The Prince and Princess of Wales moved into their latest “forever home” Forest Lodge around Halloween. They were MIA for several weeks, given their kids’ school vacation, and they used that time to move into Forest Lodge. Kate is apparently enjoying decorating her latest home, and they’ve hijacked 150 acres of public park to give themselves a proper “manor” experience. They also evicted a bunch of tenants around Forest Lodge too. The British press is itching to talk about how crazy this is, but they feel like they can’t go too hard on William and Kate. There have already been stories where random people who pay to access Windsor Great Park are absolutely furious at Will & Kate’s “selfish” land-grab. The land-grab and the enhanced security measures are a huge inconvenience for locals. Speaking of:
For many, going to pick out a tree is one of the best festive traditions. But for families hoping to get theirs at a shop close to the Prince and Princess of Wales’ new Windsor mansion – it might turn into a nightmare before Christmas this year.
The Christmas Tree Shop, which opened on Thursday, traditionally sits on land next to the Waleses’ new house. Its trees are grown on the estate and they attract hundreds of punters every year in the run up to December 25.
But access routes have been limited to prevent people from driving right in front of the royal eight-bedroom home, which the family relocated to from nearby Adelaide Cottage. Cars now face being diverted around a new circular route – more than a mile detour in all. Traffic cones have been placed to ensure shoppers obey the new rules. The temporary road layout seems to have brought chaos, however.
A local resident said: ‘I have already seen a few near misses where people have driven the wrong side of the cones.’
Two royal security officers have also been stationed in the shop’s car park to prevent intruders during operating hours.
Another resident said: ‘A car was parked and running both days with what looked like two plain-clothes officers inside to prevent anyone going into the lodge’s grounds. The shop is right next door, so it is not surprising the Waleses are keeping an extra eye out in case anyone is tempted to take a peek.’
If Will & Kate had bought a private property and security was enforcing the property they actually owned, I wouldn’t have a problem with anything being done. But the fact that this is on the Windsor estate, the fact that they grabbed public park land, the fact that they’ve shut down at least one of the park entrances, and the fact that they’re now causing chaos for regular people simply trying to buy Christmas trees, well… it’s coming across as arrogant and entitled.
A few weeks ago, various outlets were making a big deal about how much Forest Lodge would be worth in the open market: £16 million, or approximately 60 times the value of the average British home. Again, the more I think about it, the weirder this Forest Lodge move is. Why didn’t they just buy a private home or lease another royal property which already had a security zone?
Photos and screencaps courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Kensington Palace & AppleTV+.
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- Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales attends the attend The Future Workforce Summit, hosted by The Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early Childhood, in London on November 18, 2025. The Summit is set to bring together the UK’s most influential business leaders in the hope of driving further action and investment in the early years,Image: 1053114390, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: ADRIAN DENNIS/Avalon
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- London, UK, 19 November 2025: The Prince and Princess of Wales attend the Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The Royal Variety Performance takes place every year, either in London or in a theatre around the United Kingdom. The Royal Variety Charity assists those who’ve worked professionally in the entertainment industry and in 2024 the Charity set up a dedicated team to assist those in entertainment who are in need of help and support because of mental health issues. The evening will be hosted by Jason Manford and will include a number of performances across theatre, comedy and music with an exclusive performance from Paddington The Musical by composer Tom Fletcher. There will also be a performance from the West End and Paris casts of Les Misérables including Michael Ball, Matt Lucas and Killian Donnelly to celebrate the show’s 40th anniversary. Alongside this, there will be musical performances from Jessie J and Laufey. Their Royal Highnesses will meet a number of performers and representatives from the Royal Variety Charity.,Image: 1053406454, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jonathan Buckmaster/Avalon
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- Catherine, Princess of Wales, Patron of Anna Freud, during a visit to the children’s mental health charity in north London, to discuss the vital role of relationships and connection in shaping babies, children and young people’s future life outcomes. The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood is launching a new project with Anna Freud to enhance the skills of health visitors to support early social and emotional development. Picture date: Thursday November 27, 2025.,Image: 1054968662, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph/Avalon
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales during a visit to the Grange Pavilion in Cardiff to meet with members from the Windrush Cymru Elders, Black History Cymru 365, and the Ethnic Minority Youth Forum for Wales, and hear about the contribution the Windrush generation has had on the Welsh community and learn about how young minority ethnic individuals are creating positive change. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Cardiff, United Kingdom When: 02 Oct 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive at the Royal Variety Performance 2025 at the Royal Albert Hall in London Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, William, Prince of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 19 Nov 2025 Credit: Cover Images
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- The Princess of Wales arriving for the Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall, London Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 19 Nov 2025 Credit: Yui Mok/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales pose for a photo with the Paddington Bear from the London stage musical, at the Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall, London Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 19 Nov 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales during his visit to officially open the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Leeds, United Kingdom When: 20 Nov 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Because Kate wanted a copy of Pippas house which is similar, its not even a nice house , l.think. its very depressing looking place , def would of held out for Frogmore House, which is in Winsdor , has security and stunning !
