Rebecca English at the Daily Mail had an interesting update on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s plans to relocate permanently to Windsor/Berkshire. They still haven’t firmed up a place to live, but William and Kate have apparently been looking all over Berkshire for schools for Prince George. What’s curious is that while George will need a new school this year (once his term ends at Thomas’s Battersea), it sounds like Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will still be going to Thomas’s Battersea, even when the family moves to Windsor. Rebecca English claims that contrary to every report previous to this which made the Keens’ move to Windsor sound like a full-time arrangement, William and Kate will still be London-based throughout the week. Which is how they’re explaining keeping Charlotte and Louis in school in London. Some highlights from this Mail story:
George will likely go to Lambrook prep school: The couple are understood to be finalising arrangements to move Prince George to a new prep school in Berkshire this September, with co-educational Lambrook, near Ascot, thought to be the front runner. But Princess Charlotte, six, is more likely to remain at Thomas’s Battersea for the time being where she is ‘super happy and settled’ and is expected to be joined by her brother, Prince Louis, who turns four this spring.
Oh, now the Cambridges will only live in Berkshire on the weekends: The couple are also still eyeing up properties in the Windsor area – having looked at several potential family homes on the Queen’s Berkshire estate – with a view to living in the Royal Borough at weekends and holidays. Handily, Windsor is only a short drive from Kate’s family home in Bucklebury. Her parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, are doting and very hands-on grandparents. However Kensington Palace, where they live in Apartment 1A, and have their offices and their charitable Royal Foundation, will remain their weekday base.
Giving up Anmer Hall? It means that in the near future Anmer Hall, their Norfolk home, may revert back to the Queen to pass on to another family member or rented out privately. Sources say they adore Norfolk and, if their circumstances had been different, would have loved to bring their children up on the Queen’s Sandringham estate. But they took the house on when William was based in Cambridge working for East Anglian Air Ambulance and their lives are very different now. Anmer is a long commute from London, often requiring them to travel by helicopter, and simply isn’t a practical option.
Twenty years before William sees the throne? It could, of course, be another 20 years before the couple accede to the throne and they are keen to afford their offspring as normal childhoods as possible before then.
Acutely aware of how much money they spent on the Kensington Palace renovation: They have a comfortable home-office arrangement at Kensington Palace and are acutely conscious of the £4.5million cost to taxpayers of renovating their 20-room family apartment, in addition to creating new working space. And their roles require them to be in London more often than not. As a result they have decided to continue living there, even when they become Prince and Princess of Wales, in term-time at least.
Country Keens: But both William and Kate are country people at heart, a love that has been inherited by their children. Although George, who will turn nine in July, is also extremely happy at Thomas’s in London, his parents believe it is time for him to transfer to an out-of-town school, where all the facilities are on one campus, the Daily Mail understands from multiple, well-placed sources. Weekly or ‘flexi’ boarding is on the cards. Both William and Kate were boarders from a young age.
The schools they’re considering for George: Ludgrove, the all-boys Berkshire boarding-only school where Prince William and his brother, Prince Harry, went from the ages of eight to 13, is being considered. And the couple have been spotted at both St Andrew’s in Pangbourne, where Kate was a pupil – and some insiders think is a good contender – as well as Papplewick, another boys’ school in Ascot. Sources do tell the Mail, however, that the couple have been seen visiting Lambrook ‘multiple times’ – where William is even said to have chatted with a pupil about Latin lessons. As a co-educational establishment, it would allow the Cambridges to send all three children to the same school when Charlotte and Louis, who currently attends Wilcocks Nursery, are older.
A chatty source: A source said: ‘It’s an open secret the Cambridges are looking to settle in Berkshire and George is set to leave Thomas’s this summer, unless circumstances suddenly change. It’s the talk of the county and they will, of course, be made extremely welcome. They always put their children front and centre of everything they do, so finding the right school has been a priority. It’s about what works for them as a family.’
I genuinely wonder what kind of haggling, tantruming, bullying and bargaining is happening behind-the-scenes. If I was in Charles’s shoes, I would be happy enough to have the Cambridges exiled to Berkshire, but I would put up a fight about it and make William sweat. Same with the Queen, I hope she keeps kicking the decision down the road to make William and Kate especially nervous. They so badly want some big, fancy mansion, fort, castle or palace of their own, given to them free of charge. And I also wonder if, at the end of the day, they’ll end up keeping Anmer Hall too. It wasn’t like the Queen gave them Anmer Hall as a place to live full-time because of William’s fake co-piloting job. She gave them Anmer Hall as a country-home gift after Kate had George. The Queen and Charles were shocked when Will and Kate moved there full-time for years.
