Did You Know The Romantic But Creepy Name of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's House in Montecito?
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle caused a sensation back in 2020 when, having dramatically exited their roles as senior members of the royal family and fled to Canada, they purchased a $14.65 million property in the sleepy California town of Montecito.
But did you know that their house comes with a surprising name-and history?
The original estate was purchased by Cyrus and Nettie McCormick in 1896. Their family was one of the wealthiest in America, having made their fortune by kickstarting a mini-agricultural revolution with Cyrus's invention of the combine harvester.
The firm they founded went on to become the manufacturing giant International Harvester.
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Cyrus and Nettie named their 84 acre estate Riven Rock Estate, after a boulder by the front gate that had been split in two by an oak tree growing out of it.
Later the estate was parcelled off into smaller areas of land. One of those parcels belongs to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and their house they live in is called Riven Rock Chateau.
It somehow manages to sound both romantic and creepy!
That might also have something to do with the fact that the Riven Rock Estate has a somewhat disturbing history. In 1998 T. C. Boyle wrote a novel called Riven Rock that was based on the life of Cyrus and Nettie's youngest son Stanely, who suffered from schizophrenia.
Because of the severity of his symptoms Stanley was kept confined at Riven Rock while his parents continued to develop the grounds of the estate, including a six acre lemon orchard and private dairy.
Stanley's wife Katherine was unfortunately unable to see him, as he had started to display violent tendencies towards her. But she remained devoted to Stanley, and unbeknownst to him she would sometimes visit Riven Rock in order to peek at him through keyholes.
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Stanley died of pneumonia in 1947. Twenty-two years earlier Riven Rock's main house in the Mission Revival style had already been demolished following the 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake.
Today Meghan and Harry live a peaceful life in the Chateau of Riven Rock, which is surrounded by sweeping lawns, tiered rose gardens, Italian cypress trees, swathes of lavender, and olive trees that are over one hundred years old.
It is here that they are raising their children, Prince Archie (7) and Princess Lilibet Diana (5).
Meanwhile, the royal family is reportedly set to erase the final traces of Meghan and Harry from Frogmore Cottage, their former UK residence that was a grace-and-favor wedding ‘gift' from Queen Elizabeth II to Harry when he married Meghan in 2018.
The $2.9m for refurbishments was provided from the Sovereign Grant, an allowance that the government provides to the queen based on profits from the Crown Estate (a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch.)
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex eventually paid back this money following their 'freedom flight' from the UK, and now it looks as though Frogmore Cottage will be undergoing yet another renovation-one that will remove any hint that it was once the royal couple's marital home.
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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 1:10 PM.