Last weekend, the Mail reported that Prince William and Kate want to leave Adelaide Cottage – their four-bedroom home on the Windsor estate – and take up a much grander property. They’re once again eyeing Fort Belvedere, which is also on the Windsor estate. The fort came up as a possibility for Will and Kate back in 2021-22, and they were reportedly quite keen on it back then, especially because of the size and the fact that it has a pool. They were also keen on Royal Lodge, Prince Andrew’s Windsor estate. The problem with the Fort and Royal Lodge is that both homes currently have tenants with valid, long-term leases which cannot be broken. So I do think this “we wanna move to Fort Belvedere” tantrum will go nowhere. Well, here’s another reason why it won’t go anywhere: King Charles says the whole thing would cost too much.
Prince William and Princess Kate’s potential new home would be a pricey investment, royal sources have claimed. The Prince and Princess of Wales are said to have set their sights on Fort Belvedere, a sprawling Gothic Revival estate tucked away in Windsor Great Park. The secluded residence was once home to King Edward VIII and served as the backdrop to his abdication in 1936 to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson.
Now, almost a century later, the future King and Queen are said to be eyeing the Grade II-listed property as their next family home. However, sources claim the King is not supportive of the idea, primarily due to the enormous cost of renovations the move would involve.
“It’ll take millions to renovate,” a Palace source told journalist Rob Shuter, writing on his Substack page #ShuterScoop. “Charles sees it as an unnecessary extravagance.”
King Charles has made a point of streamlining the monarchy in recent years, cutting costs and tightening budgets. However, with three children and long-term plans to prepare Prince George for future royal life, insiders claim Fort Belvedere ticks all the boxes for Kate and William.
“They’ve outgrown Adelaide Cottage,” one insider explained. “Fort Belvedere has it all — history, land, and proximity to Eton.”
The estate’s location near Eton College, where Prince George is widely expected to attend, is seen as a major advantage. It also offers greater privacy and security than their current home, nestled in Home Park, Windsor.
This is asinine. The whole thing is just ridiculous. King Charles sits on a fortune so vast, no one even knows how much he actually inherited from his mother. Even if one of the grander properties on the Windsor estate needed millions of pounds of renovations, why not just pay out of pocket? You know, to maintain all of this inherited real estate? I’ve had the same thought about Frogmore House, not to be confused with Frogmore Cottage (which was renovated at great cost by the Sussexes). No one resides in Frogmore House, which is actually a pretty grand palace. It would also take a lot of money to renovate to make it a liveable family home. So why not just spend the money if you’re Charles or William? Why all of this fussing over “we can’t spend money” when it comes to renovating the future king’s fifth home? This also feels like it’s a story about wanting to keep Kate at Adelaide no matter what, right?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- King Charles III, Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales attend the annual Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey, in London. Picture date: Monday March 10, 2025.,Image: 974325877, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend the annual Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey, in London. Picture date: Monday March 10, 2025.,Image: 974326044, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- Commonwealth Day Service At Westminster Abbey Featuring: King Charles III, Camilla, Queen Consort, Prince William, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince Edward, Sophie Wessex Where: London, United Kingdom When: 13 Mar 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Commonwealth Day Service At Westminster Abbey Featuring: King Charles III, Camilla, Queen Consort, Prince William, Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 13 Mar 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Royals during day one of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Queen Camilla.King Charles III Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 17 Jun 2025 Credit: Cover Images
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- Royals during day one of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: King Charles III.Queen Camilla Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 17 Jun 2025 Credit: Cover Images
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- Royals during day one of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: King Charles III.Queen Camilla Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 17 Jun 2025 Credit: Cover Images
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- Day Four of Royal Ascot Meeting 2025 Ascot Featuring: King Charles III Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 20 Jun 2025 Credit: Cover Images
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- Day Four of Royal Ascot Meeting 2025 Ascot Featuring: Queen Camilla and King Charles III Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 20 Jun 2025 Credit: Cover Images
Of course, he doesn’t. Right now someone else is paying for any repairs and rent.
The Windsors never pay renovations out of their own pockets, it’s on the crown Estates, aka the country, ake the British tax-payers pockets . H&M were the only ones who had to (and Andrew fir his second home, RL, but with mummies money, of cause).
And by the way, don’t forget – the annual maintenance costs of that fort are gigantic, including staffing, landscaping, security, etc. Those hefty extra /new bills won’t be paid by tightfisted Willy either. It’s all taxpayers bills.