As for the stuff about schools for George… he’s awfully young to be in a boarding school, but I’m not British or aristocratic, so what do I know.
Photos courtesy of Instar and Backgrid.
-
- North America Rights Only – Copenhagen, Denmark -20220223- Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visiting Stenurten Forest Kindergarten. The Duchess was there to hear about their approach to learning, which focuses on social and emotional development. -PICTURED: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: Owen Humphreys/PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
-
- North America Rights Only – Londonderry, UK -20210929- Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visit Magee University, where they are meeting some of the nursing students they spoke with on a video call in February and hear how their studies are progressing. They also visit City of Derry Rugby Club, to participate in a sports initiative bringing football, rugby and GAA playing children, together. -PICTURED: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge -PHOTO by: Chris Jackson/PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
-
- North America Rights Only – Londonderry, UK -20210929- Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to the City of Derry rugby club to participate in a sports initiative bringing football, rugby and GAA playing children, together. -PICTURED: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge -PHOTO by: Tim Rooke/PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
-
- NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UK – London, UK -20220119-Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge join in a roundtable discussion while visiting the Foundling Museum to learn more about the care sector and meet representatives from across the system, including those with direct experience of living in care -PICTURED: Prince William and Catherine Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: John Rainford/Cover Images/INSTARimages.com -51082321.jpg This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Instar Images LLC for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Instar Images LLC reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded
-
- North America Rights Only – London, UK -20220120- Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visit the Clitheroe Community Hospital, in Lancashire, to learn about the challenges faced by rural health providers in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and to understand how NHS Charities Together is supporting the mental health of the frontline workforce. -PICTURED: Prince William, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: James Glossop/PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
-
- Ballerup, DENMARK – Catherine Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton) pictured during a visit to Forest Kindergarten in Ballerup, on the second day of her 2-day visit to Denmark. Pictured: Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 23 FEBRUARY 2022 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*
-
- Ballerup, DENMARK – Catherine Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton) pictured during a visit to Forest Kindergarten in Ballerup, on the second day of her 2-day visit to Denmark. Pictured: Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 23 FEBRUARY 2022 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*
-
- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Catherine Duchess of Cambridge visits the team leading the Playful Learning Programme, a partnership between the six university colleges in Denmark and the LEGO Foundation with a vision to enhance children’s creative and experimental approach to learning. Her Royal Highness will be given an overview of the program before joining a group of students taking part in activities as part of their learning. The PlayLab is a creative learning environment for students who are training to be early years professionals. The idea of playful learning is based on the concept that children who play develop the essential skills which will help them navigate through adult life, including problem-solving, negotiating, adapting, and thinking strategically. Pictured: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 22 FEBRUARY 2022 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*
-
- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Catherine Duchess of Cambridge visits the team leading the Playful Learning Programme, a partnership between the six university colleges in Denmark and the LEGO Foundation with a vision to enhance children’s creative and experimental approach to learning. Her Royal Highness will be given an overview of the program before joining a group of students taking part in activities as part of their learning. The PlayLab is a creative learning environment for students who are training to be early years professionals. The idea of playful learning is based on the concept that children who play develop the essential skills which will help them navigate through adult life, including problem-solving, negotiating, adapting, and thinking strategically. Pictured: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 22 FEBRUARY 2022 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*
I can’t help but wonder how and why Kate’s skin looks so dramatically different from event to event. To the point where she almost looks like a different person. Even the two photos used in this story look decades apart. How is that possible? Is it just editing? It’s very strange.
Editing. She’s looked like this for years IRL but until recently the media hyper-photoshopped her pictures.
Most of the difference can be explained by retouching. I used to work in media and it is quite incredible what they can do between the original photo and the one that actually gets published. Kate herself also regularly has work done though.
For example, with her recent trip to Denmark, she clearly had just had fresh Botox as her forehead was completely smooth despite her best gurning efforts and slide excitements.
I also think she had some subtle lip fillers.
Very heavy handed editing. She looks extremely different in the danish tour pictures published in British and Danish papers. Extremely different.
As a photographer I can tell you that it’s all about lighting: her skin is absolutely all right, good even, but she has some very intense mimic which over time has made her face uneven. Plus
she has lost a lot of facial volume in the past years. When the light hits her face from the side, you can see all the dents, but when it comes from the front, she looks younger.
