Someone in the comments pointed out that the fuss around Prince William and Kate’s move to Forest Lodge means that it will be very difficult for them to eventually move into Royal Lodge. It’s true – they’ve been forced to justify their Forest Lodge move to such a degree that there will be a significant backlash if, one year from now, they suddenly say “actually, we would prefer to live in Royal Lodge, that’s our new forever home!” They always wanted Royal Lodge, so it’s funny that they’re never going to get it. Anyway, back to the fiasco that is the Forest Lodge move. Hello Magazine reports that Forest Lodge also includes a “self-contained flat” which has obviously been set aside for Carole and Michael Middleton.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are now one month into their new life at Forest Lodge in Windsor, along with their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. Their eight-bedroom residence is tucked away in Great Windsor Park and provides them the perfect sanctuary for family life.
The royal couple appear to be determined to stick to their decision of having no live-in staff at this property. They made that change when they moved into Adelaide Cottage in 2022. However, Forest Lodge’s grand size and the fact that it has a “self-contained flat” as part of the accommodation means it would be possible.
Instead, it is thought that this additional accommodation could be used for guests coming to stay. Princess Kate’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, live under an hour away, but there’s a chance they may wish to have an overnight jaunt. Plus, any of their London-based friends could benefit from a bolthole in the countryside when they visit.
During my five years working for HELLO!, I have written about a plethora of royal and celebrity mansions, and I can say it is commonplace for them to come with some sort of guest accommodation. This just means that when they do have company, family life isn’t as disrupted, and their guests can also benefit from their own space. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, for example, also have a private guesthouse at their Montecito home and it is believed that Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, uses it when she travels from her own home that’s around two hours away.
I seriously doubt Meghan is putting her mother in the guest cottage. I’m sure Doria stays in the Montecito mansion. But the point of mentioning the Sussexes was to draw the comparison: “look, William and Kate have a big house and extensive grounds now, just like Harry and Meghan!” “Look, they even have guest quarters, just like the Sussexes!” Anyway, not only does Forest Lodge contain some kind of “self-contained flat,” there are also cottages close to the manor house. We know because William and Kate evicted the lease-holders on those cottages. I imagine the Waleses’ extensive domestic and security staff will live in those cottages now. Maybe one of those cottages will be for the Middletons too. I always actually enjoy the implicit admission that Carole (especially) is constantly staying with Kate and the kids.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 05: Princess Charlotte of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince George of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales and Prince Louis of Wales depart from the ‘Together At Christmas’ Carol Service at Westminster Abbey on December 05, 2025 in London, England. Led by The Princess and supported by The Royal Foundation, the annual event offered a chance to pause and reflect on the values of love, compassion, and the connections we share. The service also highlighted remarkable individuals from across the UK who have demonstrated extraordinary kindness, empathy, and support within their communities.,Image: 1056827994, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson/Avalon
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- James Middleton and Alizee Thevenet (left) and Michael and Carole Middleton arrive for the Together At Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey in London. Picture date: Friday December 5, 2025.,Image: 1056828140, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- James Middleton and Alizee Thevenet (left) and Michael and Carole Middleton arrive for the Together At Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey in London. Picture date: Friday December 5, 2025.,Image: 1056828140, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 05: Michael Middleton and Carole Middleton depart from the ‘Together At Christmas’ Carol Service at Westminster Abbey on December 05, 2025 in London, England. Led by The Princess and supported by The Royal Foundation, the annual event offered a chance to pause and reflect on the values of love, compassion, and the connections we share. The service also highlighted remarkable individuals from across the UK who have demonstrated extraordinary kindness, empathy, and support within their communities.,Image: 1056828449, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson/Avalon
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- Berkshire, UNITED KINGDOM – Members of the Royal Family were spotted at Royal Ascot, held at Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire, UK, enjoying a day at the prestigious event. Pictured: Prince William, Carole Middleton BACKGRID USA 19 JUNE 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Berkshire, UNITED KINGDOM – Members of the Royal Family were spotted at Royal Ascot, held at Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire, UK, enjoying a day at the prestigious event. Pictured: Carole Middleton BACKGRID USA 19 JUNE 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Ascot, UNITED KINGDOM – Members Of The Royal Family attend day two of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, England. Pictured: Carole Middleton BACKGRID USA 18 JUNE 2025 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- London, UNITED KINGDOM Members of the royal family and VIP guests arrive at Westminster Abbey, ahead of the ‘Together At Christmas’ carol service spearheaded by The Princess of Wales. Pictured: Michael Middleton, Carole Middleton BACKGRID USA 5 DECEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: Zak Hussein / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- London, UNITED KINGDOM Members of the royal family and VIP guests arrive at Westminster Abbey, ahead of the ‘Together At Christmas’ carol service spearheaded by The Princess of Wales. Pictured: Michael Middleton, Carole Middleton BACKGRID USA 5 DECEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: Zak Hussein / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Racegoers and members of the royal family on day two of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: King Charles, Carole Middleton, thomas van straubenzee Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 18 Jun 2025 Credit: Cover Images
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- Racegoers and members of the royal family on day two of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Carole Middleton Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 18 Jun 2025 Credit: Cover Images
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- Racegoers and members of the royal family on day two of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Lord Nicolas Soames, King Charles, Carole Middleton Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 18 Jun 2025 Credit: Cover Images
A flat for *the* Middletons?
