For years, it’s felt like both King Charles and Prince William could not wait to get their hands on the spoils once Queen Elizabeth II passed away. William and Kate postponed their “move to Adelaide Cottage” until the very last minute, seemingly hoping that they wouldn’t have to move into the “cozy” four-bedroom cottage when they had their eye on the whole castle. William and Charles have also both seemed very eager to get their hands on Sandringham (a private estate) and of course, William wanted the Duchy of Cornwall. So… why haven’t we heard about any big royal real estate shuffle? While William and Kate are seemingly happy to be Windsor-based, and they’ve been holding events at Windsor Castle, they haven’t “moved in.” Charles also has zero plans to move into Buckingham Palace. So the two biggest symbolic pieces of royal real estate sit uninhabited.
Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace are both set to stay empty — with no royals moving in permanently following the Queen’s death. It had been thought William and Kate would live in the castle once they became Prince and Princess of Wales. But the family of five — with children George, nine, Charlotte, seven, and Louis, four — have only just settled into their four-bed Adelaide Cottage nearby on the Windsor estate.
Last week, The Sun revealed the King and Queen Consort will not move into Buckingham Palace for at least five years due to a £369million renovation. They will use it as an office while living mostly at nearby Clarence House.
Balmoral Castle, in Scotland, is also set to be opened up to tourists and will also have no royals in official residence. The Queen split her time between Buckingham Palace in the week and Windsor Castle at weekends. She spent her summers at Balmoral and her final few months there.
But a vacant Windsor Castle opens the prospect of Prince Harry and Meghan moving there, should they decide to return to the UK. They were previously disappointed not to get the 1,000-year-old castle after they wed, receiving much smaller Frogmore Cottage instead.
A source said: “It was previously said that William and Kate would move into Windsor Castle, but there are no plans for them to leave Adelaide Cottage.”
The couple moved from Kensington Palace in September, so they can do the school run. They spent no money on refurbs. The Sussexes paid back the £2.4million they spent doing up Frogmore.
The Sussexes never wanted the run of Windsor Castle or to be the sole royals living there, they simply asked for their own apartment(s) within the castle. They were told no, and given that dilapidated shack, Frogmore Cottage. I think it’s hilarious that the Sun is trying to make it sound like Harry and Meghan could come back and move into Windsor Castle… all while William and Kate made do in Adelaide Cottage? Please. If anything, mentioning the possibility of the Sussexes getting the castle will force William to move in even faster.
Since QEII’s passing, I have idly wondered what would have happened, real-estate-wise, if Harry and Meghan had never Sussexited. I’m not looking to write a dissertation on this, I just wonder how Charles would have shuffled the real estate if H&M had stayed. William and Kate would have moved into Windsor Castle already, I’m sure. Charles clearly wanted to hold onto Clarence House no matter what. So would Harry and Meghan just… stay in Frogmore Cottage? LOL.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
-
- The Princess of Wales on a walkabout to meet members of the public at Windsor Castle in Berkshire following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. Picture date: Saturday September 10, 2022.,Image: 721657008, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
-
- The Princess of Wales and Prince of Wales meeting members of the public at Windsor Castle in Berkshire following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. Picture date: Saturday September 10, 2022.,Image: 721657021, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
-
- WINDSOR, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 10: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex on the long Walk at Windsor Castle on September 10, 2022 in Windsor, England. Crowds have gathered and tributes left at the gates of Windsor Castle to Queen Elizabeth II, who died at Balmoral Castle on 8 September, 2022.,Image: 721657210, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
-
- WINDSOR, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 10: Prince William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales speak with members of the public on the Long walk at Windsor Castle on September 10, 2022 in Windsor, England. Crowds have gathered and tributes left at the gates of Windsor Castle to Queen Elizabeth II, who died at Balmoral Castle on 8 September, 2022.,Image: 721657414, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
-
- WINDSOR, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 10: Prince William, Prince of Wales shakes hands with members of the public on the Long walk at Windsor Castle on September 10, 2022 in Windsor, England. Crowds have gathered and tributes left at the gates of Windsor Castle to Queen Elizabeth II, who died at Balmoral Castle on 8 September, 2022.,Image: 721657592, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
-
- WINDSOR, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 10: Catherine, Princess of Wales speaks with the public on the long Walk at Windsor Castle on September 10, 2022 in Windsor, England. Crowds have gathered and tributes left at the gates of Windsor Castle to Queen Elizabeth II, who died at Balmoral Castle on 8 September, 2022.,Image: 721658028, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
-
- King Charles, Camilla, Queen Consort, Prince William, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex on a walkabout to meet members of the public at Windsor Castle in Berkshire following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. Featuring: Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince Harry, Meghan Duchess of Sussex Where: Windsor, England, United Kingdom When: 10 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- King Charles, Camilla, Queen Consort, Prince William, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex on a walkabout to meet members of the public at Windsor Castle in Berkshire following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Duchess of Sussex Where: Windsor, England, United Kingdom When: 10 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- King Charles, Camilla, Queen Consort, Prince William, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex on a walkabout to meet members of the public at Windsor Castle in Berkshire following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. Featuring: Catherine Princess of Wales Where: Windsor, England, United Kingdom When: 10 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
It takes time to gather up a button collection of that size.
