the picturesque architecture of its houses and its tree-lined streets. We can picture Meghan walking to a yoga class in or near this a quiet little colony inside the big city. Fun fact: Meghan moved into Hancock Park the same year that Prince William and Kate Middleton made an official visit to Los Angeles in 2011. During the trip, they stayed at the British Consul General's home in the Hancock Park neighborhood. Little did she know that in just seven years, they'd be family.
Bright & Airy Living Room
Hello, sunshine! The home's living room can't help but be a cheery place with all this light, thanks to the abundance of large windows, light-expanding white walls, and recessed lighting. It's also nicely laid out with instant access to stairs that lead to the second floor and a passageway to the kitchen. It's been a long time since Meghan lived here, so we know none of the furniture is hers, but we can imagine her being comfy here (minus the blue and yellow accents, since she's more of a neutrals person).
Good Feng Shui
We're betting that the home's open interior design vibed well with feng shui principles, which Meghan talked about in her now-archived lifestyle blog, The Tig. In a post about the ancient Chinese way of making a home a comfortable refuge that aids mental health, she gave several tips, such as entering one's home as if seeing it for the first time, clearing clutter, keeping windows clean, and fixing or tossing broken things.
Chic Dining Area
The living room is essentially one big room that's smartly divided into two. The back of the sofa marks out a dining area, which is as perfect for a quiet weekday dinner as it is for a dinner party that spills back out to the living area. This picture also showcases the sweet fireplace and beautiful wide-plank wood floors.
A Place for Entertaining
Because she covered all kinds of lifestyle topics in The Tig, we know quite a bit about Meghan's likes and dislikes when it comes to entertaining at home — and we're sure she employed them in this home whenever she was able to get away from filming and return home to see her husband, family, and friends. In one holiday entertaining guide, she offered tips that would be good for any kind of gathering, year-round. Keep the drinks selection simple but include a killer cocktail, she wrote, elevate store-bought snacks with beautiful dishes and trays, and don't forget to set the tone with great music.
Cozy Kitchen
It's not exactly as expansive as, say, the kitchens at Buckingham Palace, but it'll do! This tiny kitchen is perfect for a couple cooking and drinking wine together. We're picturing Meghan making her signature healthy smoothies here, picking wheatgrass off her own plant on the counter.
Great Place for Great Food
We're sure Meghan's current kitchen in her $14 million Montecito mansion has all of the awesome bells and whistles. But her Hancock Park kitchen has its own simple charm. After all, what matters is what comes out of the oven or off the stove. Over the years in interviews and on The Tig, health-conscious Meghan shared recipes and tips for eating healthy, including sticking to a vegan diet during the week, and eating superfoods like quinoa and acai, and skipping red meat for fish tacos and sushi.
Cocoony Bedroom
The home is surrounded by decorative wrought iron screens on the windows that are a beautiful and bold. This smallish bedroom, which may be a guest room, is perfectly lovely, especially since it's surrounded by privacy-providing greenery just beyond the windows.
A Peaceful Corner
Meghan is well-known for her love of yoga, but she also swears by another practice that helps keep her sane and centered: meditation. According to a former meditation guide who worked with her, she meditates twice a day in a peaceful corner of her home. This bedroom looks like a particularly nice and quiet corner to de-stress and work on mental health via meditation.
Backyard With Potential
Well, we hate to say it, but the backyard doesn't exactly seem like anything to write home about, at least from this angle. There aren't a lot of finishing touches. But if we know Meghan, whose Toronto apartment was full of lovely details, this looked amazing when she lived there.
Outdoor Lounging
Los Angeles nights tend to be cool and breezy, so we wouldn't be surprised if Meghan spent a lot of time enjoying the backyard of her Hancock Park home while reading. In The Tig, she often posted reading recs, which included books that fed her soul over the years, like The Four Agreements, Who Moved My Cheese?, and The Motivation Manifesto."
Trading Places
Eventually, Meghan traded a life in Los Angeles — and that sunny home in Hancock Park — to make a home in Toronto in a smaller, more modest townhome. Her marriage may have ended, but she later met Prince Harry, who visited her countless times while they were dating, and the rest is history. Eventually, they moved back to Cali, though not to Hancock Park.