I highly doubt they’re still together. After all, there have been rumours for years, ever since Pippa’s wedding, I think.
In any case, every family probably has their grandparents around from time to time, even if they’re not nearly as meddlesome, or trying to profit off of their kid and spouse, as the grifting Ma Middletonedeaf.
Exactly. It’s a flat for Carole. Michael Middleton hasn’t lived with his “wife” for years.
Kaiser is right: Doria stays in the main house with her daughter and son-in-law, but the mention of the Sussexes’ guest house indicates that the Waleses are still desperately trying to compete with them, in their own one-sided little way. Bless.
When people have these mansions why do they have 10 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms if no one uses them?
I’m pretty sure all their “London friends” already have a bolt hole in the country.
I’m pretty sure none of these people have friends.
I too was puzzled why Hello thought it was necessary to reference Harry and Meghan who are paying for their home verses the tax funded Wales.
Will probably wants the very grand Bagshot Park with it’s 120 rooms rather than a mere 30 rooms on offer with Royal Lodge. After all why should FK and FQ slum it? Don’t they deserve the absolute very best for themselves and their young family after ALL they do for the nation?
Hey, why slum it with 120 rooms when Buck House has 770 rooms?
Once he’s King, the sky’s the limit, park Kate and Carole at Bagshot and scooter around Buck House!!
Oh, I don’t know about that. It’s in Central London and, the Willnot can’t possibly be seen coming and going at all hours accompanied by who knows who! Privacy, don’t you know! Think of the Children and Poor Sickly Catherine! /s
They will definitely move to RL, even if they have to burn down FL. I suspect when William is king he will simply move into Windsor castle while the family lives at RL.
Gotta say, scootering around Buck House sounds like the most fun thing ever, especially if I can pocket a few priceless bits.
Well of course it has a flat for the Middletons. I still believe it’s a house for Can’t and she will want her parents with her so a deal was made for Forest Lodge. I also believe that they took the 150 acres for their privacy so no peeping eyes can see who is there at any given time.
This is so hilarious to me. It’s like no one has ever heard of a spare/guest bedroom for visitors? It’s just a bigger-property equivalent of that, with its own bathroom facilities and a kitchen bit etc.. Do these people even hear themselves? Talk about a non-story. I’m clearly doing something wrong, having to actually work for my income as opposed to earning money for writing this pointless nonsense that is the equivalent of less than a passing thought.
Yes, I love that the Waleses land grab is being made more difficult by the bad PR. It’s what they deserve.
The things that they write as if no one else has ever heard of it, will always amuse me. What I find interesting is not necessarily that there is a space for Kate’s parents, that’s a given, it’s how much time she implicitly spends with them. And it’s not because it’s odd that a retired grandmother would spend time with her grandchildren, but she has four other grandchildren. You never hear about her spending this much time with Pippa and her three kids, or even James and his one.
And don’t they all relatively live close together? I feel like with how they’re always trying to frame her as basically grandmother supreme, if she was shuttling from house to house to see all her grandkids all the time and barely spent any time at home they would absolutely release that. Why does Kate’s kids need so much attention and for their grandmother to constantly be present when they are the product of a two parent household like their other maternal cousins?
It’s Kate that needs the attention, not the kids. If Kate didn’t have her mother she wouldn’t have any other adult to talk with.
Carole’s not only there to see the grandkids! She’s mostly there to be the emotional support/ nanny/ rainmaker/ fashion advisor and grifting collaborator for Kate. I think she’s always been the brains behind “Operation Bag a Prince/ Heir to the Throne” and as Cannot gets closer to the throne (and shrinking/ fading before our eyes), Carole is needed on site more than ever to keep Kate focused on the ultimate prize and sweet talk Willnot as needed. What I don’t understand is why Michael Middleton does nothing while his daughter has become a walking skeleton!
Yes, Carole is Kate’s best friend and mommager.
It’s pretty clear Kate has never developed full adulting skills especially when it comes to dealing with the kids. Carole secretly went to Australia on tour with them despite it only being George and nanny maria was there too. George was a toddler at that point too.
Carole is there to keep Kate locked in for the main prize.
I’m so glad that Meg and Harry are far from these sleazy people. Mooching off of the tax payers to have KKKaties parents live a lavish life. Harry as a single man didn’t even live the high life the way the Middletons do. Shameful.
Makes sense. Carol created this monster herself, so she has to babysit it.