Or stay put in KP and Anmer until KC keels over and they get access to his infinite number of maintaned residences all over the UK.
Seriously, why was this not considered an option? Just wait a bit more, geez Louise. I guess ‘making do’ is not a concept these two understand, unlike the rest of us.
Frogmore House is not in use as a residence – I think its been over a century since someone lived there regularly. This came up before their move to AC when people kept mentioning FH but that was never really an option.
Just looked up Pippa’s estate. She has at least 150 acres. That helps to explain some.
Explains a lot. That and the Montecito comparison AmyBee mentioned lower down in the comments.
“or lease another royal property which already had a security zone?”
Because William and/or Kate really wanted Royal Lodge????
And maybe they still do?????
Maybe thar’s what this is all about? All the “critical” reporting since Andrew lost his lease? Yeah guys, we, W & C, we get it. It’s inconvenient for the villagers, the tree-shoppers, we hear you – and cave. We move over to Royal Lodge and give you back the gate and 150 acres of land. Because, remember, we are the good ones!
One thing about that idea: the ha-ha is there for good. It’s a landscape feature & I don’t think it’s even possible to rehab that. It would probably take more work trying to return that to its natural setting than it took to create it.
Good point about the haha beanie bean. Now that the land has been usurped, I don’t see it being given up. They may end up at RL but this home will be kept as well.
I find it hard to get exercised over the fact people have to drive an extra mile to buy a Christmas tree in Great Windsor Park.
The big deal isn’t that they have to drive extra mile to get a Christmas tree. The big deal is that this was known before William and Kate decided to co-op this land, shut down acres of land and a play center for kids, block off entrances to Windsor Great Park, and other changes just to live there.
They could have chosen anywhere else in the country to live that provided them with the security ring, minimal citizen upheaval, and the same amount of privacy. They chose not to because they’re entitled and they don’t care about how their choices impact other people, even minuscule changes like only driving another mile. That’s the big deal, they don’t give a damn about how you’re inconvenienced.
I think its kind of like death by a thousand paper cuts in terms of Forest Lodge. any of these things by themselves aren’t huge deals. But everything that went into this move – kicking out tenants, claiming 150 acres of public land, closing the nature center for kids (oh the irony), creating a ha ha hedge (whatever the hell its called lol, haha? hee haw?), blocking off a parking lot that was used to access the walking trails, and now this – it all just points to the idea that W&K dont care who they inconvenience.
They had a chance to get a bigger house and they took it and that’s the end of it as far as they’re concerned. they’re more important so they win.
Depends on what the traffic is like for this tree farm. An extra mile could be hassle-free or a convoluted detour. It v well could be no big deal. Or it could be a massive headache, especially on the weekends. Kids and families in cars trying to get a tree for the holiday don’t want to be stuck in any extra chaos or traffic. I went to an apple tree farm and cidery and a stalled car created the kind of havoc you could not imagine.
Great Windsor Park is part of the crown estate. The royals are pretty much free to do as they like. As far as they are concerned, it’s their land. They just let peasants use it.
