Reason behind Prince William and Kate’s unexpected decision

A key decision about their living situation raised some eyebrows when it was made back in 2022 – and new details have now been revealed.

The Prince and Princess of Wales’ decision to forgo the usual royal trend of live-in staff has remained a point of curiosity since 2022 when they swapped London for Windsor.

The couple and their three children – Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6 – currently live in the four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage, which is considered relatively small by royal standards and provides no space for a full-time nanny.

In a recent episode of Vanity Fair’s Dynasty podcast, journalist Erin Vanderhoof explained that Kate and William wanted to prioritise privacy for their family.

They have tried to strike the right balance between their public and private lives while their children are still young. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

That decision proved particularly useful earlier this year, when the family was able to bunker down and minimise exposure to internal leaks as Kate privately grappled with her cancer diagnosis and the beginning of her treatment.

“This whole year I’ve been kind of reminded by the story of when they first moved to Adelaide Cottage [ …] it’s a four-bedroom house in Windsor inside the home park within in the security ring and it doesn’t have space for a nanny,” Vanderhoof told royal expert Katie Nicholls and Claire Howarth on the podcast.

“I remember that there was some kind of internet comment like ‘Oh, however, will they live without their nanny!’

“But I think what’s very important for me about that detail is just remembering, you know I think that we have this sense of them as having fabulous lifestyles and all the people in the kitchen, and while the huge staff is the case in the castles, for the most part they have lived without a lot of people around them, partially because they do want to protect their privacy.”

As well as their Windsor home, William and Kate have retained Apartment 1A within Kensington Palace in London, where they lived before moving to Adelaide Cottage.

The lavish home covers four storeys, with 20 rooms in total, including five reception rooms, three bedrooms, dressing rooms, and two nurseries – plus nine staff bedrooms.

A rare peek inside Apartment 1A during then-President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s UK visit in 2016. Picture: Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images

William and Kate also have Anmer Hall, their country home in Norfolk.

Elsewhere during the episode, Nicholl shed light on how the Prince of Wales has been coping with both his father and wife’s cancer battles.

“The truth is he’s got a lot of worries,” she told her co-hosts.

“But knowing what I know about his personality, he’s practical, he’s pragmatic, he’s optimistic, just like his father. He is a real optimist in life and he also has his grandmother’s [the late Queen] ability to compartmentalise and that’s how he copes with life.”