King Charles weighs up options for his royal residence
With dwellings at his disposal from London to Transylvania, the King may have too many castles to choose from.
With more than a dozen royal residences at his disposal from London to Transylvania, the King risks being overstretched if he tries to use them all.
One royal historian suggested that Charles would be in “perpetual orbit” as he tried to split his time between castles in Scotland and stately homes in Norfolk, Surrey and Gloucestershire.
The only place that he appears reluctant to use is the one associated with the royal family around the world. Several royal biographers have suggested that while it would pain him to give up his houses at Highgrove or Sandringham, he may use renovations at Buckingham Palace as an excuse not to move in.
Hugo Vickers, a royal historian and author of biographies of the Queen Mother and Cecil Beaton, said that Charles would run his office out of the Palace and use it for state occasions but had no yearning to live there. “I think you’ll find that he’ll stay at Clarence House, which even [Queen Elizabeth] wanted to do, but Winston Churchill made her go to Buckingham Palace,” Vickers said.
Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and author of multiple royal biographies, said that the King’s staff were now split between the two London residences but the larger palace was not to his taste. “Maybe in the end he will have to move into Buckingham Palace, but I don’t think he wants to,” she said. “Buckingham Palace is so huge and impersonal and red, with red carpets and curtains. It’s not his style. He may decide that it should be available to the public all year round.”
Both suggested that the King’s preference for smaller houses may also have implications for Balmoral. A royal source said that the King preferred Birkhall on the Balmoral estate, which has about eight bedrooms, to Balmoral Castle, which has 52. “He absolutely loves Birkhall,” the source said. “I would be amazed if he abandoned that. I think it’s far more likely that he will stay at Balmoral when there are prime ministerial visits but treat it like an office.”
The King is also expected to continue his summer use of Castle of Mey in Caithness in Scotland, which is owned by a charitable trust of which he is president. The castle, which is usually open to the public, is closed to visitors between July 23 and August 9 this year, which indicates when the King intends to visit.
The King has access to about 30 properties owned privately, such as Sandringham and Balmoral, or owned by the Crown or the Duchy of Cornwall, which is now overseen by the Prince of Wales. Some, such as Fort Belvedere in Windsor, are rented to private individuals. Others, such as properties on the Isles of Scilly and Zalan Castle in Transylvania, are run as holiday lets.
Smaller properties provide homes for family members such as Royal Lodge, a seven-bedroom house near Windsor Castle, which is occupied by his brother Andrew, the Duke of York.
Kensington Palace functions as the London residence and offices for the Prince of Wales as well as the home of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.
In provincial England, the King will choose between Windsor Castle, Highgrove and Sandringham but is not expected to give up any of them immediately. Charles travelled to Sandringham this week to oversee the construction of a new formal garden and is understood to be renovating the interior. He has a deep attachment to Highgrove, but the use of its gardens for a fashion shoot for the June issue of Harper’s Bazaar may indicate a more public role in future.
The Times
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