@Mac sure, but the issue with that argument is that the palace has been pushing a very different narrative re the Crown Estate for years now – that it really belongs to the public, that the royal family doesn’t own the crown estate, that that gold piano didn’t belong to the queen, she’s just looking after it!!!! etc.
so the idea that “they just let the peasants use it” like its some grandiose gesture on their part (which I’m sure is how the royals see it) goes directly against that narrative of the Crown Estate being for the public good and not just the royals’ benefit.
It also goes against the William’s just a regular bloke narrative and the Wales family is just like us narrative that they’ve been pushing hard.
It’s really quite astonishing that the public and the government has not raged about this more. How much are they paying for this? who pays for all these homes? Is it actually being paid?
The media mindlessly mouthed the Palace’a talking points and that’s all most of the public sees. That all costs for “moving and renovation” are being met “privately.” They have lied for 30 years that Andrew and Edward and go knows who else were paying market rent, after all.
I think most people in the UK just don’t care about the royal family, where they live, or what they do, unless is involves being besties with a ped0.
How convenient for the RF.
Re: why didn’t they buy a home – what, and possibly have additional costs? Have to travel more than 2 miles by scooter for work? Absolutely not.
Re: why not pick a different Royal property within the security ring – because they don’t have to. They have been indulged at every turn except having to move to Adelaide to begin with. William is a taker. He believes as hard as anyone else in that family that he’s entitled to all of this.
@Blujfly, “William is a taker.” 🎯 I’m reading Norman Baker’s new book, which makes this extremely clear.
In case you had any doubts, William’s “modern monarchy” means he keeps every pound of duchy and Sovereign Grant income, and he keeps all the bennies including “free” mansions like Forest Lodge and all the tax breaks. Meanwhile “modern” also means he chops down the roster of working royals, and each remaining “working” royal works much less while enjoying more freebie vacations on foreign oligarchs’ megayachts and from whoever keeps lending them vacation properties at Courcheval and Mustique. Baker’s new book goes into various aspects of this.
I’ve got his new book downloaded but have yet to start—looking forward to it!
IIRC, William and Kate did look at properties to buy but Charles refused to pay. Rather than use their own money, the moved to AC, most likely with an eye on RL or the castle itself.
According to press at the time (in summer 2021, which is when these stories started) they did look at properties to buy, and then pivoted to crown estate properties. The vibe I got was that both Charles and QEII refused to pay (she was probably like I already gave you Anmer Hall and 1A, why do you need another mansion? and charles was probably just like NOPE.)
but for this latest round it was just about the CE properties they wanted, regardless of who lived in them.
Becks1, so interesting, but how did they get permission to grab Forest Lodge and all that land? That is controlled by Charles, too, isn’t it?
There is still no reason to move from Adelaide cottage when they have Amner, KP and a place near Balmoral.
George is going to Eton or Malborough next year anyway.
And eventually William gets all the properties including Windsor castle so this additional home is just greedy with extra inconvenience for the public.
But now that William also has duchy land couldn’t he have paid?
@Jais now he could have paid, sure. I’m not sure what the deal was with Highgrove – I thought the duchy bought that but no clue really – but one thing about these royals is that they aren’t paying for anything that they can get for free (oh sorry, “market rate.”)
Ain’t that the truth, @becks1. They’re not paying for nothing. That’s my thing with all these peppercorn leases, whether it’s for the heir or a working family member. These are rich people, or at least the monarch and heir are, from both the SG and the duchy money, so why can’t the monarch pay a real rent and not these asinine peppercorn deals. Edward and Sophie work for the monarch so the monarch could pay their rent and the rent should be real, not a freaking peppercorn. Aren’t they taking money away from the Crown Estates with their shenanigans?
Is the Christmas tree shop where the fake Catherine video was recorded when she disappeared for a few months?
Hate to be such an American about it- but those people should sue the Royals over the land grab of property.
Wouldn’t discovery be fun.
Doesn’t it feel like william is *trying* to get the monarchy abolished so he can live in peace, reaping the financial benefits of having a “kingdom” without actually doing anything but collecting rents, not paying taxes, and watching his millions grow?