Here we go! (pulls up a comfy chair, brews a big pot of tea)
Also, the money issue is because while the Waleses can pay for any renovations from Duchy income, they need Charles to break the lease with the Westons. That will cost a pretty penny, far more than any renovations
If the property is already leased to an extremely wealthy family, why would the property need renovation at all? There may be a cost to break to lease, but nothing more than some minor redecorating should be needed.
William would be able to fund that out of Duchy revenues. No one really believes he lives at Adelaide Cottage as his mani residence.
They want the taxpayer to fund the renovations without getting the backlash that they know they’ll receive.
“It’ll take millions to renovate,” a Palace source told journalist Rob Shuter, writing on his Substack page #ShuterScoop. “Charles sees it as an unnecessary extravagance.””
No shit Rob.
““They’ve outgrown Adelaide Cottage,” one insider explained. “Fort Belvedere has it all — history, land, and proximity to Eton.””
Why do they need land for? Lazy never rode around Anmer. AC’s fine. Oh, you mean the tennis court for Charlotte? 😂
Yup, sheer tone deafness for homeless champion Willy and his lazier wife!
Why did they even move in Adelaide? It isn’t like they have suddenly got multiple kids. Also, why does the press act like Adelaide is W&K’s one and only house? Don’t they have multiple houses? They just want another one.
how have they outgrown Adelaide now that one child is close to going to boarding school?
Also AC also ticks the boxes of land* history and proximity to Eton.
If Ft belvedere is currently being lived in by billionaires, I’m sure its fully renovated in terms of being maintained etc. This is about will and kate wanting to tear down walls and put in a new kitchen etc.
*I know that its not an estate like FB is but lets not act like they’re cooped up in an actual apartment** somewhere in the middle of london with no land.
** an “actual” apartment, not a mansion like 1A that backs onto a huge park (albeit a very public park.)
Hahha right, they need brand new everything because someone has cooked in that kitchen or showered in that bathroom.
KC knows full well that Will doesn’t live in AC, I doubt he has ever spent the night there. So KC doesn’t want Kate to move.
The Westons are paying for the upkeep of a small castle. Charles is not a dummy and knows that there would be a huge cost for upkeep and the penalty they would need to pay for breaking a lease with decades left.
@Smart&Messy that’s a really good point. Charles isn’t dealing with breaking the lease with the Westons and all of that for KATE. I think thats true for the housing discussion in 2021-2022 – it was all about finding a suitable place for Kate, not William, and everyone knew that. If it was about William living with her, I think the options would be very different. That’s why Windsor Castle is so firmly off the table. Charles doesn’t want KATE moving in there.
He’d be better off not talking about long-term leases not being broken. I mean really!
Those Wales are never content, always wanting more, always grasping.
Yes I think they want Can’t at Adalaide but I think that Can’t and MaMidds are driving this we want Fort Belvedere. My opinion is they have some kind of leverage over Peg and they want a bigger place for Can’t and the children and any staff and of course a nice place for the Midds to stay. I don’t believe that Peg lives at Adelaide with Can’t.
I don’t understand this “outgrown the house” narrative they’re pushing. They’ve not had another child and the house has not shrunk since they’ve moved. In fact, George may be off to boarding school in a year and Charlotte may not be far behind so there’s going to be less people living in the house full time anyway in a couple of years.
They want a third big house/fourth house overall but don’t want to say that.
They probably need room for Jason.
William has his own money now so it doesn’t matter what Charles thinks. I’m not defending William but the way this piece is written and the comments from the guy on substack it’s being portrayed as if Charles or the Sovereign Grant would have to pay for the renovations.
That’s what I was thinking. William now has the money if this was something he wanted to do. But he’d have to spend money on buying out the tenants and then renovations. It would be shocking if stingy William were to do so. But who knows.
As someone said above, I don’t think renovation is as much of an issue as breaking the lease with the long-term tenants. I would assume the Canadian billionaire family is looking after the maintenance needs of the Fort a lot better than tenants at other residences on the Windsor grounds cough***Andrew***cough
If they rent it the landlord should pay for the renovations, It was wrong for the Late Queen to expect Harry and Meghan to pay for the renovations to Frogmore cottage.
If the Wales’ break the lease and rent the Fort, landlord and tenant are basically one and the same. Like a sports team owner that wants to publicly finance a new stadium, Charles would prefer use Sovereign Grant money to pay for the work but the optics for renovating another estate for the Wales are bad, especially since SG money is still being poured into the facelift Buckingham Palace is receiving. Between the two Dutchies they could break the lease and fund any renovations and barely make a dent in the reserves.
they only had to pay back the money for renovations once they decided to not be working royals.
