King Charles III has become Britain's new monarch following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022. The oldest child of the UK's longest reigning head of state and the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Charles is set to inherit a vast fortune, plus the rights to castles and lands upon taking his late mother's place upon the throne. We take a look at the new king's properties and the places he's called home over the years. Click or scroll on for more…
Tributes have poured in from across the globe in remembrance of the late Queen, who died in her home at Balmoral Castle in Scotland surrounded by her closest family members. Masses of flowers have been placed outside Buckingham Palace as the royal family—and the country—has entered an official period of mourning. Plans are underway for a state funeral to be held at Westminster Abbey.
While the period of mourning continues, King Charles has automatically gained his new title. According to ABC News, King Charles and Camilla are expected to be crowned side-by-side, although there is no date for the coronation as of yet. As the wife of the new king, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall will now be known as the Queen Consort, a specific directorate from the late Queen Elizabeth.
This portrait taken by Ranald Mackechnie in the Throne Room of Buckingham Palace shows the late Queen Elizabeth with her eldest son, now King Charles, and future monarchs Princes William and George. King Charles will not only inherit the Queen's personal fortune, estimated to be anywhere up to £400 million ($463m), but he will also receive the annual Sovereign Grant of roughly £86 million ($99m) towards travel, property maintenance of the palaces, and running the royal household, among other official expenses.
When the former Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles, who became known as the Duchess of Cornwall after their nuptials in 2005, the couple began living together at Clarence House. This British royal residence is located on the salubrious boulevard known as The Mall which runs between Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square in London. Over the years it has been host to royalty and VIPs from all over the world, including former US president Donald Trump and FLOTUS Melania Trump in 2019, during an official state visit. At some point in the near future, the royal couple are expected to move into Buckingham Palace now that he is king.
Back in 2002, when he was known as Prince Charles, the new King took ownership of this superb property after the death of the Queen Mother. Clarence House became his official London residence and was also home to Prince William and Prince Harry up to 2012. Located next to St James's Palace, the John Nash-designed building was built for the Duke of Clarence in 1827. The four-storey house was also home to the Queen and Prince Philip for a time before Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne.
King Charles will be given access to all of the Crown Estate's palaces, including Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, plus he will now have access to the crown jewels. He will also inherit the private estate known as the Duchy of Lancaster from his late mother, the Queen, which generates around £24 million ($28m) a year from commercial and agricultural properties, plus residential assets mainly based in the North of England. Prince William will take his father's place as the Duke of Cornwall, which itself comes with Duchy estates and revenue of around £23 million ($27m) a year. In addition, he will inherit the deeds to Highgrove House, developments in Newquay and Poundbury, and most of the land which makes up the Isles of Scilly, according to HELLO! magazine.
From his official London residence at Clarence House and stunning country pile at Highgrove to boltholes in Scotland, Wales and even Transylvania, King Charles III has accumulated a fascinating real estate collection. The scenes of royal affairs, hauntings, and two marriages, we explore the new monarch's past and present properties. Click or scroll on for more…
Born in 1948 withing Buckingham Palace, the oldest of the late Queen Elizabeth II's children, King Charles grew up in privileged surroundings. He spent his early childhood living between Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, departing the royal residences for prep school in 1958.
King Charles spent much of his youth living away from home but would still return to visit the Queen and his younger siblings. He spent the early part of his twenties studying at Trinity College, part of the University of Cambridge, eventually earning a master's degree in history by 1975. He also served in the armed forces between 1971 and 1977, during which time he'd spend his leave living in rooms at Buckingham Palace and Windsor.
In 1980, the year before his marriage to Lady Diana Spencer, King Charles bought Highgrove House but was still spending much of his time on the road performing his royal duties. At 31, he was ready to have his own base, and the Gloucestershire house is equidistant between London and Cornwall.
At the age of 32, following his fairytale wedding to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, the former Prince and his new wife moved into London's Kensington Palace. Apartments 8 and 9, which were built by King George I for his mistress the Duchess of Kendal, were combined to create a new large home for the newlyweds.
A sort of upmarket housing estate for royals, the palace dates from 1605 and was snapped up in 1689 for £20,000 ($23k) by King William III and Queen Mary II, who appointed Sir Christopher Wren to expand it. The palace served as the principal residence of Queen Anne, the subject of the Oscar-winning film The Favourite, but the property fell out of favour after her reign and was divided into apartments.
The estate is made up from the main mansion and a series of smaller properties scattered through the estate like Nottingham Cottage, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle lived. The palace itself is divided into different apartments that traditionally serve as homes for non-ruling members of the immediate royal family, such as the Prince and Princess Michael of Kent in apartment 10.
King Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales welcomed their first child Prince William on 21 June 1982. The trio are shown here in their sitting room, which was decorated in the dusky pink and duck-egg blue hues Diana was so fond of.
