A Montecito-based neighbour of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly felt rejected after being turned away at the gates of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ multi-million dollar home, and has stated “they’re not interested” in being neighbours.
US Navy veteran and neighbour, Frank McGinity, wanted to welcome the royal duo to the neighbourhood and thought he would lend them some films he created about the history of the exclusive Californian enclave and help them settle in.
However, when the elderly 88-year-old tried to visit the 15-bedroom villa in Montecito, he was turned away at the gate. He recounted the brusque encounter with the couple’s security team in a new chapter of his memoir ‘Get Off Your Street’, in which he detailed the residents’ experience with the mudslides that devastated the area only a few years before the Sussexes moved in.
He wrote: “The gate guy turned me away and wouldn’t take the film, just saying ‘they’re not interested’. I was trying to be neighbourly. If they were interested in the neighbourhood I’ve got a lot of information.”
Clutching onto his “films on a CD”, the veteran turned away from the home, disappointed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved into their dream mansion shortly after quitting the Royal Family and moving to the US in 2020.
McGinity expressed his surprise at learning Meghan and Harry had decided to move in, noting the Riven Rock Estate on which they set up their new Californian home usually attracts much older buyers and renters.
He claimed: “It’s surprising they came here. People are typically older. It’s where the elephants come to die.”
The 88-year-old veteran, who still runs his own accountancy firm, told the Montecito Journal: “We don’t see them very much around here.”
The veteran owns a big house next to the couple, but has chosen to live in the guest house and rent out the main house on Airbnb. In his book, he detailed how half of the beautiful estate, Riven Rock, had turned into “a sea of mud” during the mudslides in 2018, before Harry and Meghan had moved in.
A real estate expert has expained the running costs of Harry and Meghan’s huge £12million home, claiming that it must cost thousands of pounds every year just to look after it.
Eric Bramlett, of real estate company Bramlett Residential, told Fabulous magazine: “Managing a £12million ($14 million) mansion like Harry and Meghan’s in Montecito takes a lot of work.”
He added that such a mansion would require around 10-15 full-time staff like housekeepers, a private chef and some form of security.
Mr Bramlett explained: “Just paying the staff salaries, utilities, landscaping, maintenance, security, and more could easily cost hundreds of thousands per year.”
The expert added that big renovations and repairs would cost even more, saying that it’s like “running a small boutique hotel with residential service”.