And editing, of course.
Catherine Deneuve famously said that by the time she’s 40, a woman has to choose between her face and her ass. The way she looks in photographs is an indictment of Kate’s lifetime of anorexia. Her ass won.
Thank you, Tanguerita! As someone who is somewhat in the public eye, I am obsessed with good lighting. It can take years off your face (and bad lighting can do the opposite)
Meghan very clearly has incredible skin because she looks amazing no matter what light she’s in
@Iris As an actress, Meghan also knows her angles. Kate, despite being in the public eye for years has never mastered the art of using cameras to her advantage.
I know right?! The rough ones shows her real skin which is terrible. They photoshop her all the time but from time to time the press does her dirty and bless us with the real her 😂
Aside from good genes, I would also say that Meghan, having lived a life devoted to wellness, carving out a career that fulfills her, and choosing her family’s happiness over some dubious dedication to duty, looks healthy and youthful as a result.
“Anmer is a long commute from London, often requiring them to travel by helicopter, and simply isn’t a practical option.”
Requiring them? Did England suddenly run out of trains? Or cars?
I took it to mean that William is officially done with his affair(s) in the Rose and Turnip Gardens and wants to be closer to his current botanical endeavors.
That was my take, too. I think Kate has desperately wanted out of Norfolk for a while, but now that William has exhausted all his resources there, he’s also eager for a change of scenery.
Also “required to take helicopters” reeks of privilege blindness. But please, do go on about the environment Willie.
Their “increased workload” is keeping them so busy that they don’t have time to drive (is what I imagine their stans, the bootlicking RR, and “palace sources” will give as the reason).
ETA @Laraw I’m crying at “current botanical endeavors”
Even more practical would have been staying at KP full-time, not Anmer. ‘Requiring’ the use of helicopters, geez Louise, these people.
so I think they are insisting on the move to Windsor (why of course is still the question) and I think that someone probably said “okay but you lost Anmer and you don’t get to pick where you live in Windsor.” They’ve probably been offered something like a suite of rooms at the castle (which sounds nice to me but what do I know) and they were like nah, we want Royal Lodge, so we’ve seen all this back and forth in the press over the past 8 months or so about it.
ETA also, the whole “still based in London during the week” translates to me as one parent will be based at KP and one in Windsor.
If this is headed towards a separation, no way is QEII letting Kate have quarters in Windsor Castle. Bad enough she has to suffer the Middletons moving onto her Sandringham estate for months on end at Christmas. She (and Charles) don’t want any Midds having access to Windsor Castle proper.
Maybe they were going to shove Kate into Frogmore Cottage and were mad when Harry renewed his lease 😂😂
at any rate I do think this is about a de facto separation, just unclear which one will live in Windsor and who will stay in London. If the two younger ones stay at St Thomas’s then i think Kate will stay at KP and it will be interesting to see where William ends up. It won’t be seen as a divorce settlement or anything like that bc there isn’t a divorce (at this point.)
But we’ll see how all this shakes out, this has just been such a weird rumor that’s been going around for so long now that I think its clear the Windsor move is happening, it will be interesting to see where they end up.
Lol at Kate at Frogmore cottage… it would totally go with her SWFing Meghan and her obsession with Harry.
But my theory is that if this is indeed heading to divorce, then Will would be at Royal Lodge and Kate would get a separate different place. If it’s just separate lives, he may stay at the castle proper (when in Windsor) while she’s at the Lodge.
That’s assuming Royal Lodge happens. If they get Ft. Belvedere, then I can see Will getting Royal Lodge after a divorce, and Ft. Belvedere being Kate’s divorce home. If it is just separate lives, she’d have Ft. B and he’d stay at the castle proper when in town.
I doubt Kate would get Royal Lodge in a divorce.
I also suspect that this discussion of leaving Amner means the Cambridges had to bargain and got something significant in exchange for leaving Norfolk.
If George is going to boarding school then kate will be at KP with Charlotte and Louis and closer to the shopping as well.
It is interesting how boarding school at age 9 is being discussed when originally it was said that Charlotte and George would be going to school together as long as possible.