@DWI they paid it back bc the press had been screeching about it since they moved there, well before they made the decision to walk away. They thought it would shut the press up but nope.
I think the Waleses would expect the Crown Estate to fund the renovations or the SG. William and Kate might pay for something like the curtains but they would expect the bulk to be covered by non-duchy money which I think is the hold up.
Charles doesn’t want to set the precedent of using Duchy money for renovations. I would guess there are a lot of properties that need serious work and he’d rather use taxpayer money than his own. Once you use your own dough for stuff like that it gets harder to turn out your pockets and get the taxpayers to foot the bill
This framing that they’ve outgrown Adelaide cottage doesn’t make any sense. It’s not like they’ve lived there for 12-13 years and with their kids getting older, and having more children it doesn’t work anymore. They actively ( according to them) sought to live there just a few years ago because it was perfect for their family. What exactly has changed? Same number of kids, same school, should be the same needs.
This is about William knowing he doesn’t live in Adelaide but feeling like it’s not good enough for him, that that’s where people thinks he lives. And we know Kate has never thought it was good enough for her based off the stories about how embarrassing it would be for the kids to live there and bring their friends back ( A comically out of touch take BTW).
I think this is about them not wanting Kate to have more or anything better, because they don’t want her installed somewhere fantastic given the state of their marriage. But trying to figure out a way to not give in to her but also appease the tantrums of William.
I also think that now the separation is about a year old they have gotten use to their situation. They can maybe now live on the same property like Fergie and Andrew. At the Fort, Jason can come and go easily, he can even live there 😏
The separation is closer to three years. It was definitely in place by the time Kate and the kids moved there in August 2022.
This is some Middleton nonsense grasping for more. So that Carole can stay there with Kate.
“It also offers greater privacy and security than their current home, nestled in Home Park, Windsor.”
Say what? Now they’re clipping the security at Windsor is somehow not good enough. Please. I’m sure it’s freaking adequate. It’s one of the things the Sussexes appreciated about FC. And now the Wales are saying the security is not as good as FB. GTFOH. Now, is FB more private? Yeah and that would be a real reason. That they want even more space and privacy to hide the real state of things. But it sure as anything is not a security issue. GMAFB.
More room and privacy to land helicopters and/or slip out unnoticed.
Clipping was supposed to be claiming! But yes Dutch, privacy for helicopters and everything else. A private pool for sure. What it’s not is a security issue.
Also, the bit about being closer to Eton – maybe 8 miles closer, like half the distance. It’s not like he’ll be on the other side of the country. They really should shut up – every excuse they make makes less and less sense.
Absolutely. They really should shut up. Especially as wasn’t it just 2 days ago William was talking about his homeless initiative. And now we’re hearing about all their properties and their desire for another one.
The timing on this is just baffling. Isn’t Bulliam always briefing “when I’m king” as if Charles is going to kick the bucket soon? In which case, just wait a year and then you can do what you want. A year when George is headed to Eton anyway. And then, the stupidity of returning from your megayacht vacation hosted by another country’s foreign minister, only to immediately launch–on the Monday after you return to Britain–your campaign for bigger digs and better tennis courts.
Unless Charles’ prognosis is better than we’ve been led to think and the poor, poor Waleses are realizing they’d have to stay at Adelaide for several more years. Or unless this is coming from Carole, who is flat broke, can’t maintain Middleton Manor, and needs an in-law suite.
The way W&K have abandoned all pretense of doing any royal work at all makes me think that Charles isn’t doing too bad. He may not live another 15 years but he might be ok for 5-10.
Charles must have recovered better than they expected.
I think Charles is doing better than expected. I think they accepted AC bc they assumed Charles would upgrade them and he did not. then I think they figured what the hell, we’ll be at the castle soon enough. But I think he’s doing better so they have realized they’re not getting WC or Sandringham et al in the next 1-2 years, they might have to wait 10 years. William is probably not happy about that.
I have a feeling William has been living in Frogmore Cottage
It is too small for him. There were comments from people that “someone” keep coming to Kensington Palace via helicopter every night. He is probably living there most of the time.
It was drilled into both Queen Elizabeth and Charles by the Queen Mother and their advisors that actually, the family doesn’t get enough from the country, and that the Royals should use any money to upkeep the properties, in particular. This is even depicted in the Crown multiple times, including when the Queen agrees to pay some “tax” in order for Windsor to be restored by the taxpayer after the fire. The Queen deliberately let BP rot because she and her advisors felt the government should specially earmark money for it specifically in addition to the money that they receive from the government. And of course Charles doesn’t want another multi million dollar Cambridge/Wales decorating/renovation to turn another historical property into “Buckinghamshife”, this will be there *third* plus whatever they spent on Adelaide, and they absolutely did at least redecorate Adelaide.
