With the recent creation of a new household for the Sussexes, which will be independent of the Cambridges’ court at Kensington Palace, the future roles of all four royals are being mapped out in the corridors of power. While William is preparing to succeed his father, Prince Charles, as the next Prince of Wales, and eventually to become king with Kate as his queen consort, Harry and Meghan are establishing their own court under the umbrella of the queen’s household at Buckingham Palace. The operation will require a delicate hand; courtiers are aware of the Sussexes’ global popularity and are keen that they do not eclipse the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

“We are further down in the pecking order,” affirms a Sussex aide. Nevertheless, in a recent poll Harry was voted the most popular royal, after his grandmother. It has not helped optics that there have been reports of behind-the-scenes feuds and rivalry between the two camps, which gained momentum when Kensington Palace announced earlier this year that the Sussexes were moving out of Harry’s childhood home for a new life in Windsor.

The move gave the Sussexes more physical space and privacy (Frogmore Cottage is nestled in 655-acre Home Park), but emotions were just as much at play. Harry wanted to branch out, to be his own person. There were reports of a froideur between the two duchesses, with one report alleging that Meghan had reduced Kate to tears in the run-up to the royal wedding during a dress fitting for Princess Charlotte. A source maintains that although the women are not particularly close, there was no real falling out between them.

There was, however, a genuine rift between the princes that had been brewing since Harry’s engagement to Meghan. According to a friend of the brothers, they fell out after William voiced his concerns that Harry’s relationship with Meghan was moving too quickly.

“William had concerns and Harry resented that,” says the friend. “Harry also felt that William and Kate hadn’t made enough effort with Meghan.” At one stage the situation between Harry and William was so strained that they were not on speaking terms, but things have been “much better” since Archie’s arrival.

Having their own courts has, aides say, also alleviated tensions. Kensington Palace is small in comparison to Buckingham Palace, where Harry and Meghan will be able to spread their wings independently of William and Kate. They are in the process of forming their household—essentially their working headquarters and where their staff will be based. The Sussexes will also have a suite of rooms at the palace for when they need to stay in the capital, in keeping with other members of the royal family who have offices at Buckingham Palace. They have already hired a communications secretary, Sara Latham, an American and former senior adviser on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, with whom Meghan gets along well. They are in the process of recruiting a private secretary, an assistant private secretary for Meghan, a digital editor, and at least two press officers. It will be crucial to the couple’s success that they are supported by a hardworking, loyal team. At Kensington Palace, the duchess earned a reputation among some courtiers for being difficult and demanding. Her habit of sending 5 a.m. emails to staff saw her nicknamed “Hurricane Meghan,” and there was an unusually high turnover of palace staff—five to date since Meghan’s arrival, including two private assistants who allegedly quit under the pressures of the job, and the duchess’s head of security, a woman whose name has never been released by Kensington Palace. The couple’s interim private secretary, Samantha Cohen, is due to leave imminently, while assistant private secretary Amy Pickerill left the royal household on amicable terms shortly before Archie’s birth. Meghan has had to navigate her own personal drama with her family back in the States and has suffered in the tabloids as a result, so she is said to want a new approach when it comes to PR. Close friends, including Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, makeup artist Daniel Martin, and CBS anchor Gayle King, have all spoken out in defense of Meghan. Courtiers say the duchess has remained positive by not reading any press, good or bad, and by leaning on her husband, who is “100 percent devoted.”

“The papers like to use the word difficult. I’d say ‘different,’ ” says someone who works closely with the duchess. “It was hard for her. She didn’t have a support structure in place and she was getting used to living in a new country and being part of a very unique institution.”

She has settled in, though, and as she prepares to become a British citizen, sources close to Meghan say she has adopted Britishisms. “She says ‘pants’ less, and I’ve heard her say ‘bits and bobs,’ ” notes a source.

Friends say Harry has “changed for the better” since meeting Meghan. Once a royal rebel, he now starts his mornings with a green juice (blended by Meghan) and practices meditation; he has quit smoking and rarely drinks alcohol. Their life at Frogmore is one of domestic bliss, amazingly ordinary. “It’s like their private oasis and sanctuary,” says a friend. “It’s lovely and cozy, and they are very happy there.”

A wedding present from the queen, the cottage—which is more of a grand country house—is situated on the grounds of Frogmore, where the couple celebrated their wedding party. According to an aide, “They spent a lot of time in Windsor during their courtship and love it. It’s also close to Heathrow, which makes it handy for the duchess’s mother to fly into.”

Built as a retreat for Queen Charlotte, the house is steeped in history. Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, and his wife, Wallis Simpson, the last American divorcée to marry into the royal family, are buried on the grounds of Frogmore House, while Frogmore Cottage was once the home of Queen Victoria’s beloved attendant Abdul Karim, “the Munshi.” The queen, who is likely to be a regular visitor, loves the gardens at Frogmore, where she picks flowers for her desk.

