Kate Middleton and Prince William’s New Home, Forest Lodge, Almost Went to a Different Royal Couple

The eight-bedroom property is being dubbed the Prince and Princess of Wales’ “forever home.”

The Gist

• Prince William, Kate Middleton, and their three kids Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis are moving from the four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage, where they’ve lived since 2022, to the nearby eight-bedroom Forest Lodge by the end of the year.
• The $21 million property almost went to a different royal couple entirely: Princess Anne and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, who considered moving into the property after they married in 1973. 
• Instead the couple, who ultimately divorced in 1992, moved into a different home, ultimately ending up at Gatcombe Park—where Anne still lives—in 1976, three years into their marriage.

Prince William, Kate Middleton, and their three kids are set to move into the eight-bedroom, $21 million Forest Lodge by the end of the year, but the property almost went to an entirely different royal.

Forest Lodge—which is being billed as the Prince and Princess of Wales’ “forever home”—nearly belonged to Princess Anne and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, who she married in 1973. Forest Lodge, located in Windsor Great Park, was once “strongly tipped” to be the home of the Princess Royal and her new husband, Hello! reported. A report from The Daily Telegraph from December 1975, two years after Anne married, stated that she had considered the property.

Instead, the newlyweds moved into Oak Grove House, a five-bedroom Georgian house located at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In 1976, Queen Elizabeth gifted her only daughter the Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire, where Anne still lives today (and where she took two of her 75th birthday portraits). Anne also has an apartment at St. James’s Palace in London.

The Prince and Princess of Wales’ move from the four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage to the nearby Forest Lodge represents “a new era for the family,” a source speaking to Us Weekly said. “The decision to move into this new home is a significant one that signals independence, though it is not entirely surprising.”

William and Kate “are very strict about their boundaries” when it comes to protecting “their mental health and family life,” the insider added: “They have witnessed how the role of monarch can consume one’s entire being,” the source added. “While they take their responsibilities very seriously, they are not afraid to say no when necessary.”

In moving into Forest Lodge—where William reportedly intends to stay even after he becomes king—the Prince of Wales will become the first monarch since medieval times to not live in a royal palace or castle. “To outsiders, it may seem like a big move for the royals to not live in Buckingham Palace, but to insiders, it is not surprising,” the source continued. As Buckingham Palace continues renovations through approximately 2027, “King Charles has not lived there for a long time either and prefers to spend time outside of London,” the insider added.

The palace, the source said, is “extremely large and impersonal,” and the ongoing renovations has made it not “the kind of place anyone would want to call home.”

“In many ways, it feels more like a conference center or a showcase than a palace that serves as a family home,” they added of the palace, where Queen Elizabeth lived for the majority of her 70-year reign.