And to put glass in all the cupboards- so it’s easier to snatch up the wiglets.
They’re on vacation!! Lol
Not sure Harry and Meghan wanted to move into to Windsor Castle, with courtiers to leak crap about them,
they were renting a house in the Cotswold, (until the tabloids flew over and took pictures of inside the house) they could not wait to get away from the compound at Kensington Palace, to move into an unfinished dump.
As far as I’m aware Windsor Castle was never an option for Harry and Meghan. They only asked if they could use the place for meetings and work and they were turned down. What’s not being reported is that William and Kate are using Windsor Castle for meetings when KP was supposed to be their offices after they moved to Windsor.
That’s what I remember, they asked about using it for office space or meetings etc and were told no. Remember H&M told us that the main options were one of the apartments at KP and FC, and they chose FC bc it was already scheduled to be renovated and it would be ready before the baby (now Archie) was born.
So it is interesting that W&K are allowed to use it for meetings when it was emphasized that they would still be using KP as their home base, work-wise.
This office space could be another story, like they refused to pose with Archie on the hospital steps, later it proved not to be true.
By the time Archie was born, I don’t think they trusted anyone around them, that’s why Meghan was back home, before his birth was announced and the RR still moans about to this day.
Spot on. King Charles 111 has been open about the Wales stepping up, by doing more engagements. He has shuttered the talk about them moving in.
As usual, it became about Prince Harry and his wife, the Duchess.
William and Kate haven’t moved in Windsor Castle because they made a whole song and dance about moving to Adelaide Cottage and wanting to be nearer the Queen. It wouldn’t look good for them to abandon Adelaide Cottage so soon after moving in. As for Harry and Meghan, if they were in the UK they would have just stayed at Frogmore Cottage. The narrative would have changed though. The press would be saying that Charles forbade them from moving to the more lavish CH.
This feels a whole hell of a lot like Willnot and Cannot floating out a news story about a castle Willnot already lives in, but wants to appear like he’s a really, PROPERLY mourning hands-on dad, and Kitty wants to be the relatable mother who has her three kids in a charming cottage that is solidly upper class. Nothing to see here, we are just normies.
Meanwhile, the wheels have fallen all the way off their relationship, and zero people in the British media want to cross the two most useless people in all of England. It’s pathetic.
Even Liz Truss was on time to appointments, Kitty.
Considering the Queen lived there and just died, I think it would look tacky to move in immediately. I don’t know what Windsor Castle is like but I’m assuming they have to remove the Queen’s things and William and Kate probably want to redecorate before moving in.
LOL this is Middleton PR trying to get kHate into the big house now that she is Princess of Wales and defacto ‘matriarch’ of the RF. They are over reaching as usual – these stories pretty much started the day after QE2’s death and just shows how desperate kHate and her family are to get a castle. Let’s face it if they move in, she won’t move out even if they divorce.
Chuck is NOT going to let them move into Windsor Castle which is a residence of the Monarch. kHate will never been the Monarch even thou she and her family like to front otherwise.
Come on Chuck – slap her and that awful family of hers down. They are becoming bolder by the day and it will blowup in ur face.
According to the press Charles doesn’t like Windsor Castle because of its directly in the flight path to Heathrow and he prefers Highgrove. I suspect there was a deal between him and William that William would get Windsor Castle when the Queen dies. It would explain why Harry and Meghan were turned down when they asked to use it as their office.
They were reporting here that Charles is using the restoration of Buckingham Palace as the reason not to move in.
Apparently it will take 3 years.
My guess is that by the time the 3-5 years are up, Charles still won’t move into Buckingham Palace, and he’ll continue to use it as an office and for events.
Tin foil theory-
They’re not moving into the castle proper yet because “they”are not moving in. Period. Either Charles is actually going to live there, or “they” has to turn in to “Will” before it happens.
