It was announced today that Prince William and Kate will relocate to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor with their three children, George, Charlotte, and Louis, and enroll them nearby in the esteemed Lambrook School, which costs £21,000 a year.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been preparing to relocate to Berkshire since last year. Now, royal advisers have disclosed that starting in the fall, all of their children will attend the same school, located seven miles from their new residence.
Currently residing in Kensington Palace in London, William and Kate, both 40, are thought to wish to give the children a rural upbringing and to be nearer to the Duchess’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton.
According to a source, the parents made this choice to give their kids the “most normal” start imaginable. KP occasionally resembles a fishbowl. In comparison to their current level of freedom in central London, they wanted to be able to give George, Charlotte, and Louis a little more. It’s clear that the youngsters have taken the lead in making this choice.
The pair will continue to use the 20-room Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace as their base in the capital, and this will also serve as the offices for their employees. They will now be closer to the Queen’s private apartments at Windsor Castle.
In addition, the Cambridges plan to preserve their present country residence at Anmer Hall on the 96-year-old monarch’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk, where they anticipate to continue taking vacations.
In a new period where they are assuming more significant royal roles, William and Kate are said to wish to be nearer to the Queen, who has experienced a number of health concerns over the past year.
If a vacation home in Scotland is counted, Adelaide Cottage will be William and Kate’s fourth home. In 2002, William’s great-grandmother, the Queen Mother, presented him with the Tam-Na-Ghar home on the Balmoral estate.
The Queen granted the Cambridges permission to lease the four-bedroom, Grade II-listed Adelaide Cottage from the 19th century, which is owned by the Crown Estate, and they will use it as their home base. It is tucked away in the exclusive Home Park, 10 minutes’ walk from Windsor Castle, and was constructed for Queen Adelaide in 1831.
William and Kate are rumored to have their hearts set on sending their children to Lambrook, an outdoor-oriented preparatory school with 52 acres of grounds, even though the annual tuition will exceed £50,000 for them.
Before the start of the school year, the family will relocate to Adelaide Cottage, Kensington Palace said. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge today announced that Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis will attend Lambrook School in Berkshire beginning in the fall of 2022, according to a representative for the pair.
‘Their Royal Highnesses are delighted to have discovered a school for all three of their children which shares a similar ethos and values to Thomas’s, and are enormously grateful to Thomas’s Battersea where George and Charlotte have had a good start to their education since 2017 and 2019 respectively.’
Princess Eugenie, 32, her husband Jack Brooksbank, and their infant son August were rumored to have their sights set on Adelaide Cottage by Prince Andrew, who resides close at Royal Lodge.
However, it appears that William and Kate have been granted first refusal. They had also been considering Frogmore House and Fort Belvedere on the Windsor estate before both were deemed unfit.
Their home is located in Kensington Palace, which has served as their primary residence since 2017. Kensington Palace Gardens offer a view of the palace, which is bordered by the busy Kensington High Street. It’s frequently compared as living in a “goldfish bowl.”
They now have much more space at Adelaide Cottage, which is tucked away in the midst of the Crown Estate’s Home Park, where they can go horseback riding, take the family dog for a stroll, and let the kids run around without being seen.
The action is in line with the wishes of Princess Diana, who is claimed to have fought for a “regular existence” for Prince William and his brother despite their royal rank. Princess Diana passed away in 1997.
The Duchess’s parents, the Middletons, who reside 45 minutes away in the village of Bucklebury, will also be close by thanks to the Cambridges’ move to Windsor.
As their official dwelling and workplace, William and Kate will continue to occupy Kensington Palace’s Apartment 1A, which was renovated with £4.5 million of taxpayer money in 2013. This apartment also houses their office employees.
However, they will also continue to live in Anmer Hall, a 10-bedroom rural mansion in Norfolk that was given to them as a gift by the Queen. It has a tennis court and a swimming pool, and it underwent extensive renovations at their own expense.
‘Moving to Adelaide Cottage in the ultra-private Home Park at Windsor takes away the ‘goldfish-bowl’ aspect of the Cambridge family’s life,’ said Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine.
Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace is ideal in many ways, but due to persistent privacy concerns, the Duke and Duchess and their children are unable to come and go as they like or enjoy the adjacent London parks.
