bitchy | The Sussexes probably spent $4 million or more on their Portuguese villa?

One of the most amusing parts of this latest Sussex story is the implicit admission that Prince Harry and Meghan are wealthy enough to afford a second home in Portugal. I still don’t know if the reports are true, but Richard Eden at the Mail broke the news that the Sussexes “quietly” purchased a home on the coast of Portugal at some point after they visited Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank there last year. Jack works in Portugal now, working as some kind of salesperson or real estate guy in association with a luxury development in Comporta. It is believed that Harry & Meghan purchased one of the luxury villas in the development. The cost of the villa? £3.6 million or more. LMAO.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have purchased a holiday home in the Portuguese resort that the Duke’s cousin Princess Eugenie resides during the summer months. Express.co.uk can reveal that the royal properties are located in Comporta, just an hour’s drive south of Lisbon on Portugal’s west coast.

The Sussexes’ purchase of the property was said to have been prompted by Princess Eugenie’s husband Jack Brooksbanks’ job at the exclusive CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club. The resort’s properties have been designed by high end architecture and interior design firm Denton House which delivers “the world’s most glamorous residences and resort destinations”. The resort is positioned on an unspoilt, picturesque stretch of beach in the Algarve and has become a popular holiday destination for the rich, thanks to it being relatively untouched by tourism.

The CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club is owned by multimillionaire property tycoon Mike Meldman. A co-founder of Casamigos tequila, along with George Clooney and Cindy Crawford’s husband Rande Gerber, Mike has been friends with Princess Eugenie’s husband Jack for years. Jack works in marketing, sales, and promotion for Mike’s Discovery Land Company, which specialises in building luxurious private golf and residential holiday communities across the globe. The Discovery Land Company has been developing the highly sought after 722-acre beachfront plot in Comporta since 2019. Once completed, the resort is set to have 300 homes, with prices starting at a whopping £3.6million.

[From The Daily Express]

Let’s say that Jack convinced Harry & Meghan to buy a vacation home in this A-list community, with access to a golf club and all kinds of amazing amenities, not to mention proximity to the ocean. Let’s say that Harry & Meghan purchased the home for something like $4 million to $5 million. Doesn’t that mean that the British reports about “the Sussexes’ struggling finances” and “what happens when the money runs out” are all bullsh-t? Food for thought. Meanwhile, one royal commentator has a theory about why Harry & Meghan want a European hideaway:

Royal expert Hugo Vickers told The Sun: “There are two reasons why Harry and Meghan might go to Portugal. One of them is the one that you mentioned that because he’s very close to Princess Eugenie, his cousin. They get on very well together. They seem to be the main members of the family who are still very much in touch with Prince Harry. The other reason is that there is always this fear that if Donald Trump gets re-elected as President, he will move Prince Harry from America. It’s exactly the sort of thing that he would do, because first of all, it would show his strength and his power. To show that he can do it.

“He has been irritated, I think, in the past by things that Meghan Markle has said about him, and probably Prince Harry as well. He would be completely in his rights to do that, and so they might be looking for an alternative residence.”

Hugo added: “Portugal’s very accessible to all parts of Europe, whereas California is a long way away. Maybe he doesn’t like the Californian way of life, I would imagine that would be quite alien to him. So I think there are many other reasons why he might wish to settle there. It may just be that they want an alternative, an extra home, to go to in the summer. If they’re making lots of money, maybe they can afford to have two bases. He may well have enormous advantages, probably from the tax point of view, and also from cost of living. Food in Portugal is very, very reasonably priced, and I can see many reasons why he would find that advantageous. Obviously, Portugal is really right in the center of things. You can get anywhere very quickly from Portugal. It’s very accessible.”

[From The Sun]

“if Donald Trump gets re-elected as President, he will move Prince Harry from America. It’s exactly the sort of thing that he would do, because first of all, it would show his strength and his power. To show that he can do it…He would be completely in his rights to do that, and so they might be looking for an alternative residence.” While I think there could be a “back-up plan” aspect to purchasing real estate in Europe, let’s not skip over the whole “Donald Trump would be perfectly within his rights to deport an American citizen and her husband.” The British press has been salivating about this for years now, the idea that their Heritage Foundation buddies will somehow organize the deportation of the Sussexes during a second Trump presidency. It’s truly insane. Anyway, I hope H&M enjoy their villa!

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.