William appears to be making moves that will make him the last monarch. I suspect he thinks his family can keep the Duchy of Lancaster since it belonged to Henry Bolingbrook when he usurped the crown from Richard II in 1399 and it has been passed on to every monarch since.
The 150 acres is utterly unnecessary as a security perimeter, especially when the perimeters for buckingham palace, smack in the middle of London, has a smaller one.
It should be challenged but they rely on the British public being cowed by challenging the crown.
Yeah, anyone who thinks he wants to be king and serve the people hasn’t been paying attention.
How many places are just sitting empty? The Wailses don’t even seem to have toured any of the possible homes. They just went yeah yeah sure fine but it all needs to be redone and we need a lot more land. For privacy. And the helicopter.
And the fact that pedo Andy was forced to vacate his magnificent home – which let’s be real, is probably a hoarder house with rats at this point – just a month or two after the Wails announced their move will never not be delightful.
Not very good for the environment is it, an extra mile each way. surely an Earthshot recipient could have come up with a better solution, if only we knew who they were of course.
Why is the heir settling for some shack when the 15 th in line has 120 rooms to be empathetic in ? Is this fair to a devoted father of young family and husband of a fragrant wife? Where is said fragrant wife to store her wardrobe and wig collection in pokey Forest Lodge? Will should be able to scooter around those 120 rooms shouting “vroom, vroom120 vrooms”. How can he be the heir with the mostest if uncle Eddie has 120 rooms and he doesn’t?
😆
120 rooms?! I cannot fathom that, I truly cannot. I’d feel obligated to spend at least one full day in every room just to get my money’s-worth, then start all over again all year round. Oh, wait, I said ‘my money’s-worth’. Never mind! Thinking like a regular-shmegular again!
According to it’s Wikipedia entry A new building with 120 rooms was completed in 1879. The 1881 census records an equerry and 26 servants living in the main house: an under butler, a housekeeper, four valets, two lady’s maids, two dressers, a cook, three kitchen maids, three housemaids, three footmen, a page, a porter, a scullery maid, two other junior posts and a soldier. A coachman and seven grooms lived in the stables. Two other domestic staff lived in one of the lodges, three agricultural workers lived in another, and one gardener is recorded as living on the estate.
Wowzers! Thanks, @Lady Digby!
Way to endear yourselves with the taxpayers with all this security for a place that for many years has sold Christmas trees. If they wanted to be so private and secure find a different place but no the entitled don’t think that way. They want what they want and everyone else be damned.
Can you imagine reviewing your options & landing on: we want this place, just kick out the current occupants & the folks in the two nearest houses, as well; completely gut the place down to the studs & start all over again; build a ha-ha across the back (’cause nobody’s going to let us build a moat); cut off access & permanently close a gate to public lands; take 150 acres of said public lands; cone off the road that’s just outside our place & station RPOs there for good measure. Yeah, that’s the ticket! That’s our forever home! For now…. 🙄🤦♀️
I’d be so curious to hear what people living around Windsor really think. I bet it would never get printed. The Wales are coming across as a bunch of Christmas Scrooges. Choosing FL and grabbing the surrounding150 acres of land has been a disaster. Are they sitting in fear everyday that someone buying a Christmas tree is going to accidentally wander onto THEIR NEWLY PRIVATE LANDGRABBED LAND. Oh well.
And its such a contrast to stories of QEII meeting people while out for walks at Balmoral or wherever. I’m sure there was security everywhere she went and I know that some places were cut off from the general public. But it didn’t feel like there was this sense of “being seen by the public while out riding would be a disaster.”
I was trying to imagine it and the only thing I can think of is that maybe phones have changed the game? The papers wouldn’t print a chance encounter in the uk but the photos could still go up on SM. The Wales could prob get it taken down but still. Honestly, the Wales family going to the tree farm and being around the regs might actually do them some good seeing as how they just land-grabbed the park. Or on the flip side it might just give the papers a reason to discuss the land grab some more.