Adelaide Cottage hasn’t shrunk since the Wales’ moved in. They knew what they were getting when they went there. If it’s too small, they can always move back to Kensington Palace or Anmer, both of which were extensively renovated at taxpayers’ expense.
Honestly, I’m kind of surprised they haven’t looked into schools around anmer and just moved back there. Sure they’ll have to helicopter but um they do that already. Eton is close to both AC and FB though. So claiming FB is closer than Ac seems silly.
It’s a very interesting question. I don’t think there’s as many private schools and boarding schools of the same prestige in and around Norfolk. Plus Kate’s sister and brother have moved to Berkshire. Perhaps that all plays a role.
True and at the end of the day Kate did burn social bridges in Norfolk despite the Chumley’s throwing her a bone and inviting her to the festival on their land. Which could’ve also been about promoting their festival.
This whole, being close to Eton thing, kills me. It’s boarding school. They will not be driving him there and back twice a day. George will not be walking or riding his bike to and from school everyday. England is roughly the size of Alabama. They have multiple helicopters and cars and drivers.
There is nearly no where in England where they wouldn’t be an easy distance for George to quickly get home for the weekend. I do not understand why in such a small place people act like anything at all is far away. George is not going to school in Shetland for Pete’s sake. And even that would be closer time wise than places I lived where I would regularly drive to my hometown and back for a weekend.
How far are their current homes from Eton? I know this is an American perspective, but England isn’t a big country to begin with and all of these places are in the southern half of it, right? If George is in boarding school, his parents aren’t going to be popping by every day or anything. Maybe a couple of times a month for sporting events and the like.
They just want something bigger. And honestly, even a large four bedroom house does seem small for a future King. The whole move to Adelaide was weird from the start.
It’s (Adelaide Cottage) close enough that George could ride a bike home for lunch every day.
AC is in Windsor, right next to the castle. The Thames runs through Windsor. Eton is on the other side of the river. You can see Eton from Windsor Castle. According to google maps they are 2.1 miles apart.
The current long term leaseholder is the Weston Family and they are billionaires. As if they’d be living in place *needing* extensive renovations. Any renovations necessary would purely be for aesthetic choices so this whole storyline of needing to spend millions of pounds is a distraction from the real point which is that KC3 just doesn’t want to move the Wales. Period.
@Mama T:
Unless, of course, the entire place is painted No Name™️ Yellow 💛💛💛
Haha. No I think the fancy fort gets the Presidents Choice treatment.
I think that William thinks he can just kick people out of houses with leases because that’s what he did with Anmer. He wanted Anmer (has a lot of friends in that area), so that was his “wedding present” from Granny. Unfortunately for William, it was occupied by a long term tenant! So, William had Granny kick them out.
I’m sure he thinks he can just ki kick this family out of Belvedere, but unfortunately for him, they are billionaires and I’m sure that Charles wants to keep them inside.
Wm probably thinks ‘well, Pa kicked H&M out of FC, so why can’t I kick out whomever I choose?
Miss Scarlett, why would the Westons move? I can’t see them agreeing to this, so what’s the real reason this was written? FB was brought up before and it’s pretty clear that the lease wasn’t going anywhere.
This seems like another bm distraction or they’re just writing to fill the Summer.
The current tenants (billionaire’s family) has put millions into upkeep on the place. It’s probably in move-in condition.
Charles is full of sh*t.
Once again.
What a cheapskate!
Amner was in move in condition and the Wales still spent millions of dollars renovating it to “their taste” and redecorating it to “their taste.”
Apartment 1a in KP was freshly renovated when it was offered to the Wails as their “forever home”. It had to be redecorated completely to Kate’s taste, which cost millions. 20 rooms. Furnished with the nicest antiques Kate could find in the Palaces’ storage rooms.
Anmer Hall had to be redecorated (plus a better tennis court built) for Kate wasn’t happy.
You bet she would want every room in FB to be “to her taste”, so Charles fearing it would cost milions might not be far off the mark. Does it have an indoor pool? And please don’t expect the Wails to pay for it.
Once Charles is pushing daisies, Will and Kate will move into Windsor castle anyway. One wing for William, one for Kate, one for the children. Of course after it is redecorated to Kate’s standards.
For once I am with Charles. They won’t find better tenants easily, after the Wails leave for Windsor Castle, FB will stand empty just as FC.
Yep! The previous tenants had totally gutted and redone the kitchen. Then they were kicked out (I doubt they were reimbursed for improvements!) and then Kate had it gutted once again.