It makes perfect logistical sense for all three kids to attend the same school because there will be only one school run. The trip will be much quicker and simpler with the family in Berkshire as opposed to the nightmare that was the twice-daily trip from Kensington Palace to Battersea.
Additionally, it implies that the expense of security—a perennially divisive issue—is significantly lower than it would be if Louis attended a different school from his brothers.
A fourth residence for the Cambridges serves as a reminder that the royal family is exempt from the cost-of-living crisis and the impending recession like the rest of us, according to royal analyst and former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt.
“Prince William, who advocates for the homeless, said his family expected to stay there for many years to come when taxpayer money was spent on renovating their flat at Kensington Palace.”
According to a royal insider, the duke and duchess were extremely aware of how their decision contrasts with the country’s ongoing cost-of-living issue.
When asked if the couple was aware of the financial struggles many others experience and how they might not be able to afford such experiences, the source responded, “They surely are.”
It’s something they have given a lot of thought to, and they did not make this choice lightly.
If they had been based in Norfolk, it would have been extremely challenging for them to continue serving as senior working royals.
What they have essentially done enables them to prioritize the children while simultaneously carrying on with their daily routine.
Instead of using tax payer money through the Sovereign Grant, William and Kate will pay the market value of the home out of their own pockets and will cover the cost of their own relocation.
Future kings George, 9, and Charlotte, 7, have graduated from their present schools, Thomas’s Battersea in London, and Louis, 4, will soon begin attending school full-time.
At Lambrook, they will have access to top-notch amenities like a swimming pool, sports fields, and a new academic and ICT building worth £6 million.
Although George and Charlotte will initially be day students, the day and boarding school offers both weekly boarding and flexi boarding for the older two, where they can choose to stay one night as often as they choose.
With “complete freedom to explore, providing you’ve got your wellies on,” children can “run and run” in expansive grounds at Lambrook, whose pastoral care is praised for its excellence.
Lambrook School’s headmaster, Jonathan Perry, expressed excitement for the arrival of the Cambridge students.
Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis will be attending our school in the fall, and Mr. Perry expressed his excitement for the family’s arrival as well as the arrival of all the new students.
Ben Thomas, the head of Thomas’s London Day Schools, wished Charlotte and George “every happiness and success” in their new setting and thanked them and the other departing students for “upholding the school’s ideals and for their numerous contributions to school life throughout their time at Thomas’s.”
For a future king and his siblings, Lambrook is being chosen for the first time.
Over £53,000 will be spent annually by William and Kate on their kids’ private education.
Fees for students in Reception through Year 2 like Louis cost £4,389 each term, students in Years 3–4 like Charlotte pay £6,448 per term, and students in Grades 5–8 like George pay £6,999 per term.
The bill for 2021–2022, excluding any prospective sibling discounts, fee hikes, uniform or trip charges, future boarding costs of £1,481 per term per student for grades 3–8, totals £53,508.
Recent years have seen the use of Adelaide Cottage as a “grace and favor” residence for friends and members of the royal family.
It was constructed in 1831 as a retreat for Queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, the wife of William IV. It was also a favorite residence of Queen Victoria, who frequently had breakfast there.
However, the most well-known previous inhabitant is the late Group Captain Peter Townsend, whose affair with Princess Margaret, a sister of the Queen, ignited a public controversy. 1995 saw his passing.
The main bedroom at Adelaide Cottage has a coved ceiling decorated with gilded dolphins and rope ornament recycled from the Royal vessel Royal George, as well as a marble Graeco-Egyptian fireplace.
Additionally, Windsor Castle has seven gated entrances and exits so that the family can enter and exit in a somewhat private manner. The cottage had significant modifications in 2015, so the Cambridges wouldn’t incur a significant expense to refurbish it.
When moving to Adelaide Cottage, William and Kate will also be giving up Maria Borrallo, their live-in nanny from Norland, for the first time.
She has lived with the family for nearly nine years and was recruited by the couple in 2014 to help care for George when he was only eight months old. The family will continue to employ her full-time, though.
Prince Christian Victor and Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein were both students at Lambrook School in 1878, which opened its doors in 1860.