@jais: possibly, but people forget before the invention of the cell phone there was this thing called a camera. And ordinary citizens have had their cameras on them for at least 100 years or so. Hooray for the Brownie camera! It made photography available to all!
And EII was seen out walking way after the cell phone. But people didn’t take photos or the RPOs handled it.
Remember that cute story that recirculated after QEII’s death – where a couple was out walking near Balmoral and ran into the queen and her RPO and had the queen take a picture of them with the RPO because they wanted to be able to say they met her security officer. Now maybe it would have been less cute had they asked to take a picture with her, but it still shows that she engaged with people that she met like that, she didnt screech privacy and start a fight.
The Forest Lodge move is so weird to me. We all know that they were never happy in Adelaide despite what they insisted and we all know that FL is more likely for Kate than William.
but the timing is just weird to me. Everything else that is being said and done by the Wales and the royal institution in general indicates that Charles is not well. But then why not wait 6 months or a year and then move wherever you want? Hell then they’d have the castle itself, plus BP when its renovated, plus Sandringham itself.
Why was there this huge push on their part to get into a bigger house now when all signs point to those two having full access sooner rather than later? and if this is just about Kate’s separation home…again, wait 6 months or a year or whatever and then she can have her own wing at Windsor Castle while William lives in Buckingham Palace or Clarence House or wherever, especially since by then George will be boarding and Charlotte not far behind.
it makes me think that Charles is NOT doing as poorly as William might like (which is an awful thing to say but I mean….its true right?). It also makes me think that they really thought they were going to get WC after QEII died and didn’t expect Charles to be all “nope, this is my house now.” I think they underestimated charles’ ability to use 4-5 houses at once (Clarence, Sandringham, WC, Highgrove, and in the summer Balmoral.)
@Becks1
“plus Sandringham itself”
I have read on some “dark sites” that William has no desire to move into Sandringham as it is partially open to the public. Also, per a couple of these “dark sites”, It is easier to fly under the radar at Anmer Hall.
It is open to the public…..now. I would not be surprised if william changes that in a hurry though.
Well, yesterday there was that article from Sykes about how this past year was so difficult for the Wales. Which was weird bc it doesn’t seem near as difficult as the year before. Maybe that has something to do with it. I tend to think that William does not want to move into WC and so he wanted to establish a residence before Charles passed so that he doesn’t have to use WC as his home. Meetings yes. but home, no. William seems too privacy obsessed to live in a castle that other people live in. Although some think William has full apartments at WC now so who knows.
William thinking he would get Windsor castle is arrogance on his part because the castle has always been the residence of the monarch during his lifetime and that of his grandmother. That’s why Clarence House was set up because George VI as Duke of York lived there when his father was king.
And they all know BP has ongoing construction that means no one can live there.
I agree the timing for moving to forest lodge is odd. Perhaps this timeline was agreed upon last year when Kate was negotiating terms. I can see them pushing off a new place for her until a year later hoping that the issues around her disappearance for months would die down.
My secret hope is that it’s because William knows or suspects Charles is going to leave Sandringham and Balmoral to Camilla—or gift them before he dies to avoid taxes. His final revenge and it’s completely within his purview as private property. Like “fine you don’t want or appreciate them? You don’t get them.” Because Charles does love farming annd gardening and organic things and William doesn’t care. It would only be better if he left/gifted them to Harry.
I think the tax implications about leaving them to camilla would be interesting. I cannot remember at which point (either when her husband died or when she died) but the queen mother avoided inheritance taxes under the monarch-to-monarch exception*, even though she wasn’t the monarch. I can’t remember if it was when her husband died and left things to her or when she died and left money/property to her daughter.
*honestly I wonder if there’s an argument for doing away with the monarch to monarch exception, or maybe tax at half the rate or something. It seems to be a big part of the problem with how the family operates, since the other family members can expect to get very little in the wills while one person gets hundreds of millions and extensive property. I know that helps to keep the wealth concentrated which is part of the goal but there are significant downsides IMO.