If they get divorced, I seriously doubt Kate would be allowed to stay in a royal property, least of all Royal Lodge or Fort Belvedere. Even Diana didn’t have a home as grand as those two in her divorce. She might get a small apartment or more likely, separate accommodations off of a royal property. Maybe a place near her parents or something. RL and FB are huge and very expensive to maintain, I don’t think the family is particularly keen on keeping Kate there after a divorce, even if she is the mother of a future king. For William, sure.
This makes me wonder if Charles has already made the decision to make Sandringham a full time museum when he is king and he wants them to clear out.
@Mac I was wondering the same thing – its been discussed, right? Announcing now that its going to be a full time museum (even just announcing it to the family) makes sense, and Sandringham already seems set up for it – isnt’ it open part of the year anyway, plus they have all that land around it and the cafe and the light walk (I follow Sandringham on IG, its a very pretty account, lol). Turn it into a museum full time and I bet they would bring in a lot of tourists. If I’m paying to see a British country estate I might as well pay to see the one the royal family used as a country house for almost two centuries.
Anyway, that would line up with the push for Windsor for the Cambridges – either charles thinks they should move or they’re refusing to live at Anmer if Sandringham is open to the public full-time.
I could see Kate at Belvedere as the separation/divorce home until 1) the kids are all at boarding school or 2) she remarries. It wouldn’t be her divorce home for life but only until the youngest is at school or turns 18. William would get 1A as his London base, an apartment in Windsor Castle, and Highgrove House (eventually). As soon as Charles is king, William is in charge of The Duchy and would get Highgrove as his country home (1.5 hour drive from Windsor). There’s also the small Garden House at Windsor that the queen’s cousin, Margaret Rhodes, used to live in. I could see that as a place for either divorced Kate (temporarily) or Beatrice/Eugenie.
This is exactly how I translated that tidbit, @Becks1. Joint custody of kids, someone is in London during the week, someone else is located near Berkshire/Windsor and can be there for George on the weekends. The other parent/staff brings the other kids on the weekend so they can all hang out.
But, I always assumed William would be in London, but this type of move sounds like Kate would be the ideal parent to stay in London with the two younger ones…Who knows!
Ding! Ding! That comment about being at KP during the week and Berkshire on the weekends totally pinged my radar. I think we are getting a little closer to the truth of this day by day. This reeks of separation/custody arrangements–William in KP all week, Kate in Berkshire, and William comes to see the kids on the weekends.
@ L84Tea, you are right!! We will see an arrangement sooner rather than later. Baldimort is tired of playing the happy husband with Mumbles McMutton and he has wanted out for years!! CopyKeen isn’t getting anything that she will want for housing as Charles is in charge and he won’t stand for it. In fact I think Charles detests CopyKeen as she is lazy, incompetent and utterly disgusting at playing games with CarolE!! Charles has a brilliant memory and he hasn’t forgiven CopyKeen for her multiple campaigns against him!
The posher you are the younger it appears you pack your children off to boarding school. Many boys are sent to prep boarding school at the age of seven which I personally think is terribly sad. No wonder the upper-class English male is such a mess.
Yes, the “early years” are different for the aristocracy–children raised by everyone except the parents.
Yea I’ve never understood this at all. What’s the draw to send your kids away from you even for the week? And as for the part about William talking to a student about Latin lessons…is Latin really necessary? How about real world languages!
Latin is a good base, especially if there’s any interest in science.
Aristocrats didn’t raise their children anyway. That is what nannies are for.
After having hairs for the title/land, and a few spares as is their obligation , now the adults had time to pursue their own real romantic interests, children be damned. Diana was a rarity in regards of her children, and still she tried to have a grasp at love when she saw her marriage was a total farse.
In regards to boarding school, this reminded me of Tilda Swinton and her years long battle agains the boarding system in the UK. Interesting.
I took Latin at uni. It made learning Catalan and Spanish really easy. Its grammar has also come in handy to understand how Russian works. My only regret is that I didn’t learn it more thoroughly and at a younger age.
I took one year of Latin in high school and I wish I had taken more (my high school only offered one year.) It’s really helpful if you want to learn romance languages (i was a Spanish major in college and the Latin helped, and even now it still helps if I’m reading something in French or Portuguese or Italian. I can’t read a whole book lol, but I can def pick up on key phrases and words.)
Latin’s great for learning languages – French, Spanish, Italian – German. And it’s a lot of fun in its own right 😉
My mother-in-law was sent to boarding school at 7. She was a diplomat’s child and that is what was “done” in the 1950s. 70 years later, she is still friends with some of her classmates, but says it was a horrible decision by her parents. If she couldn’t live with them, she would have preferred being with her grandparents, just so she was living in a home, with family, even if it meant being on a different continent from her parents.
