Prince William and Princess Kate are set to move into Forest Lodge, once known as Holly Grove, with a Kensington Palace spokesperson telling the Mirror, ‘The Wales family will move house later this year’
William and Kate moving to new home in Windsor
Prince William and Princess Kate will one day be King and Queen, but they are surprisingly down-to-earth when it comes to their home life.
The couple are hands-on when it comes to their three young children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, and have endeavoured to give them as normal a childhood as possible, despite their extraordinary positions.
The family have been living in the modest four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage in the grounds of Windsor Park since August 2022. But Kensington Palace has now confirmed they are ready for a change move, and will be moving into the eight-bedroom Forest Lodge, located a short distance from their current home.
While the property is significantly bigger than Adelaide Cottage, William and Kate will be keeping the same unassuming home life – and will not be having any live-in staff as they focus on creating as private a family home as is possible. It comes after reports that Prince William had to act as a ‘human shield’ in tense moment between Kate and Meghan.
READ MORE: Kate and William’s ‘forever home’ means two families must moveREAD MORE: Inside Prince William and Kate’s new £16million mansion with unusual sleeping arrangements
Writing in his book New King, New Court, royal biographer Robert Hardman explained the couple’s choice to reject live-in staff, writing: “The couple did not seek to boost the staff numbers at Adelaide Cottage, not least because there would be little room to do so. Reports that the Prince was hiring a valet were knocked back.
“The Kensington Palace team does include a ‘yeoman’, a multi-tasking attendant who looks after everything from luggage to uniforms, but there is no ‘gentleman’s gentleman’ on the staff. ‘And certainly no butler,’ adds one source. ‘It’s very much them at home with the kids.'”
A source previously told the Daily Mail of William and Kate’s family life: “I think it would surprise people to see how ordinary things are at home. The children help with laying the table, clearing their plates when they’ve finished eating and helping with tidying up. There’s no preferential treatment.”
For William, it’s all the more important for the family to experience a degree of normalcy. He was raised in the knowledge that he will one day be King – just as his eldest son George will be. But before royal duties begin, William wants to ensure George and his siblings enjoy a typical upbringing, with the right emotional support around them.
“As far as we are concerned within our family unit, we are a normal family,” he said in 2016. “I love my children in the same way any father does and I hope George loves me the same way any son does his father. We are very normal in that sense.”
Much of William and Kate’s parenting style is based on the Middleton model, royal expert Duncan Larcombe told OK. “That small family unit of three kids, the same as with Kate and her siblings. They don’t live lavishly, but they do live very comfortably.”
Indeed, according to royal expert Katie Nicholl, keeping the children grounded involves having them help out with household chores and, with no live-in staff, all three are “expected to muck in”.
“They absolutely do menial tasks,” Nicholl noted. “They are far more ordinary than many might imagine – the kids even have to do chores in return for their pocket money. It’s about them wanting to have a normal, happy, ordinary family home and lifestyle which, at Adelaide Cottage, they are really achieving.”
While they don’t have live-in staff the family do have a small team that comes in to lend a helping hand, including their long-term nanny Teresa Turrion Borrallo, a gardener, and housekeeper.
And there are rules about what the staff should wear when they are on duty – although it will likely surprise fans.
According to Valentine Low, author of Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, an employee told him that casualwear is preferred while formalwear is actually frowned upon, as reported by The Sun.
“The kids run around the office, and he [William] does not want it to be stuffy. If we have important meetings or are going to Buckingham Palace, then, of course, we [dress up],” the source said.
The family’s new home, said to be worth about £16 million, dates back 328 years, and the couple are said to have already made planning applications to renovate the Grade II listed building, which was previously rented out for £15,000 a month back in 2001.
According to the BBC, the Prince and Princess are funding the move privately and will pay market rent on the property.
A Kensington Palace source has told the Mirror that while William and Kate “love” their current home of Adelaide Cottage in many ways, over time it was becoming something of a tight squeeze.
“William and Kate love the cottage but it’s just too small for them. There are four bedrooms which just about fit them all in but there are other things that need to be considered. Staff and other elements need to be factored in.
“It is also meant to be a working residence and there isn’t room to facilitate an office or hold more than a few guests at a time.”
The source added that for some time the couple has “desperately” wanted “a larger property for their family in the Windsor area” – so they are likely to be excited at the prospect of moving to their new home.
Forest Lodge Estate reportedly has three stables and two semi-detached guest houses that were converted out of old garages, as well as other cottages, new garages, a large pond and extensive gardens, and a tennis court – which is perfect for the sport-loving family.
Kate and William still have Apartment 1A in Kensington Palace – which unusually saw the couple sleep on the ground floor, rather than upstairs where bedrooms are normally found – as well as their Norfolk residence Anmer Hall, where they often spend school holidays.