Until recently the cottage was used as staff accommodation; however, it was converted into a five-bedroom house for the Sussexes following an extensive, taxpayer-funded £3 million renovation. They moved in just weeks before Archie was born. The rebuild includes eco-friendly heating and water systems, new fireplaces (Meghan adores log fires), and staircases, as well as the yoga studio with a spring floor and a state-of the-art kitchen. Harry, who is into gadgets, has had the nursery—said to be painted in gray and white tones, with vegan paints—kitted out with a state-of-the-art sound system. An adjoining room is for their nanny, who is one of just a handful of staff. The couple want a scaled-down entourage and “won’t be hiring anything like what the Cambridges have,” according to an aide who points out that “the Sussexes don’t have the same financial resources as the Cambridges, for starters.”

While they have hired a housekeeper and have two assistants to help them out, as well as the shared services of two palace orderlies, their entourage is low-key compared to other senior royals.

“Meghan is actually pretty down-to-earth,” says a member of her team. The couple do not have a chef, and Meghan does the cooking. She prepared organic meals before the baby was born and froze them, knowing she would be busy. Rather than hire a baby nurse, which is increasingly popular in the U.S., she relied on her mother, Doria, to help out during the first weeks. And instead of hiring a trainer to get back into shape, Meghan did yoga with Doria, already a certified yogi, who took a course in postnatal yoga. The couple love being outdoors, and they take Archie for long pram walks in Home Park, although due to their hectic schedules, they are privately advertising for a dog walker for their black Labrador and Meghan’s rescue dog, Guy.

“For the most part they are self-sufficient. Meghan doesn’t have a stylist. She does most of it herself,” says a source, adding that Meghan also does all the grocery shopping online. While she has her favorite Fortnum and Mason Royal Blend tea delivered as a treat for guests, her weekly delivery is not so grand. “More like Ocado,” says a friend—Ocado is a U.K. equivalent to Fresh Direct—noting that Kate and Meghan have similar tastes when it comes to shopping.

“They are able to have a private family life, which is so important to them,” says charity campaigner Nick Ede, who has worked with Meghan. “When Meghan first came to England, she fell in love with the countryside. She loves English pubs, a roaring fire, and country walks. Meghan still keeps in touch with a lot of her old friends and many of them have children, so I can see her hosting playdates, organizing tea parties and very stylish dinner parties too. It will be a proper family home.”

As he gets older, Archie will enjoy a privileged life, swimming at the indoor pool at Windsor Castle and learning to ride on the queen’s horses. Harry is said to be keen to enroll him in one of the prestigious local polo clubs. There is a nearby farm park, and tea at Windsor Castle on Sunday afternoon with the queen will likely become a weekly ritual, as it did for Harry when he was a boy. Most important, having grown up in the spotlight, Harry is said to want an “ordinary” life for his son. “My mother took a huge part in showing me an ordinary life,” he once said. “I am determined to have a relatively ordinary life, and if I am lucky enough to have children, they can have one too.”

It is why they have chosen not to have a royal title for Archie, and why they chose names they loved over traditional family ones. While he is technically the Earl of Dumbarton and heir to the dukedom of Sussex, Archie will simply be known as “master,” although when Charles becomes king, Archie will become HRH.

“I think they have done this with the intention that they want Archie to live a normal life,” says Professor Kate Williams, royal historian. “The chances are one day, Archie will have a career and a job.” Navigating a “normal” life for the seventh in line to the throne will inevitably throw up challenges. While Harry and Meghan are expected to go down a modern parenting route, traditions will need to be respected and upheld. Archie will be expected to have a royal christening, probably at St. George’s chapel, dressed in the replica Honiton lace dress worn by royal children since 1841. One of the favorites to be godmother is Harry’s cousin Zara Tindall, Princess Anne’s daughter, who doesn’t have an HRH title either, and who has pursued a successful civilian career as an equestrian.

Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie, who has been tapped by the queen as a role model for Meghan, have also raised their children without titles and away from the limelight. But the Sussexes are different. “Constitutionally they are not terribly important, but they are very much in the royal shop window,” notes Patrick Jephson, former private secretary to the Princess of Wales. “How much they want their child in the spotlight is down to them.”

There is no doubt that the monarchy needs them. “Meghan has brought diversity to the royal family and her fans love her for that,” notes CNN royal commentator Max Foster. Harry, the boy who once walked behind his mother’s cortege, forever cementing a place in the nation’s hearts, is adored around the world. And the couple clearly want to use their international platform to effect change.

“All modern royal parents understandably want their children to have a normal upbringing,” says Jephson. “But the best they can hope for is to understand something of the lives of normal people, and that was something Diana did for William and Harry.”

More Great Stories from Vanity Fair

— Our cover story: How Idris Elba became the coolest—and busiest—man in Hollywood

— Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, and the making of a very Page Six Hamptons summer

— Why are pop stars struggling to top the pop charts?

— Get all the details on Harry and Meghan’s pricey renovations

— Can Democrats win back the internet in the age of Trump?

— From the Archive: A slightly fractured, Americanized, Kardashianified royal fairy tale

Looking for more? Sign up for our daily newsletter and never miss a story.