The Queen has reportedly gifted Prince Harry and Meghan Markle a home in Norfolk.

She is said to be giving the couple York Cottage, near Sandringham House.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on reports which have appeared on a number of websites today.

The building currently houses the estate offices and staff accommodation. Portraits of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh hang from the walnut-panelled walls of its entrance hall, which has an open fire.

The house is next to a lake on the edge of woodland, with sweeping views across Sandringham Park from its upstairs windows.

The property was the home of Prince George, the Duke of York (later King George V) from the 1890s.

He lived there with Princess Mary for 33 years after their marriage and King George VI - Prince Harry's great grandfather was born there.

George V described the house as 'three Merrie England pubs joined together' and Sandringham as 'the place I love better than anywhere else in the world'.

It is also a stone's throw from Park House - the birthplace and early childhood home of Harry's mother Diana, Princess of Wales.

There had been speculation that newlyweds Harry and Meghan would find a house in the Cotswolds near Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall's residence at Highgrove House, near Tetbury.

But like his brother Prince William and his wife the Duchess of Cambridge, the couple have chosen a secluded corner of the Queen's Norfolk estate.

The house stands on a private track - with a 19mph speed limit - inside the gated park, guaranteeing privacy for the couple, although it overlooks areas to which the public are allowed access.

William and Kate moved to Anmer Hall, around two miles from Sandringham House, after their wedding in 2011. William joined the East Anglian Air Ambulance as a pilot.

The couple were regularly seen eating out at country pubs and doing their shopping in towns and villages around the estate.

It is not known how much time Harry and Meghan will spend in Norfolk.