When Hubby told her that we had briefly discussed sending Kiddo to boarding school for High School, at 14, she was so upset.
Same. I get sending them off at 13 (and yes I know it doesn’t work for every kid but if I *had* to choose between boarding school at 7 or 13, I’d pick 13) but 7/8 is way too young. But it explains a lot of aristo attitudes and thinking.
I was shipped off to boarding school when I was six. It felt at times lonely but I joined my older siblings so after a few weeks I barely noticed it. I def would never do that to my kids.
My father is British by the way and a firm believer of boarding school. And yes, the more financially secure your family is , the earlier they tend to ship their children off.
And I notice they’re still trying to pretend Kate is posh, saying both she & William were boarders as children. Pretty sure I read that Kate & her sibs were day students at their schools.
I have a friend whose son went to boarding school in NYC at 9. He has 2 in boarding school atm and his ex wife is pushing for a 3rd to go out of 4. They each make 60k per year and are middle class; his ex wife has an outright criminal father who has been to jail several times for white collar crimes (embezzling)! Financial aid can apparently get you in.
W&K don’t own Anmer themselves, it is still own by Liz Windsor. The ‘gift’ was letting them live there free. She let THR Duke and Duchess of Kent live there free years ago. It is only non-family, like the Van Cutsems and the kitchen designers, who have to pay rent.
The revisionist history is deep with Becky E. They didn’t move there because of the EAAA job, the travel time from KP and Anmer were virtually identical.
If the other two kids don’t move schools? Setting up a similiar arrangement to now, where W&K are living apart secretly. If they get a place at Windsor, it may be set up for a separation home.
Yes, separate schools is the perfect cover for Will and Kate being in separate places. There will be stories of how homesick George is and therefore why Kate has to be out in Windsor to help him settle in et cetera
There will be a place near Buckleberry and that’s where kate is going to be. William ultimately inherits it all so really he doesn’t need to settle on any place at this time.
Oh who are they kidding, they will keep all 3 houses because they are greedy and they don’t have to pay for any of it. And oh please Becky,what work do they need to be in London for? They don’t work periods.Furthermore stop pretending like they care how much or how bad it looks that they have so many houses on the tax payers dime because they definitely don’t care
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Yep, more homes mean more time they can spend apart without too many people noticing.
They were dragged when the rumors were they would be adding another house. I think they are just reading the room if this turns out to be true.
Imagine adding another mansion to the 3/4 you already have during the craziness that is happening in the UK.
Plus the helicopter is problematic for Will with his earthshot.
But let’s see if it actually happens and they give up one of their houses. They could have someone report it but secretly they’re still using Anmer…kinda like Andrew with his security and ski chalet that was apparently “sold” meanwhile he still has both.
W&K aren’t going to decrease their helicopter usage, these is just a distraction technique.
I agree. That’s why they have the “grateful for KP renovations” statement in there.
So now they are keen for their children to have a normal upbringing (in a boarding school). PC must have finally put the brakes on that keen to be queen garbage. Or did announcing Cam as next Queen consort do that? Might be one reason the Queen agreed to sign off. Perhaps she got tired of all the anticipation of her and PC’s deaths.
I noticed she used the phrase, ‘when William & Kate accede to the throne’. William & Kate don’t accede to the throne, it’s just William. So I’d say they’re still pushing the Katie Keen is going to be Queen notion.
Wild theory- what if the plan is for W&K to get Royal Lodge and Andrew “retires” to Amner after QEII passes? Some arrangement may have been made.
Regardless of whom, I suspect someone else is getting Amner if W&K leave it.
I had this thought a week or so ago. They force Andrew out of Royal Lodge and he gets Anmer as a “consolation.” I think the issue with that is that right now, Andrew can give his RL lease to Beatrice and Eugenie in his will, but Anmer is part of the Sandringham estate and he wouldn’t own it outright so couldn’t pass it down. Royal Lodge is B&E’s inheritance from him.
I think Andy may have been willing to give up the girls’ inheritance of Royal Lodge for money and protection from his legal troubles. I’m sure another inheritance could be worked out.
Or maybe not. The girls might be screwed, which could account for Eugenie visiting Montecito.
