It cannot have escaped your notice: last Saturday, King Charles III and Queen Camilla were officially crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom. A special event with the coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, a carriage ride followed by the balcony scene at Buckingham Palace and the coronation dinner. Afterwards, each royal left for his own place, but where to? The British royals live here.
The official residence of the United Kingdom's ruling monarch is traditionally Buckingham Palace, but Charles and Camilla do not appear to have moved in yet. The couple has lived for years in Clarence House, located on The Mall and not far from St. James' Palace. After the war, Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip, then still a princess, lived here, but after her father King George VI died and she became queen, the couple packed their suitcases and left for Buckingham Palace. Her mother, The Queen Mother, Elizabeth then left Buckingham Palace to settle here with her youngest daughter Princess Margaret.
Charles previously claimed he would move into Buckingham Palace after taking the throne, but many doubt this as he is said not to be particularly keen on the property. According to sources, the new king would find it 'too big, too impersonal and too draughty'. It is expected that the couple will continue to live in Clarence House for a while, but the king will carry out his duties at the palace.
After Elizabeth became queen in 1953, she and her husband Prince Philip moved to Buckingham Palace and lived here until her death in 2022. The London 'working palace' has no fewer than 775 rooms, of which 19 are state bedrooms, 52 are royal and guest rooms, and 188 staff rooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. The royal couple spent weekends and Easter at Windsor Castle and the summer months at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where she breathed her last on September 8, 2022. This is where the queen was said to have been happiest.
The future king and his wife moved to Adelaide Cottage, near Windsor Castle in Windsor, last year. The Princess and Princess of Wales exchanged the spacious Kensington Palace in London to live closer to the school of their three children and closer to his grandmother Queen Elizabeth. It was also the couple's wish to downsize and create a family home, as the couple also have no live-in staff. The house has only four bedrooms.
Incidentally, in 1981 - at that time - Prince Charles and Princess Diana moved into the palace in Kensington and William grew up here together with his younger brother Harry. Princess Diana lived at Kensington Palace until her death in 1997.
The much-discussed Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle now live in a luxury villa in Montecito - near Los Angeles -, but during their stay in the United Kingdom they lived in Frogmore Cottage, located on the grounds of Windsor Castle. King Charles is said to have asked the Sussexes to leave the home and gave them until after the coronation to arrange this. However, a new tenant is already on the doorstep: Queen Elizabeth's controversial second son, Prince Andrew, who in turn has to reluctantly hand in his keys to the Royal Lodge at Windsor.
Charles' sister, Princess Anne, officially lives at St. James' Palace in London, near her brother. Yet the princess prefers to retreat to her country residence, Gatcombe Park in Gloucester, where she enjoys horse riding, just like her mother.
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