Prince William and his wife, Kate, will leave central London to live at Windsor Castle, where Queen Elizabeth II lives, as dictated by the interests of their children, their services were announced on Monday.
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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will move into Adelaide Cottage near the castle, 35km west of the capital.
In the pavilion, the family will be close to the 96-year-old sovereign, including a 70-year reign, according to a source close to the couple’s longest tenure at Kensington Palace.
AFP
“It was a decision by both parents to give their children as much of a ‘normal’ life as possible,” a person close to the couple was quoted as saying by the Press Association agency.
According to the same source, “They wanted to give George, Charlotte and Louis a bit more freedom than central London.
George, nine, is third in line after his grandfather Charles, 73, and his father William.
He, his sister Charlotte (aged seven) and his brother Louis (aged four) were educated at a private school situated on 21 hectares of land.
Lambbrook, a 20-minute drive from Windsor, offers a boarding school, but the two older siblings are day students.
The rent and running of Adelaide Cottage on the Royal Estate will be paid by the couple from their own funds, as well as school fees for their three children, estimated at £53,000 ($81,339) a year.
Both the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, 40, will retain their base in Kensington, a place of work and representation similar to the Queen’s Buckingham Palace.
AFP
They also enjoy two other estates: Anmar Hall, a ten-room residence in Norfolk (in the east), and Tam-na-Gar, a holiday home near Balmoral Royal Castle in Scotland.
The formalization of the move to Windsor, which has been rumored for months, coincides with the 25th anniversary of the death of William’s mother, Princess Diana, in a road accident in Paris.
His younger brother Harry lives in the US with his wife Meghan and their two children.
According to the YouGov Institute, while Queen Elizabeth has had to be less active due to her frail health, William, who is more in public, is the most popular “royal family” behind his grandmother, with 66% favorable opinions.
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