Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Trolled After Anniversary Clip Exposes 'Outdated' Montecito Kitchen — 'It Looks Like an Olive Garden'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's kitchen was mocked for looking like the interior of an 'Olive Garden restaurant.'
May 26 2026, Published 4:45 p.m. ET
Meghan Markle's video celebrating her eighth wedding anniversary at home with Prince Harry caught the attention of critics, who were left stunned by how "outdated" the couple's kitchen appeared, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The ex-royal shared the loved-up footage from inside the couple’s Montecito mansion, but instead of gushing over the moment, Markle was trolled for how "hideous" her kitchen appeared, leaving some to wonder if that's the reason she refused to film her Netflix cooking series, With Love, Meghan, in her own home.
Critics called out the 'ugly' backsplash and dated heavy woodwork as barefoot Harry entered the kitchen.
The clip began with a disheveled Harry, 41, walking barefoot into the kitchen, wearing sweatpants and carrying a cake with four tall candles on top.
He sang "Happy Birthday" to Markle, substituting the word "anniversary," as the couple's kids, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 4, could be heard cheering him on.
However, it was the close-up looks at the heavy wood cabinetry, worn Mediterranean-style blue-and-cream tile backsplash, low-hanging pots, and other features that captured viewers' attention.
Critics Claim 'Cold' Kitchen Looks Like a 'Cellar'
The heavy stonework and hanging copper pots were labelled as highly 'dated.'
"I'm baffled by Harry and Meghan’s kitchen and how... well, ugly it is. It's dated, the tile is hideous, and the big stone wall makes it look like a cellar. All of the stone makes it feel cold. I guess when you have an almost $10million mortgage, you can't really renovate and upgrade, but I guess the kitchen matches Meghan Markle – cold and uncomfortable," one royal commentator posted to X with photos of the room.
"If my backsplash looked like that, there is no way I would show it to the world," a second person sneered.
"That place is an ugly, outdated joke according to the neighbors, & now that we see that kitchen, it's no wonder she rented a house to shoot her flop of a show in," a third observed.
"That was a popular look in Cali in 2000. Very dated. No one wants a Tuscan kitchen anymore," a fourth person pointed out.
"Her whole house literally looks like an Olive Garden restaurant, even the furniture!" a fifth shared while including photos of the interiors next to the inside of the Italian chain eatery.
'A Sign of Their Failure to Make It Financially'
A top royal expert believed the couple's dated kitchen showed they're having financial difficulties.
The Sussexes bought the nine-bedroom, 16-bath mansion in 2020 for $14.65million, after it had languished on the market for several years, taking out a $9million mortgage with an approximately $5million down payment.
The home was built in 2003 and still featured the Mediterranean decor that was so popular at that time.
Royal commentator Tom Sykes observed after seeing the kitchen in Markle's anniversary post that it is an indicator of the couple's financial insecurity.
"I was talking to a source who lives near them in Montecito, and he said literally that the house is seen by other people in Montecito as kind of deeply embarrassing and a sign of their failure to make it financially," he shared on The Royalist's May 20 livestream.
He noted that for most of the monied residents, the home would have been a tear-down, "But if you can't afford or don't have the mental bandwidth or the time to deal with knocking it down, you certainly extensively remodel it," Sykes observed.
Kitchen Looks Like a 'Very Aspirational Olive Garden'
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Markle has only given rare glimpses into her heavily dated home kitchen, not using it for her Netflix series.
Sykes pointed out that Markle's attempt to become a cooking and homemaking guru should have prompted her to at least upgrade her kitchen.
"If you are a lifestyle influencer who's trying to sell a lifestyle all about cooking, entertaining, and hosting, the first place you would remodel is your kitchen, right? We'd all love to have a lovely kitchen, wouldn't we? With it, just with clean lines, you know, that looks modern, that looks fresh. Instead of this," he scoffed.
"Other people have said it's, you know, a very aspirational Olive Garden, and the copper pots hanging from the ceiling, you know, look like a prop, frankly, from a Tuscan restaurant that closed in 2009. I think what's sort of fascinating about this whole thing is that it gives us an insight into how difficult things are for the couple financially," Sykes pointed out about the duo, who have little on their plate business-wise after losing their mega-bucks deals with both Netflix and Spotify.