The staff lives near the properties. Keen is not going to scrub out kitchens and vacuum and do the cooking and cleaning. And scooter won’t do the moving of
Furniture
Yep, staff lives near the properties. The whole oooh they don’t live with staff to me is eye-rolling. Bc of course they have staff and who cares. Rich people usually do. Stop pretending to be regular smegular when 150 acres of public parkland was just land grabbed.
Exactly.
YES,, much like downton abby many of the staff live ON the ESTATE properties, not IN the manor itself. so they’re just choosing not to have LIVE IN the manor.
When your marriage is a hot mess it’s also handy to reduce the number of eyewitnesses by not having live in staff.
Say what you will but it’s nice they’re being accommodated in the family’s future. It’s good to take care of family.
It’s nice for the UK taxpayers to take on that burden while they also have to pay to support their own aging parents. Let’s be real, the Middletons should pay rent if they stay there on a permanent basis.
Of course it has a flat for the Middletons. i’m sure that was one of the big reasons for needing a bigger house – so that Carole had somewhere to stay. So either the in law suite or whatever is hers, or one of the cottages is. And yes, the staff are living in the other cottages. no way are W&K living without full time staff nearby at all times.
Having an inlaw suite or a guest room isnt that unusual – I live in a small rancher and we have a guest room for crying out loud – and these large country houses were designed to accommodate guests.
But its funny that they’re making a point of telling us that there is one for Carole.
Who do we think was negotiating last year? Let us not forget it was Carole driving Kate in that photo not published in the UK.
And in law suite is fine for normal people but all this is taxpayers expenses. And even more egregious when they declared bankruptcy and screwed over local vendors.
The Sussexes are still used to compare an ocean away. Imagine if they were still there and working royals.
And if only H&M could change rent for all the people who have the living in their head rent free.
There was absolutely no reason to mention Harry and Meghan in this piece and as Kaiser said Doria is not staying the guesthouse. I think Hello just confirmed that the real reason for William and Kate moving to Forest Lodge is because they didn’t like that Harry and Meghan’s house was bigger than Adelaide Cottage.
I mean its clear they always wanted a bigger house and were forced to settle for Adelaide for some reason. They knew H&M’s house was bigger than AC when they moved in.
The Middletons are basically bankrupt, aren’t they? With no new visible income sources, although it’s probably either William or Kate from her clothing budget. So it’s amazing they can keep the roof fixed and the pool cleaned at Middleton Manor in Bucklebury. Can we expect them to sell Middleton Manor soon?
The other theory would be that the apartment is for William when he needs to visit his kids and/or keep up the pretence that he and Kate are living together.
The Waleses would need 4 of the 8 rooms–WANK (in theory) and one for each kid. This leaves four extra rooms for William, Carole, and Michael if he’s not with Carole–and one extra room left over.
Agree. I am on the Middleton lack of money train. That estate takes a lot of dough to keep up. I saw a pic maybe from James that had some views of the outside and the patio looked decrepit and the pool needed grouting tile work. That’s expensive work and this was back in 2020 so it’s probably gotten worse
They mentioned a while back that Anmer has a separate ensuite in the basement that can be used as an apartment. It’s very likely that is where William goes when they stay at Anmer.
@Nic919 LOL the idea of our Wilbur slumming it in a damp basement when he visits Anmer is irresistible to contemplate!
There’s no way Will can be content with this when he’s king. I mean, Edward has a much larger house on a bigger piece of land.
I assume that Forest Lodge is Cannot’s “separation house” to do with as she will (at the taxpayers’ expense) while Willnot can easily stay at nearby Windsor Castle. He can just as easily do the blessed school run from there!
Aww, KKKatie needs her handler around 24/7.
William will never be rid of those grifters.
Nope, they know too much!
All that fuss over Princess Alexandria paying minimal rent on her grace and favour home after years of service (unpaid years of service) to the Crown and here we have Ma Middleton with her own apartment at Royal Lodge? So, guess how much CarolE is paying to live there? Answers on the back of a postcard /s
Though it does answer the question… has Kate got herself a new ‘stylist’? You can always tell when Ma Middleton has put Kate’s outfit together.
How can Ma Midds afford such a nice, new-looking coat, and there’s her husband looking so prosperous, when Party Pieces failed so spectacularly and left vendors holding the bag to the tune of millions of pounds? They should be ashamed to go out.
They also owe over £836.000 to the British taxpayer in unpaid tax and a Covid loan! It’s amazing how the media gloss over this and the British public also seem sanguine about it.
It’s my guess that any self-contained apartment in Forest Lodge will be for W, should he ever be forced to stay there. Failing that, for a non-negotiable member of staff. The Middletons will be living in FL with KM who can’t function without them, I believe.
If their own place gets sold, it’ll provide some much needed readies for Ma, Pa, and feckless son- who will be set up for life.
thanks
So all this time the Sussexes had more guesthouses (and surely more bathrooms) than the Waleses?! Hahahahhahaha