Why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Sprawling $29 Million Montecito Mansion Is a 'Laughing Stock' Among Pair's Snooty Ultra-Rich Neighbors

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may view their Montecito estate as a sanctuary of "joy," "healing" and "calm," but sources tell OK! the couple's decision to leave the property largely unchanged has made their $29 million mansion a source of amusement among some of their ultra-wealthy neighbors.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex purchased the seven-acre California estate after stepping back from royal duties and relocating to the United States in 2020.

Their property, which they share with their children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, was bought for $14.65 million and is now estimated to be worth around $29 million.

While the couple has repeatedly praised the home and its rustic chateau-inspired design, some local residents view their approach to the property as "highly unusual" in an area where luxury homeowners often demolish and rebuild multimillion-dollar estates to suit their personal tastes.

A source familiar with the situation told us: "There is an extremely snobbish attitude among some of Montecito's billionaire set that if you buy a house at that level, you're supposed to put your own stamp on every square inch of it. The expectation is that you demolish, expand, redesign and essentially create a showcase property that nobody else has ever lived in before. Because Harry and Meghan have largely embraced the home as they found it, some people view the property as an oddity. It has become a talking point at dinner parties and social gatherings because, in the eyes of certain neighbors, they haven't behaved the way wealthy Montecito homeowners are expected to behave. The house almost represents a rejection of the local culture of excess, which some residents find admirable and others quietly mock."

Another insider said: "The property has become known in certain Montecito circles as a bit of an anomaly because it completely bucks the unwritten rules of how wealthy homeowners are expected to approach real estate. In this neighborhood, it's incredibly common for people to buy an estate and then spend years rebuilding, redesigning and reinventing it until virtually nothing of the original structure remains. Harry and Meghan simply haven't done that. Instead, they've settled into the house much as they found it, retaining many of the features and design choices that came with the property. For some of their neighbors, that's genuinely perplexing because it runs counter to the culture of personalization and one-upmanship that often exists among the ultra-rich. The feeling in some quarters is that they've treated the mansion like a family home rather than a status project, and that's not something people see very often in Montecito."

The discussion was highlighted by journalist Tom Sykes during an episode of "The Royalist" podcast after speaking with someone living near the Sussexes.

Sykes said: "I was in New York last week, and I was meeting with somebody who lives fairly near them, and they said to me that that house that they occupy in Montecito is like a source of laughing stock. It's kind of shameful because, of course, in America, if you're a billionaire and you buy a house for $14million, I mean, what's the first thing you do? Knock it down, you know, or at the very least remodel it, you know? And there they are, still sort of padding around in a kitchen that looks straight out of the Olive Garden, you know, circa 1994."

Yet others argue the couple's decision reflects a more restrained approach to home ownership than is often seen among celebrities and billionaires.

Rather than erasing the property's existing character, Harry and Meghan have embraced the estate's original aesthetic, which was created when the home was built in 2003.

A California real estate source said: "A lot of the criticism overlooks the fact that not every affluent homeowner approaches a property as a vanity project. There is a tendency in places like Montecito for buyers to assume that bigger, newer and more customized automatically means better, but that's not a view shared by everyone. Some people purchase a home because they genuinely like what is already there. In Harry and Meghan's case, the property already delivered many of the things they were searching for – privacy from public scrutiny, extensive grounds for their children to enjoy and a relaxed atmosphere that felt removed from the pressures of their previous lives. From that perspective, preserving much of the home's original character could be seen as a sign they were satisfied with what they bought rather than feeling compelled to constantly improve it."

The estate features an outdoor pool, an over-water spa room, a wine cellar, a games room and a chicken coop.

Viewers also caught glimpses of the property in the Sussexes' Netflix series, including the home office they share and the rustic kitchen where Meghan first developed her now-famous jam recipe.

Meghan previously admitted that purchasing the property initially seemed beyond their reach.

She said: "We didn't have jobs, so we just were not going to come and see this house. It wasn't possible. It's like when I was younger and you're window shopping – it's like, I don't want to go and look at all the things that I can't afford. That doesn't feel good."