Princess Eugenie and her husband leave Frogmore for luxury Portuguese resort
BILLED as offering “the simple luxury of natural European living”, the Costaterra Golf and Ocean Club is the perfect royal bolthole.
Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank have moved to the resort an hour south of Lisbon with their one-year-old son, August. The couple have left Frogmore Cottage, the Windsor home they sublet from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and are now dividing their time between the Atlantic coast club and London.
It comes after Stowe-educated Mr Brooksbank, 36, landed a new job with multimillionaire property tycoon Mike Meldman, who is one of George Clooney’s long-standing business partners.
The Princess’s husband of nearly four years had been working for Casamigos – the tequila brand founded by the Hollywood actor, Mr Meldman and Rande Gerber, the husband of supermodel Cindy Crawford, which the trio sold to the Diageo drinks company for £550 million in 2017.
But he is now working for Mr Meldman’s Discovery Land Company, which has been developing the 722-acre Portuguese plot tucked between the soughtafter villages of Comporta and Melides since 2019.
Clooney, his wife Amal and their four-year-old twins Ella and Alexander could soon become neighbours after it was revealed he is planning to buy a plot on the estate in the upmarket Alentejo region.
A source close to the couple confirmed: “Jack is now working for Mike Meldman and they are splitting their time between Portugal and London. It’s a very exciting time for them.”
The first phase of the 300-home development, which also boasts a mile of beachfront, an 18-hole golf course, spa and equestrian centre, is just about to be released and Mr Brooksbank is understood to be working on marketing, sales and promotion. Prices start at £3.6 million.
It is thought the Princess, 32, is continuing to work as a director for the London art gallery Hauser & Wirth on a hybrid basis with the couple staying at Ivy Cottage at Kensington Palace when they are in the UK.
According to its website, Costaterra “offers a wide range of real estate options, from large estate homesites to contemporary coastal villas, turnkey club residences and custom luxury homes”.
It adds: “The combination of our unmatched environmentally thoughtful setting, family-focused experiencebased lifestyle, and true exclusivity, make ownership here one of the rarest opportunities in Europe.”
Aimed predominantly at the US market, the website shows that flights from New York to Faro take just six and a half hours.
Milwaukee-born, Stanford-educated Mr Meldman, described as one of the most well-connected businessmen in America, has a portfolio of more than two dozen high-end residential resorts in the US, Europe and the Caribbean.
Although wealthy holidaymakers have traditionally flocked to the Algarve, the well-heeled are increasingly gravitating to the more untouched Comporta. Renowned for its “barefoot living” ethos, the area is protected and buildings are subject to strict regulations, which means it has never been overdeveloped.
Yesterday, it emerged that the Sussexes had renewed their lease on Frogmore Cottage before their return to the UK for the jubilee celebrations.
The couple will stay at the five-bedroom Grade II listed house with their children Archie, three, and Lilibet, who turns one on Saturday.
Princess Eugenie and her husband will also return for the four-day festivities, which begin with Trooping the Colour on Thursday.