Yeah I think Chuck will end up basing himself there at some point – this is all Middleton BS as they want a castle and as usual are using the media to manipulate Chuck into giving them what they want. They are trying the same tricks on the King that they used successfully in William – big mistake.
The constant grasping from that lot will eventually be their undoing.
So what I think is going on is similar to what we saw at Sandringham in 2021. William moves into the big house (now meaning WC, in 2021-ish it was Sandringham itself) while Kate stays in a smaller property, the kids maybe shift back and forth, maybe not, and the offices are based at the big house. That’s why we saw them start zooming from Sandringham, that’s why they’re holding meets and such at Windsor. William is not traveling to hold a meeting if he can help it, even if its a 10 minute walk. I think he is already at Windsor, and maybe has been there since the day “they” moved to Windsor.
If Charles isn’t moving to BP though, then he may live at Windsor even part time so he has some of the trappings of the monarchy, you know?
It was reported that he’ll live there two days, BP three days and Norfolk two days.
Are they sure that William isn’t living or at least sleeping there while the wife and kids remain at the cottage? If the family moves there it will probably be in separate wings and truthfully moving in right after the queens death isn’t a good PR move especially with the pound crashing. I’m sure it will happen but probably during summer break, they don’t want the bad press of having people freezing and starving to death while they move once again into a huge welfare funded castle, I imagine if the British economy wasn’t on the brink of collapse they would already be there.
It didn’t stop them from campaigning for a big house on the Windsor estate before they got AC so its not going to stop them now. They got a lot of bad press when it was announced they were getting AC.
At the moment they are still based at KP, that might change depending on how long Chuck stays in Clarence House. I suspect he might decide to split his time running things between CH/BP and Windsor Castle like his mother did.
When it comes to hosting the big state events both WC and BP are the best places. So to me it doesn’t make sense for the Keens to move in there – this is pure Middleton grasping to me.
Absolutely no one knows what Charles is thinking, maybe he doesn’t even know yet what he’s going to do with all this expensive to maintain real estate. My best guess is he will turn Windsor over to a trust to run it as a tourist destination. Buckingham also.
I always thought that was his intention — BP is already a tourist destination complete with gift store. No reason not to add Windsor and the grounds as an actual tour as well. Add it to the London Pass along with the Tower and start making money for maintenance.
? Windsor Castle is a tourist attraction. run by the Royal Collection Trust. It’s not the personal property of the monarch (like Sandringham and Balmoral are.) You can’t tour all of the castle, but you can see a good deal of the state rooms and the like, and you can tour St. George’s Chapel. It’s part of the London Pass, I’m pretty sure.
When you look at it from a historical POV, Charles has had the most freedom and control of the Firm than any other British monarch in history. He’s gotten away with A LOT, and to his detriment, that’s why no one shares with him the reverence they had with his mother.
um maybe it’s just as simple as the queen just died and they’re waiting to sort through estate stuff? and gasp…people are grieving? or their kids are settled in the cottage and it’s hard to uproot kids so quickly? idk everyone is quick to jump to the fact that none of these people have feelings. but everyone’s still human at the end of the day. they’re definitely flawed people and do shady things, but maybe we can still think of them as human beings.
Too bad they can’t extend that courtesy for Harry and Meghan.
it’s a good thing harry and meghan are bigger people i guess, something we can all learn from.
Kate managed to work through her grief by digging through the Queen’s jewelry box to bling herself for the funeral. So I doubt the move is on hold for due to grief but more likely logistics and appearances in Britain at the moment.
no one actually believes TQ had chests of jewels just laying about her quarters for people to just go paw through at her demise?
No, but she is on excellent terms with the Queen’s dresser and jewelholder Angela Kelly who leaked several racist smears against Meghan.
Kate’s worn those pieces before though. They’re likely on long term loan. It’s not like she was prancing around with any of the pieces that were mostly identified with the queen. And AK’s authority to do diddly pretty much ended with the queen’s death. Charles wasn’t letting Kate raid anything.
“It’s not like she was prancing around with any of the pieces that were mostly identified with the queen.”
She literally wore the Queen’s three-strand pearl necklace at a Buckingham Palace funeral lunch.
They haven’t moved in yet b/c they are going to renovate the “family quarters” with taxpayer money and are waiting on the right time to let the press know. My bet is they will do so after The Crown premiers. That way they can garner “sympathy” from their fanbase (i.e. Tory voters/monarchists) for Netflix’s “awful portrayal” of the RF.
