\Kate and William, pictured on Saturday at the Epsom Derby, will move into a modest suite in Kensington Palace.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are to move into a new royal ‘starter home’ at Kensington Palace later this month. The couple have chosen to embark on married life in a ‘modest’ apartment in the historic royal residence where William and Harry once lived with their late mother, the Daily Mail can reveal. Although the newlyweds’ home boasts one of the most exclusive postcodes in the country, it is by all accounts a fraction of the size of the five-bedroom, five-reception room suite already occupied by their new neighbours, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. When the couple got the builders in to add a few basic mod-cons, they discovered that the apartment in the 17th century palace was riddled with asbestos and had wiring so ancient that it was considered too dangerous to inhabit. Until now William and Kate have been living in the Clarence House apartment that the prince shares with his younger brother, Prince Harry, when in London. Although the three get on brilliantly the arrangement was not ideal for the couple. On one occasion Kate opened the door to Harry’s bedroom and found his close friend, Astrid Harbord, passed out on his bed after a particularly raucous night out. Initially, however, there was not an obvious place for the couple to move into. For although the Queen and her family own several London residences, space is at a premium as most of the buildings are fully occupied by either royals or staff. Apartment 8-9 at Kensington Palace, which was provided as a home for Diana, Princess of Wales, and her sons following her divorce from Prince Charles, has since been turned into offices for her ex-husband at a cost of £500,000. Other members of the family have already secured the palace’s best rooms including the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and, most notoriously, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, who until 2002 had been paying only a ‘peppercorn rent’, rumoured to be around £69 a week, for their lavish apartment. It is understood the couple only plan to live in the apartment for the first couple of years of married life as it is too small and not practical for family life. They will continue to use their rented farmhouse on the island of Anglesey, close to William’s RAF base, as their main home but stay at Kensington Palace – or KP as it is known by its residents – when in London. A spokesman for the prince’s office at St James’s Palace said: ‘They will move in at some point in June or July. A number of options for longer term solutions are still being considered.’
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