When Queen Victoria used to see her grandchildren play in plays and play cricket, she would travel from Windsor Castle to Lambrook. She would park her carriage where the new Queen’s building is today so she could watch from there.
They can walk to Windsor Castle from their new house and the school on the outskirts of Bracknell in about 20 minutes from Adelaide Cottage.
Being able to be close to the 96-year-old king was a consideration, according to a royal source.
Currently, four bedroom detached rental homes in Windsor with far less land cost between £3,000 and £5,750 per month.
Additionally, Adelaide Cottage makes sure that the family is close to Pippa Matthews and Michael Middleton, Kate’s siblings, who live in Bucklebury, Berkshire.
Next month, Harry and Meghan are anticipated to go to Britain from their new home in California and stay at Frogmore Cottage, though it is unlikely that they would cross paths with William and Kate.
Frogmore was given its name by Queen Victoria, who visited in 1875 and found the “immense number of small frogs” to be “very nasty.”
Taxpayers spent £2.4 million on renovations there in 2018, but Harry and Meghan have since paid back the money.
Royal family members have gone through their fair share of ups and downs while attending a range of prominent institutions.
When deciding on Lambrook as the future school for their three children, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge drew on their own educational experiences.
The private day and weekly boarding school in Berkshire, which takes pride in its academic achievement coupled with an outdoor environment, has never before accepted a future king and spares to the heir.
Prince George and Princess Charlotte gladly started their school careers in 2017 and 2019, respectively, at the popular, international private day school Thomas’s Battersea in south London.
The most crucial guideline at the school was to “be kind.”
While infant Charlotte attended Willcocks Nursery School, close to Kensington Palace, in 2018, and Louis did similarly in 2021, George attended Westacre Montessori School, located close to the Cambridges’ Norfolk home, Anmer Hall.
After just two terms at Downe House, a private girls’ school in Cold Ash, Berkshire, Kate withdrew as a 14-year-old due to alleged bullying.
She started again at Marlborough College, a co-educational boarding school in Wiltshire that costs £42,930 a year. There, she flourished, becoming the captain of the hockey team and excelling in her academics.
The duchess has long advocated for early childhood development and mental health issues alongside William.
The duke and duchess previously went to a symposium on children’s mental health to learn about problems related to the years of transition between elementary and secondary education.
William began attending Mrs Mynor’s Nursery School in west London when he was three years old.
The duke attended Wetherby School in west London starting at age four before attending Ludgrove School in Berkshire for five years.
William continued to board at Eton College for five years, as did Prince Harry. It provided him with a haven during the painful years that followed his mother’s passing and stability in the middle of his parents’ contentious divorce.
Dr. Andrew Gailey, his housemaster, was a valuable source of assistance. Due to his involvement, Dr. Gailey received a present from the Queen in the form of the title of Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) and an invitation to the royal wedding in 2011.
Dr. Gailey was credited with influencing William’s college decision because he attended St. Andrews University himself.
St. Andrew’s School in Pangbourne, Berkshire, served as Kate’s prep school.
When her family returned to the UK in 1986 after spending two and a half years in Jordan where she attended a nursery school, she enrolled in the public school, where tuition has since increased to £6,845 a term.
She remained there until she was 13 years old and was primarily a day girl, though in her latter years she also boarded for a few days each week.
William and Kate both excelled well in school and went on to get 2:1 degrees.
The Prince of Wales, grandfather of George, Charlotte, and Louis, boarded at Cheam Preparatory School when he was eight years old. Then, as a teenager, he struggled through secondary school.
Following in his father’s footsteps, the Duke of Edinburgh, Charles was enrolled at Gordonstoun School in Moray, Scotland. He was bullied there and later referred to his time there as “a prison sentence.”
Charles did acknowledge, though, that the school had given him a feeling of duty and self-discipline.
He was the first member of the British royal family to enroll in an overseas Commonwealth school, spending a portion of the 1966–1967 academic year as an exchange student at Melbourne, Australia’s Geelong Church of England Grammar School.
Zara Tindall, Peter Phillips, the Duke of York, and the Earl of Wessex were all students at Gordonstoun.
The Queen, however, received her education from Princess Margaret at home. She was instructed in constitutional history and law after her father ascended to the monarchy in 1936 and she became the successor. She has a strong command of French and has studied music and painting.