I think Andrew would be even dumber than he already is if he gave up the lease to Royal Lodge, even for a couple million. What’s the incentive anyway? The queen already paid the settlement to VG and he’ll be protected regardless because a loose Andrew means more scandals. Despite a mild dragging, the family have supported him privately and by all accounts Andrew loves his daughters and has done the most to support them. Keeping Royal Lodge for them would be the thing he could do for Beatrice and Eugenie.
@JT, yeah, Andrew isn’t going to shaft his girls for a few million. Well, he might, but not to accommodate William and Kate.
I think Andy would easily shaft his kids for a few million, to protect himself of course, not W&K.
I’ve always assumed that Andy is desperate for cash. If he needed it bad enough, that few million could be worth it. Charles would know how to squeeze.
There’s also the very real possibility that someone (read: Charles) is forcing Andy out of Royal Lodge with the threat of unleashing the full extent of the law on him.
I just think Eugenie in Montecito is a sign B&E know daddy isn’t leaving them the Lodge. My guess: Eugenie moves to CA and Bea into Frogmore cottage thanks to Harry.
Andrew wants his daughters untouchable in a royal property. That means keeping the RL lease no matter what payoff Charles offers.
I remember reading a story about Royal Lodge that said it was so big that Andrew had his women friends over to stay all the time and Sarah lived there too and the girls. It sounds like just the set up Will is looking for. There was that bit of tea dropped here yesterday that said his current sidepiece actually lives with them as part of the household. If that’s how they plan to handle the dead marriage then there must be something about the setup of RL that will make the whole charade easier to pull off.
Harper, I have a very hard time believing that they live together–even if apart in the same house. The way they act in public tells me it’s much worse in person. I can’t imagine Heir Force Two putting up with WannaBe for 5 seconds. I believe people are right when they said they’re already separated. Besides, isn’t the gossip about the side piece about her London location? If that’s true, he’ll be in London. The comment was interesting, but I didn’t buy in to it. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
They won’t give up Amner Hall, not unless they can get their mits on Sandringham before they get the throne. They are property collecting, mainly to stop others in the family getting the plum properties in Granny’s will.
Liz won’t split off pieces of Balmoral or Sandringham in her will, because of what would be lost in inheritance tax to anyone but Charles.
Taxpayers also paid to get Anmer Hall up to snuff. Taxpayers paid for the new trees and the new drive, etc. and all the big planning expenses. Taxpayers paid for the petitioning for a no fly zone and new zoning. They are not concerns about the taxpayer money poured into Anmer?
This is a clean-up job, nothing more or less. It lies and revises all that is known about their living arrangements in order to confuse the justified criticism of the plans. It certainly reeks though of the “family” spending no time at Sandringham once the queen dies.
Finally – it must be nice to have live in help and a fleet of vehicles at your disappear and therefore the confidence to send children to different schools in all different directions and know that’s doable.
So they claim its just over a pound that the tax payers gives to the royals, is this exclusive to just England?
In the upper classes, sending your child to boarding school around 8 is seen as the perfect time, although I couldn’t imagine sending a child away at that age. I remember watching a documentary years ago and those children were so traumatised.
I was in boarding school in South Africa at age ten and there were kids much younger,though they were given a little extra attention but yes parents absolutely sent kids who were practically toddlers.
“Sources say they adore Norfolk and, if their circumstances had been different, would have loved to bring their children up on the Queen’s Sandringham estate”
Are those circumstances “William had an affair with the neighbour that made it to the plebs instead of being dinner party gossip, they fucked up in trying to deal with it i.e Kate attempting to exile Rose out of the social circle so now they have to move in order to save face and go somewhere they’ll be the big dogs aka new money parents in Windsor”?
Anyways I always thought the move to Berkshire was more wanting to get out of Anmer than London. Besides the Rose situation mentioned above, like I said before, Kate gets to be the big fish in a small pond with those new money parents. The aristos have made it clear she’ll never be one of them, she’s not friendly with her in-laws and she’s too royal to be middle class now (nor does she want to be) so the new money group is really where she fits “best”. And most of them care about titles enough they’ll give her deference and let her be queen bee in a way she wants.
+1
That particular line – “if their circumstances had been different, they would have loved to bring their children up” in the countryside – bugged me.
First, I’m sure they do love living on a giant, refurbished at taxpayer expense, somewhat secluded country estate, and nobody is forcing them to leave! They don’t get to act like they are making some huge sacrifice by choosing to swap one massive estate for another.