Clarence House is far more homelike and comfy than BP and has happy Queen Mother associations for Charles, so I’m not surprised he’s planning to stay put. He’s also got Highgrove for the weekends and Camilla’s got her own place to see her grandkids so they don’t really need Windsor castle as a ‘home’ the way QE2 used it. Most people are looking to downsize in their 70s, not trade up to a castle!
William and Kate moving in when the kids are a bit older and past the playing in the garden stage would probably the best solution for everyone. I’m more interested in what’s going to happen to Highgrove down the line – I though it might go to Harry if Charles did give it up (I can’t imagine Charles would want to sell it after putting so much work into the gardens etc).
There’s something about Highgrove – it doesn’t belong to Charles but to the Duchy of Cornwall, so he can’t sell it or give it to Harry – but I think someone said he has a life lease on it or something, but since he is no longer Duke of Cornwall I think he has to pay rent on it to the current DoC (i.e. William.)
Honest question: does anyone know if the royals pay some absurdly low amount that is well below market value and still honestly claim they pay rent? Like if anyone asks they say “Oh I don’t live here for free, I do pay rent you know.”
@GreenGirl so there has been back and forth over that; I think they used to live in the apartments (like at KP) either for free or for a very nominal rent. Then at some point they had to pay “market rate” (I think around the time the switch was made from the civil list to the sovereign grant) but I remember reading that even then the Queen still picked up the tab for some of the royals who couldn’t afford the market rate. But i’m not sure if the “market rate” was actually that or not.
Open question to someone with knowledge of how all these royal residences are staffed? Families going house to house, depending on season and whim, who is there to clean, change linens, shop for groceries, cook for how many unknown guests? Just pop in for the weekend and expect the lights on and dinner waiting? How exactly does this work?
The bigger estates have full time staff — presumably an estate manager and then gardeners, maintenance people, grooms for stables (depending on the property), housekeepers etc. While I don’t know the specifics, I would assume personal attendants (Chuck’s valet) travel with him from estate to estate —- now things like cooks and additional staff for when the family is in residence…don’t know. Like when TQ went to Balmoral I don’t know if they hired temp staff or if they all just have fewer duties when she wasn’t there.
Yeah, I can understand BP and Windsor having full time staff like you described, but I do wonder about Balmoral. I wonder if the Queen had a private chef or two who traveled with her, so when she went to Balmoral the chef went up a day or so beforehand to prepare? (I know there are multiple chefs, lol, I’m specifically talking about one who might have gone from house to house with her.) I know Balmoral is open to the public at times so maybe it does have a full staff at all times, the staff just gets a bit of a breather from October to July?
I would think each place has its own staff; they’d know where everything is & what the quirks were (every place has its quirks, particularly old places). I would think there’s base staff year-round, who ensure the pipes don’t freeze in the winter & the mice don’t move in, stuff like that. Then there’s the additional staff for when the family is in residence; I would assume there’s some sort of advance notification of when that would occur. I’m just guessing. When I fantasize about owning multiple homes–two say, someplace sunny & warm for winters & some place more temperate for the rest of the year–I figure I’d hire someone to figure out that kind of thing. 😉
Can you imagine being Charles’ personal valet? Who would choose that life?
I mean, this is 2022 — there are better options.
@BeanieBean I agree with you that that’s probably exactly the way it works, but Jesus, that’s so much money wasted on enormous properties that are vacant most of the time. Even if they just do the bare minimum amount of maintenance, I imagine it’s insanely expensive. But they’re not paying, so they couldn’t care less.
The question should be “why hasn’t Kate moved into Windsor Castle?” I fully believe William is there already. Or he’s there on his weekends with the kids. I don’t believe Kate will ever live there because AC is her separation/divorce home. The death of the Queen doesn’t change the fact those two are separated. Kinda hard for William to get his freak on with his wife and kids in the house as well.
“But a vacant Windsor Castle opens the prospect of Prince Harry and Meghan moving there, should they decide to return to the UK. They were previously disappointed not to get the 1,000-year-old castle after they wed, receiving much smaller Frogmore Cottage instead.”
LOL LOL LOL. This is so funny.
It is ridiculous. I don’t believe any tabloid article written about Harry and Meghan.
So it’s been well known for decades that the family hates Buckingham Palace. Philip and Elizabeth really wanted to stay in Clarance House and use BP as office and event space, but Winston Churchill honestly kind of bullied her into moving. The rumors that Charles would stay in CH and use BP as a fancy office building have been circulating since he got CH when the Queen Mother died. I think Charles is going to use the cover of “renovations” to keep from ever moving in.
