{"id":478093,"date":"2025-10-06T12:30:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T12:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/478093\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T12:30:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T12:30:48","slug":"what-this-years-royal-property-decisions-reveal-about-the-british-royal-family-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/478093\/","title":{"rendered":"what this year\u2019s royal property decisions reveal about the British Royal Family today"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Credit: Forest Lodge, Windsor \u00a9 English Heritage\/Heritage Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Prince William and Princess Kate<\/a> have been through an incredibly difficult 18 months, and it\u2019s no surprise, therefore that they\u2019re looking for a fresh start on the home front to mark the next phase of their lives together.<\/p>\n

After a decade of shifting between homes, the couple is leaving the pink-walled Adelaide Cottage<\/a> for Forest Lodge<\/a>, an eight-bedroom Georgian mansion hidden inside Windsor Great Park. With its classical proportions, sash windows, and sweeping drive, it\u2019s certainly grand \u2013 the house is being billed as their \u201cforever base,\u201d even once William takes the throne.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Anmer Hall | Credit: Anmer Hall \u00a9 Indigo\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Forest Lodge marks the end of a series of moves, typical of young families. In the past ten years alone, William and Kate have gone from Anglesey, where they lived as newlyweds in a modest farmhouse while William flew helicopters, to Kensington Palace, where Apartment 1A became their London base, to Anmer Hall in Norfolk for family life in the country.<\/p>\n

Their 2022 move to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor was seen by many as a down-to-earth retreat (it\u2019s all relative, of course). It\u2019s compact by royal standards, with a pretty pastel exterior and just four bedrooms.<\/p>\n

Forest Lodge is a different story and sets the family up for years to come \u2013 including William\u2019s future ascension. The scale alone makes it a statement of permanence. Where Adelaide was cottage-cozy, Forest Lodge is all Georgian symmetry, high ceilings, and formal gardens \u2013 the sort of home designed to carry a family through generations. It also signals how the next King and Queen envision their domestic life \u2013 a more laid-back location than Central London, mixing grandeur with privacy.<\/p>\n

That privacy comes at a cost. A vast \u201cno-go zone\u201d has been enforced around the estate, blocking off miles of Windsor Great Park and angering locals. Yet the Waleses appear set on turning Forest Lodge into their anchor, with Anmer Hall remaining their country bolt-hole and Kensington Palace reserved for official duties.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

This move also throws Buckingham Palace\u2019s future into question. King Charles has made no secret of his dislike of the palace as a home, preferring Clarence House in London and the lived-in comfort of Highgrove and Balmoral to the famous 18th-century Palace.<\/p>\n

Renovations will keep it uninhabitable for years, and William is expected to follow his father\u2019s lead, keeping the Palace as a ceremonial and administrative headquarters rather than a family residence.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Harry, who has spent much of September beginning to rebuild bridges with his father and brother on a London visit. Yet the approach the two brothers take to their homes couldn\u2019t be more different. While his brother embraces Georgian grandeur, Harry and Meghan\u2019s California life is all pared-back, \u201cCali cool\u201d styling<\/a> \u2013 white walls, olive trees, sprawling outdoor spaces. Their Montecito mansion is a far cry from Windsor\u2019s formality, with Meghan\u2019s kettle making its way into lifestyle inboxes rather than glimpses of gilded drawing rooms.<\/p>\n

\"Montecito\"<\/p>\n

The Montecito hills | Credit: GettyImages<\/p>\n

The contrast couldn\u2019t be starker. One brother is reshaping the royal map of Britain, settling his family into the leafy permanence of Windsor Great Park. The other is half a world away, exporting his own brand of casual luxury. Together, they mark the biggest royal shake-up in decades \u2013 not just in where the royals live, but in the very style of how they choose to live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[86441,158825,123649,8167,532,8606,5105,7710,519,448,13856,7859,72131],"class_list":{"0":"post-478093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-adelaide-cottage","9":"tag-anmer-hall","10":"tag-forest-lodge","11":"tag-kensington-palace","12":"tag-prince-william","13":"tag-princess-kate","14":"tag-royal","15":"tag-royal-families","16":"tag-royal-family","17":"tag-royals","18":"tag-william-and-kate","19":"tag-windsor","20":"tag-windsor-great-park"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115327237598874562","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}