Here we are. Charles does not want to cough up the money for the renovations. That is the perk of having all the estates, castles and Manors. They have to be maintained. This is the reason a lot of the aristocrats had to sell their Manors/Estates or give it to the National Trust to open it to the public because they could not afford the maintenance of the huge buildings.
On another note all this talking about leaseholds reminded me that the UK government want to overhaul the leasehold system. I am wondering if this would affect Charles and William in any way.
FB is not closer to Eton than AC. FB is at the far south end of Windsor Great Park, whilst AC is directly across the river from Eton.
What about the Middletons? Idk anything about their finances but they may be finite. So get a bigger house and move the in-laws in to be secretly supported by the taxpayers instead of paying their own way like the rest of us. CarolE’s dream.
If Charles were even open to the Waleses moving, I bet he would rather break Andrew’s lease at Royal Lodge than p-off this billionaire Canadian family at Fort Belvedere. Isn’t Andrew paying a pittance to rent Royal Lodge anyway? And I haven’t heard much about Andrew modernizing it or even doing basic maintenance, because Andrew is cash poor and might even welcome the cash + something smaller. So it seems like it would be far less to buy out Andrew.
But Charles isn’t open to them moving at all. As evidenced by his refusal to give them a wing or flat at Windsor Castle. Yes, it would cost money to remodel part of Windsor, but it would cost a lot less than breaking leases and remodeling Frogmore. It’s completely mysterious (to me at least) whether there’s a legitimate reason preventing them from moving into a wing/flat at Windsor Castle. More like, Charles said, nah, the public fixed up KP for you and the public can see you’re not living there much, you also have Anmer, so you don’t need another home. I’m not even giving you the flat at Windsor. I’m not paying for it, and you’re nuts if you think the public will pay for a broken lease and another massive remodeling job for you. Charles may also be afraid of the grifting Middletons moving into an in-law suite at a larger place (I seriously doubt they can afford the upkeep on Middleton Manor) and the optics of that. Is this a rare instance where Charles is parenting?
I suspect the issue is the Middletons, especially Carole, squatting at a larger estate. There is no room for her at Adelaide cottage.
Agree. It’s a mystery how they maintain Middleton Manor when there’s no visible income and we know they have few liquid assets because they couldn’t pay the insolvency firm. My completely untested theory is that the $70k Kate spent on clothes so far this year, when she has worn repeats to almost every engagement except for a few state dinner outfits and maybe new ski wear and bikinis, was funneled to the Middletons and a frustrated accountant put it on the books as “clothing.” (If true, cash for the Middletons becomes a tax write-off.) Carole just turned 70 and Michael is 76. They can’t keep up Middleton Manor forever, even with lots of help they probably can’t afford. Their age is the perfect excuse.
Will and Kate together are a giant sucking device, to reap as much free stuff as possible from the people of Great Britain. And do nothing in return except make up lies and excuses. Will this be their sixth property? ENOUGH!
Imagine having a roof over your head . One of many and having the nerve to complain it’s not big enough when you still have about 4 other houses . When so many people don’t have any. Will And Kate are greedy and lazy selfish and stupid.
This whole thing is absurd. Let them move into Windsor Castle. It has 1000 rooms!
1000 rooms for Kate to gut and remodel. Welp; that should keep her busy and out of William’s few hairs.
Frogmore house is old and has protected status. They’d do damage trying to make it comfortable by modern standards. Thus they keep it for events and tourism. I visited years ago and it’s not big and very old.
I don’t know what the point of this argument is, I really don’t. Is this Charles getting back at William for the Highgrove article? Is this William trying to assert his position before he is crowned? Who knows and who cares. This is the c r a p everyone is focused on while the totals trade favors with dictators, collect welfare from the government, and fail to do fuck all for their people.
Charles is going to die soon. William will become the King and profit off the Duchy of Lancaster. His son will inherit the Duchy of Cornwall at the ripe age of 13 or 14 years old. Which means that William will likely control both Duchy estates and therefore will have access to all the profits.
If William wants Fort Belvedere, he just has to wait out his father. He will have the funds and the bully pulpit to push the Weston’s out and put “George and family” in. As long as he sells it as the permanent home of the future king (aka George), dumb monarchists will buy it and the corrupt media will sell it. But there is no doubt that Fort Belvedere will be Kate’s home with her parents. George will be at Windsor castle or wherever William lives.
Are the Westons going to agree to leave? Why would they? I don’t see that happening. I don’t know why this was written, but it isn’t because they are serious about FB.