Second, what exactly is the rush? If both Charlotte and Louis will stay in London, I don’t see the urgency to move right! Now! They’re the FFQ and FFK after all, even this article points out that they might have 20 years or more before the throne enters keen hands. Of course, it’s all changeable, but if you value the children’s privacy and believe they will have a better life if brought up in Norfolk, then why move? Best case scenario, George could be in his thirties before he gets the POW title. Why are they so keen to put Norfolk in their rearview mirror?
Finally, I have had enough of this Bill and Cathy are but simple country folk who want a normal life nonsense. For someone who was reportedly incandescent at being described as “trapped” in the monarchy, William sure likes to whine about how his privilege is a curse. The truth is, nobody is forcing either of these fools to be working royals, or to accept any of the perks that come with that job.
If George goes to boarding school there is literally no reason for them to change their housing situation because they need to be in KP for Charlotte and Louis to go to school there. George will have accommodation at school until the school breaks, at which time he could head back to KP or Anmer.
So all this talk of another home is because the two adults want cover for not living together.
Poor things! To have to give up one giant house for another, however will they cope? Anyway, all this chatter about houses makes it look like they have absolutely nothing going on in their lives. At least nothing the media can write about. Yet.
> Poor things! To have to give up one giant house for another, however will they cope?
If only they didn’t have that pesky commute by helicopter, those crazy kids could have made it work!
Oh my Kaiser where did you get those pictures from.
I’m not surprised that William and Kate want to put George in boarding school, it’s the royal way. But the insistence in moving to Windsor is a strange one. It could be that given what happened with the aristos in Norfolk some years ago, Kate’s just not comfortable living there anymore and she wants to be closer to her family. I still suspect that William and Kate are desperate for information on the Yorks and the Sussexes to leak for the press and so moving to Windsor is necessary.
Or Kate’s not comfortable living in Norfolk on her own. No friends there and all. Plus wasn’t the original story that Kate was “away” at KP or wherever and William was at Anmer mowing the lawn when Rose took pity on him and gave him some “dinner”? So I bet Kate is desperate to get William away from there. However, William will be the one spending time at KP ” working” while Kate is at Windsor closer to mummy.
Genuinely the only thing that has ever been relatable about them to me is not wanting to do the Sandringham Christmas so if I were them I’d never give up Anmer lol.
But it does seem they want a country estate lifestyle/option and I’d guess the big reason Anmer isn’t the option for that is because it’s not convenient for W and whoever he’s with plus the aristo folks don’t like Kate.
So the Toffs ran them out of Norfolk after Kate tried to come for Rose, and are no fans of Will for his lack of discretion.
I’m all for Papplewick.
Not that I know anything about how UK schools work and all, but c’mon…
Just the NAME gets my vote!!!!
It’s glorious!
🙂
They are not going to get into Windsor Castle until William is king. It is kept very much for the monarch.
Also, they don’t automatically become Prince and Princess of Wales. Charles has to grant them the titles.
It makes sense they will still stay in London during the week.
Even if it wasn’t direct taxpayer money, the Cambridges spent millions of money not earned by them ripping Anmer apart to rebuild it to their exact wants. The couple that was renting it designed kitchens for a living and the kitchen was less than 5 years old when Kate ripped it out. Extensive, extensive remodeling was done to that place. What an utterly waste – concerns about climate change completely laughable to these people.
I’m not convinced that Kate wants to put George into boarding school at this point. In the past she said she would do that for the British equivalent of high school but not sooner. But the Aristos love boarding school for young kids, and I’m sure the couriers are pressuring her to do it. Maybe that is where the boarding school part is coming from. George’s schooling might be part of what is being negotiated at this point. If she wants a property in Windsor great park, it would be harder for them to refuse her if George (as 3rd in line) is living there with her and attending day school nearby.
I agree that it’s a change from her previous position but if used as cover for a new home following a separation kate will only care so much.
I’ve never seen her publicly comment that their children wouldn’t go to boarding school. That would be very anti-establishment and unlike Kate.
It seems a misstep to ship George off to boarding school at 9 (he’ll be 9 in the fall, yes?). That only gives her six years til Louis is out and she’s a weekday empty-nester, able to work Monday through Thursday with no childcare excuses! I can’t believe she’d set that precedent unless she knows good and well she won’t be working at all.
That’s why all the talk/suspicion they’d go with a school that offers day options as well as boarding near Windsor. Keeps them pretending to be ‘hands on’ parents.