I don’t think the Queen mother inherited anything from her husband. Sandringham and Balmoral went to Elizabeth directly and they probably hid some money away in trusts.
The Queen mother passed away and had significant debts eventually paid for by Elizabeth. I think the Queen mother was bypassed and it was just expected that Elizabeth would ensure her mother had what she needed.
Btw this is what Kate has to look forward to.
I really don’t see Charles giving balmoral of Sandringham to Camilla only because she couldn’t afford the taxes. And she would not be protected by the monarch exemption.
Charles will have transferred funds to trust account for Camilla to keep that away from William. But with property it would be challenged in court with Camilla likely to lose.
Charles helped Camilla set up Ray Mill and that is where she will go. William can’t touch that property and she can give it to her children.
I’m calling it now! Due to the upset the move has caused for the locals Scooter and Sicknote will “reluctantly” move into Royal Lodge. It will be their final final forever home. 😉
@Laura D
Your thought train is exactly the same as mine.
They will reluctantly move….as soon as Andrew reluctantly moves out which could be a while lol. He’s gonna drag it out. Maybe that’s another reason why William is annoyed with Charles. Or maybe Charles really will give RL to Camilla, lol.
Disrupting families’ Christmas traditions — like choosing a tree — is the sort of thing people remember.
I hope people hold this against K&W.
I’m confused about William paying taxes. Isn’t he funded by British taxpayers? So what’s the purpose of paying taxes?
Also when they donate to charity aren’t they just donating taxpayer money?
So his money comes from the Duchy of Cornwall, and a lot of the duchy money comes from taxpayers (they charge the NHS, they charge the military, etc.) so thats part of the taxpayer argument. And the other part is if that if the Duchy didn’t exist and was absorbed by the Crown Estate itself or some other government arm all that rent and other income would benefit the government and eventually the taxpayer.
They get money from the taxpayers from something called the Sovereign Grant, which is supposedly a percentage of the revenue from properties owned by the Crown in an official Crown capacity. This is suppose to pay for their official duties and service to the government Last year the monarch received 86,300,000 pounds, 34,000,000 of which was earmarked for ongoing repairs to Buckingham Palace. In addition, the Prince of Wales has a “private income” made up of the Duchy of Cornwall filled with properties that ought to belong to the govement and investments. William received an income of 34,000,000 pounds last year from thr Duchy. Just his chosen income – not its assets or gains. The Monarch has the Duchy of Lancaster. Last year Charles received about 27,500,000 pounds and its total assets are over 600,000,000 pounds. Neither Duchy is subject to tax. William and Charles choose to pay an amount in lieu tax. Last year they did not reveal the amount.
The answer to Kaiser’s question is none of the houses in the security zone measure up to what his brother has in Montecito.
Bingo! 💯💯💯
‘The shop is right next door, so it is not surprising the Waleses are keeping an extra eye out in case anyone is tempted to take a peek.’
What’s surprising is that the Waleses didn’t know the Christmas tree shop was at this location every year & think through the implications. What’s surprising is that they chose Royal Lodge given its proximity to public areas–the excuse for leaving KP was that it was ‘too overlooked’ & we all remember that bit of video of William & Kate chewing out that fellow walking along a bike path by their place in Sandringham. These are the ones obsessed with ‘privacy’. They’ll be leaving this place for Andrew’s recently vacated one in no time.
I do not understand why Brits allow the farce to continue.
I think this is Charles playing the long game for Camilla to have Royal Lodge after he’s gone. The Wales cannot move now because of their latest forever home and all of sudden once that’s announced, Andew loses his lease.
Selfish. Self-centered. Thoughtless. Lazy. Immature. Greedy. Gross. Vulgarians.
These two are just entitled assholes. They do this shit because they can. I more convinced than ever that William will be the last monarch of the UK. Things are reaching a tipping point.
It’s quite simple: everything that the king and his wife, as well as the heir to the throne, his wife and children do or don’t do is unconditionally wonderful, right, worthy of worship and above the law. It has always been this way and will always remain so.
At least as long as people want it to be this way and prefer to be subjects rather than citizens.