According to two separate servant memoirs I’ve read, the only person who actually liked BP was Prince Andrew.
The thing is, the Royal Family is kind of awash in Royal Residences. People who have had fancy royal residences for a very long time are dying off. Combined with largely ending grace and favor residences and slimming down the monarchy there are more residences than there are family members to who Charles is going to give them. For example, Princess Alexandra has a beautiful home. Her brother the Duke of Kent and also the Duke of Gloucester had HUGE apartments in Kensington Palace. Prince Michael is paying for his now, but that’s another oversized Kensington Palace apartment. And that’s not even accounting for the smaller ones. For example, Prince Phillip actually lived in Kensington Palace because his grandmother, the Marchioness of Milford Haven, had a grace and favor apartment there. (Victoria Milford Haven was a granddaughter via Princess Alice of Queen Victoria. Since she was of the female line she was basically Zara. No Princess title, no royal duties). In fact, so many older relatives lived at KP that David Prince of Wales called it the Aunt Heap.
@Alice, for all of the talk we hear (and have heard for years and years now) about Charles’s “slimming down” plans, have there been any discussions about “slimming down” the amount of money the taxpayers give these useless people annually, or “slimming down” the obscene number of properties they have? SMH
Only the monarch lives in Windsor Castle. It has been announced nobody is going to live there in the foreseeable future.
IMO. The fact that Kate so quickly had an engagement at Windsor was hugely distasteful. Particularly, since she used the green drawing room which is rarely used for public engagements like that and had been mainly used as a backdrop for special occasions. Also just in general the gleeful way the “new Fab Four” have conducted themselves has been uncomfortable. Even their most ardent supporters cringed at that smiley photo taken the night before the Queen’s funeral. It was too much. I don’t expect them to wear sack cloth and ashes but they’ve have been entirely too obvious in their joy for their new titles. I think the current reports are a reaction to that. They are trying to show a little more respect and discretion. It will be interesting to see how the Cambridge’s will balance use of KP and Windsor. I think William will be spending a lot of time at KP using I’m at the office as an excuse.
@Catherine says:
“They are trying to show a little more respect and discretion.”
LOL its like the scene at betty’s funeral when kHATE was decked out in betty’s big ole jewelry, thinking it would be a snub to Meghan which, of course, the rotaRats were all salivating about in the beginning. And then, folks on twitter and elsewhere began to swoon over M’s entire outfit, with her minimalist jewelry which paid homage to betty; and the beauty and elegance of her style.
Then suddenly, at kHATE’s first event after the funeral, she was dressed in little pearl earings like M had at the funeral, also given to her by betty. And the britshidtmedia ashamedly made it their duty to point out that kHATE was wearing “tastefully small earings” out of respect for betty. Whjich, of course, reminded of the big ole choker and earings and bracelets she wore to the funeral
Lots of folks were busting out laughing because it was so obvious that they were trying to clean the egg off theirs and kHATE’s face, taking their cue from all the admiration M had received for her quiet elegance at the wedding.
Charles had an event a few weeks ago and he looked like he was ready to skip and high five the crowd. So I agree they’ve been a bit too obvious!
I think they realize that moving into a new house right now would be tacky. And as pointed out above the queens items has to be removed and the place probably updated and repainted. That all takes time even if you have a large staff. I think it will be this spring or summer when they move.
The thing is, they’re known for constantly lying to the public, so no one really knows whatTF is going on at any given time. If they do make an announcement, chances are that it states the opposite of whatever the actual truth is.
I wonder what Charles has planned. Perhaps a bit of quid pro quo on William? He’s had plenty of time to think about how he wants to prepare his exceptionally lazy heir. Now he holds the reigns.
To me, it’s just simply:
Kitty lives in Adelaide Cott with the kids, William lives in an apartment at Windsor castle to be near the kids, and still lives in KP too, which makes it easy for him workwise and to meet and go out with whatever city-based woman we wants to see at any time.
The house at Sandringham has become a rotating place for who of the two of them has the kids during the (school) breaks. That’s the situation, for now at least.
@Henny ITA this is probably the most likely scenario. But with these two, who knows…they’re so sneaky.
Will the English finally be up in arms about W and K once they’ve requisitioned EVERY nice property in England for their own personal use? They’ll have the 5? castles and everybody else’s beautiful home if they so desire. Like in the U.S., you can be forced to give up your home if it’s for the public good (a highway must go through it, for example), Will and Kate can just be driving around, point to an ancestral home and say, “Wrap it up.” Because it’s for THEIR good and screw the people, their general attitude anyway.