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As Queen Elizabeth permanently moved out of Buckingham Palace, her home of nearly 70 years, Prince William and Kate Middleton are saying goodbye to their longtime home, too.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are moving from London’s Kensington Palace into Adelaide Cottage, a property at Windsor Home Park estate in the royal town of Windsor — only a 10-minute walk to the Queen’s new permanent residence.
The Queen has since made her weekend retreat at Windsor Castle her primary address as Buckingham Palace undergoes a long-term renovation.
Adelaide Cottage was the couple’s first choice when looking for a permanent home to settle with their three young children — George, 8, Charlotte, 7, and Louis, 4.
There was Frogmore House to consider, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle lived for a short time, but the pair believed the renovations would cost too much to make it a family residence, according to The Sun.
“Finding a way to make Adelaide Cottage work seems to be the best and only option,” a source told the publication. “There are issues with all the other houses, so Adelaide will be the favorite.”
The property is made up of both Adelaide Cottage and Adelaide Lodge, and is conceivably the most aesthetically pleasing residence on the royal estate.
The four-bedroom residence is a “grace and favor” property, meaning the Queen is free to bestow it on whom she wishes.
One notable previous inhabitant included King George VI’s equerry, Peter Townsend, whose ill-fated relationship with Princess Margaret in the ’40s and ’50s made waves in the country at the time.
Built in 1831 for King William IV’s wife, Queen Adelaide, the property is nestled at the heart of the Crown Estate’s private 655-acre royal park, and comprises the lodge — a red brick double-fronted build complete with towering chimney stacks and pitched second-story dormer windows, and the original cottage construction — and a stucco-fronted cottage.
The original porch still stands today, as well as its surrounding manicured gardens, which remain nearly untouched in nearly 200 years.
Today, other features added onto the property include a gravel driveway, a red brick outbuilding and a gatehouse for a small security detail.
“Daddy and I walked across the Home Park to tea at Adelaide Cottage, which the [the Queen Mother] has lent Jackie and Joan Philipps for the duration of the war,” Alathea Fitzalan Howard, a close friend of Princess Elizabeth (now the Queen) and Margaret as girls, recalls in her diaries. “I was charmed with it. It typically represents that idea of a little world within a world of its own, which is so characteristic of Windsor Castle and its surroundings.”
Constructed by architect Jeffry Wyatville, the house was described as “chastely elegant,” according to a Mirror article from the 1800s. Features include two staterooms, in addition to a retiring room for the Queen, plus a servants’ room, as well as furnishings from the former royal lodge.
Aside from their residence at Kensington Palace, Prince William and Kate also lived at Anmer Hall at Sandringham in Norfolk.
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