So, Kate Middleton and Prince William’s Kensington Palace home is often described as an apartment—but let’s just say that if you’re a city dweller, this descriptor couldn’t possibly be further from your truth. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, both 38, have a home that royal experts are calling absolutely “enormous.”
Yet some followers of the royal family may have been under the impression that it was modest. Unlike Meghan and Harry’s home in Santa Barbara, California, which is pretty clearly understood as a mansion, Kate and William’s abode has often been referred to as an apartment. Apparently, this is the customary term for all residences at Kensington Palace. But according to royal author Christopher Warwick, some people don’t realize this doesn’t mean it’s a “small” house by any means.
Warwick, who has written several best-selling royal biographies, spoke to True Royalty’s Royal Beat to explain William and Kate’s “apartment” setup. “All of these royal residences at Kensington Palace are called apartments, which of course makes people immediately think they are flats like the American term for an apartment. They are not,” he said. “If you think of Kensington Place in a way it is built around three courtyards. If you kind of think of them as being these wonderful red brick terrace houses. Because they are all joined, but separate houses.”
When it comes to the Cambridges’ house, then, the couple actually live in a huge space. “It’s enormous,” author Ingrid Seward said, “and it’s like a piece of countryside in London.” In terms of what this includes, get ready to be shocked: Will and Kate’s home—which takes up half of what is termed the “Clock Tower wing,” originally designed for King William and Queen Mary—boasts a whopping 20 (!!!) rooms spread across four stories. Nine of these rooms are “staff bedrooms” on the top floors, along with five “reception rooms” for, well, entertaining people like President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, who both paid a visit to the Cambridges in 2016.
Their home also reportedly includes three main bedrooms, his-and-hers dressing rooms, plenty of bathrooms, its own elevator, a gym, a “night” and “day” nursery for kids George, 7, Charlotte, 5, and Louis, 2, along with multiple drawing rooms, rooms exclusively for luggage, and a basement where the photographer Earl of Snowdon once had his own darkroom. Phew. Did we miss anything? Ah, yes: William and Kate’s home also has it’s own walled garden.
Of all these gorgeous spaces, however, there’s one that the family enjoys spending time in most—and honestly, at least this is relatable. According to The Daily Mail, the crown jewel of Kate and William’s home is their kitchen. The outlet reports that the pair spent £170,000 of their own money on making the space their own. Similar to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s renovation of Frogmore Cottage in 2019, however, the Cambridges’ home was reportedly refurbished with £4.5million of taxpayers’ money. Though, the outlet notes that William and Kate purchased “fixtures and furnishing” on their own.