I’ve sort of developed a theory about Duchess Kate and Prince William’s spending habits: they spend money because they’re bored, because they are idle, because they don’t have a lot of other stuff (like, royal or charitable work) occupying their time. Like, I’m so bored, what should we do? Let’s go shopping and spend some of Charles’ money and taxpayer money. Let’s renovate a perfectly beautiful kitchen. Yes, and let’s add a second kitchen to a home we don’t even use! Let’s keep spending hundreds of thousands on endless renovations at both properties! That will keep us occupied.

So the Anmer Hall renovations continue. I think at this point, the bulk of the interiors have been completed and now they’re just doing stuff to the property around the mansion. According to the Daily Mail, the total cost thus far of Anmer Hall’s renovations is £1.5 million, although I’ve seen some outlets put it closer to £2-2.5 million. Keep in mind that the home had previous tenants who were moved out in a hurry so Will & Kate could move in – the way the press treats Anmer Hall, it’s like it was a dilapidated tear-down. It was not. It was already perfectly livable and had already undergone many renovations in the previous years by its former residents. So, what’s new? Will and Kate just must add a new tennis court. But not where the old tennis court was placed, the new court must be located somewhere new. They are bored, I’m telling you.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wasted little time escaping to Norfolk haven, Anmer Hall, for some much-needed family time in rural tranquility with their new daughter, Princess Charlotte, and son Prince George. And now it has been revealed that Kate and Prince William are looking to further enhance their ten-bedroom Georgian house, a gift from the Queen, which is to be their home for the next few years.

Planning application has been submitted to the borough council seeking permission to re-site a tennis court at Anmer Hall. The 3.65-hectare court will sit adjacent to the stately home overlooking the luscious parks and ponds. It will have an AstroTurf surface and will replace an existing court, which has fallen into disrepair. But it will be on a new site further away from the hall, which will ‘improve the views’ the Royal couple will be able to enjoy from their home.

King’s Lynn and West Norfolk council received the planning application by surveyor Andrew Holt, from the Sandringham Estate office. It said a tenant farmer was consulted about the refurbishment and a planning notice is online for public to submit comments by the end of July.

The proposal reads: ‘The current tennis court needs extensive work to resurface and we have been advised that to resurface we need to remove all the existing court and start again. In doing so the landscape designer has recommended that the court is moved away from current position to the proposed position which involves taking a very small area of Parkland to provide sufficient space around the court. The area concerned does not form part of the Ancient Monument and will not have any impact on the Agricultural tenant as the land is so small. Moving the court further away from the Hall improves the views from the Hall and locates the court largely in an area of undeveloped garden. On completion of the new court the garden will be prepared to reinstate the fencing and re-erect the parkland iron fencing. The topsoil from the new site will be used to reinstate the existing Court area with the old hard surfacing taken off site for recycling.’

[From The Daily Mail]

So, Anmer will likely get a brand new tennis court, a new swimming pool, a new garden room addition, a pergola, patio, kitchen, driveway, privacy trees and tons of added security features. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put a helipad in too since William loves to travel everywhere by helicopter. The royal sources insist, as they always do, that all of these renovations are being paid for “privately,” which means that the Queen, Prince Charles or the Middletons are paying for the renovations. My guess is Charles, through the Duchy of Cornwall funds. That’s probably part of the deal with Charles – he gets to see his grandchildren every few months if he keeps dumping more money into the Cambridges’ neverending reno.

Photos courtesy of PCN, WENN.