WHILE the UK grapples with the ever worsening cost-of-living crisis, the royal family is doing what they do best – failing to read the mood.
On Monday morning Kensington Palace confirmed that William and Kate will be moving to a FOURTH home so that their kids can attend the £50k-a-year Lambrook School in Berkshire from next month.
Adelaide Cottage
The couple and their three children will head to the Grade II listed, 19th-century Adelaide Cottage after the Queen gave them permission to lease it out from the Crown Estate.
And this is certainly no normal house move - William and Kate will retain Kensington Palace’s Apartment 1A, which was refurbished with £4.5 million of taxpayers’ money in 2013, as their official residence and their working base, and it will continue to house their office staff.
At the same time they will also keep their 10-bedroom Norfolk country mansion Anmer Hall, which was a gift from the Queen, has a swimming pool and tennis court and underwent large-scale building work at their own cost.
In addition, William also has a holiday cottage called Tam-Na-Ghar on the Balmoral estate, given to him by his great-grandmother the Queen Mother in 2002.
Royal commentator and former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said: “A fourth home for the Cambridges is a reminder the royals don’t suffer from the cost-of-living crisis and a looming recession in the same way as the rest of us.
“When taxpayers’ money was spent on refurbishing their apartment at Kensington Palace, Prince William, who campaigns for the homeless, insisted his family planned to stay there for many years to come.”
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Adelaide Cottage’s principal bedroom has a coved ceiling decorated with gilded dolphins and rope ornament reused from the 19th century royal yacht Royal George, and a marble Graeco-Egyptian fireplace.
Shock horror though – it only has four bedrooms! That means the family’s nanny, housekeeper and chef will have to live off-site. Gosh, the economic situation right now really is effecting everyone …
"This is a decision they have not taken lightly"
But according to a royal source, duke and duchess are SO very conscious of how their move stands in contrast to the cost-of-living crisis.
Asked whether the couple was mindful of the economic difficulties currently hitting the UK, the source said: “They absolutely are.
“It’s something they have thought long and hard about and this is a decision they have not taken lightly.
“It would have been extremely difficult for them to continue on as senior working royals if they were based in Norfolk.
“What they have basically done allows them to put the kids first, but also to continue on doing what they do all day, every day.”
William and Kate will apparently pay market value on the property from their own private funds, not from taxpayers’ money via the Sovereign Grant, and will foot their own moving costs.
READ MORE: Tommy Sheppard: Scotland should decide if we want royal family
But if they have so much cash themselves to fund these luxuries, one really does have to wonder why we are giving them any money at all ...
While many state schools go underfunded, the three royal kids will enjoy first-class facilities at Lambrook including a swimming pool, sports pitches and new £6 million academic and ICT building.
William and Kate will be spending in excess of £53,000 a year on their children’s private education.
Why is Scotland attached to this bizarre institution, exactly?
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