• Since the royal couple, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the royal duties and household voluntarily to make the shift to the USA, paparazzi have been tracking their every move. And the latest development is that the royal couple has purchased a mansion in the Santa Barbara area of California. 

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Called The Chateau of Riven Rock, the property was built by multi-millionaire businessman Terry Cunningham, 63.

Terry Cunningham talks about the mansion and its problems

The wealthy businessman, Terry Cunningham, 63 had designed and built the mansion in which Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved in after purchasing it for $ 14.7 million [£11 million].

Terry had purchased the land in 1999 with his wife Randi. The area measures 5.4 acres and it took him four years to construct his house on it. He called it The Chateau of Riven Rock and the property measures 14,463 sq ft.

Terry who is the chief executive of software company Descartes Labs said that he had built the mansion based on designs of French houses. They used to cycle in France and loved the French-style houses at that time.

Terry told The Mail:

“It’s all French Provencal – a beautiful French country house.”

More about the new property

The property is huge and there is a lot of greenery inside. There are sweeping lawns, tiered rose gardens, Italian cypress trees, blooming lavender, and century-old olive trees.

It has 9 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms. Terry was involved in the designing of the mansion to the minutest details.

Additionally, there is a two-bedroom guest house, a spa, a library, games room, arcade, cinema, and private gym. The property also has a large pool and tennis court, and an outdoor children’s play area.

It was in May 2020 that the royal couple purchased the property. They had used the name of a shell company registered at the LA address of Meghan’s business manager Andrew Meyer. And six weeks ago, they moved into it. They are redecorating the whole place as per their needs and wishes.

Terry talks about the details and mudslides risk

The previous owner of the estate, Terry had used red wine to scent the walls of the house. He used extra-thick plywood so that the floorboards do not make a squeaking sound.

He said:

“I designed the wine cellar. It’s a beautiful room. It’s got gravel on the floor and I emptied a couple of cheap bottles of red on to the gravel so it smelled correctly.

“I thought that was kind of fun. My brother owns a plywood mill. Most houses don’t have 11-ply wood and that’s why the floors don’t creak. I’m a bit of a fanatic about details like that.”

The mansion’s heating and ventilation system were so designed that it could assess fog rolling in from the Pacific Ocean. He said:

“We used an algorithm to figure out when the heating system should shut down or spool up, based on the rate of change in the fog. We have sensors for sunlight on the south-facing wall to figure it out.”

The kitchen is the coolest part of the house, he said. But he had one warning: mudslides. He said that in 2018 when the wildfires hit the area, heavy rains brought mudslides within 200 feet of the property.