This image of the young family posing for a picture in their apartments in Kensington Palace was captured in 1983. A year later, Prince Harry was born, but the couple's marriage was already floundering. According to a Channel 4 documentary, Diana In Her Own Words, Charles was already involved with Camilla Parker-Bowles—now the Queen Consort—as early as 1982. Charles and Diana eventually separated in 1992 and he moved to St James's Palace.
Then still known as Prince Charles, he moved into a new London base following his separation from Princess Diana. York House was a historic wing of St James's Palace. It was built in 1736 for a previous Prince of Wales, Frederick Lewis, and was the home of the Duke of Cumberland, who later became King of Hanover, for several decades during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
After Princess Diana's tragic death in 1997, Charles remained at St James's Palace with his sons, William and Harry. Her apartment at Kensington Palace was stripped bare, and some of the contents were moved to York House.
King Charles resided at York House with Princes William and Harry until 2002. The property is said to comprise a number of low-pitched rooms on the ground floor, several small drawing rooms on the first floor, and servants' quarters on the top floor that have exceedingly low ceilings.
Since 2002, the wing has been used as offices for King Charles' household and the new monarch holds events in the state apartments of St James's Palace—here he is pictured at York House in 2010 at a dinner for the Asian Trust.
During his early thirties, King Charles added this Gloucestershire country pile to the Duchy of Cornwall estate. He bought Highgrove House, in 1980—the year before he married Diana—for around £865,000 ($1m) from Maurice Macmillan, the son of former UK Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. Princess Diana reportedly wasn't a fan of the nine-bedroom property, which she thought was too small and not private enough but over the years it's been a cherished family home for the former Duke of Cornwall.
King Charles set about creating a showcase organic garden in the estate's 37 acres of grounds. A champion of organic farming and sustainability long before it went mainstream, HRH believes gardening “helps heal damaged souls". His eco-forward additions to Highgrove include a reed-bed sewage system, biomass boilers, ground and air source heat pumps for heating and hot water, plus a rigorous composting system for kitchen waste.
The house was decorated by Princess Diana's favourite interior designer Dudley Poplak following the royal wedding in 1981. Poplak, who also revamped the Kensington Palace apartment, opted for a similar pastel colour scheme and a “youthful variant of the chintzy country-house look". In 1987, the house was remodelled by Charles (pictured here with his staff in 1991) who commissioned several neo-classical additions.
Following the divorce of the former Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Camilla Parker-Bowles (pictured at a reception at Highgrove in 2009) had the house redecorated, calling on the services of interior designer Robert Kime. As with so many stately homes, the 18th-century Georgian mansion has something of a tragic history. In 1850, the granddaughter of the then owner died after her ballgown caught alight during a soirée, and in 1893, the house was gutted by fire. It was renovated not long after at a cost of £6,000 ($7k).
As the reigning monarch, King Charles is also bestowed with a new title, the Duke of Lancaster. His current title will pass to his eldest son, Prince William, who will also inherit all the properties and revenue generated by the Duchy of Cornwall, including Highgrove House. It is likely that Charles and Camilla will continue to use the house as tenants, and William has no plans to move in.
Every senior royal has duties to attend to in the nation's capital, so a base in London is essential. King Charles undertook a £4.5 million ($5.2m) refurbishment of Clarence House, after inheriting this coveted city mansion from the late Queen Mother in 2002. His Majesty spent £1.6 million ($1.9m) of his own money on soft furnishings before moving in and the result is cosy yet elegant and unmistakably royal.
King Charles III has legions of staff, including multiple footmen who are responsible for escorting guests along specific corridors of Clarence House. Regal red drapes, carpeting and upholstery dress the hallway while gilt-framed paintings, sculptures and antique vases pepper the finest wooden sideboards.
In his 2006 book On Royalty, Jeremy Paxman wrote that at breakfast each morning the royal is said to be presented with seven boiled eggs cooked to varying degrees so he can choose the perfect one to eat. But Clarence House dismissed the claim in 2012, saying: "No, he doesn't and never has done, at breakfast or any other time."
King Charles' private Scottish estate, Birkhall, is situated on the edge of Balmoral in the wilds of Aberdeenshire. Dating from 1715, the estate, which sprawls over 53,000 acres, was acquired by Prince Albert in 1852 together with Balmoral. It eventually passed to the Queen Mother, who bequeathed the property to her grandson upon her death in 2002.
The young former Prince of Wales adored the property since his first trips there as a child. He is pictured here with his sister, Princess Anne, in 1951. A sanctuary for Charles during his teenage years, he would visit regularly to escape the horrors of Gordonstoun—the notoriously strict Scottish prep school that Charles once reportedly described as "Colditz in kilts".
When at Birkhall, Charles is said to spend his time fishing, stalking deer, sketching, and watercolour painting. Following the Queen Mother's death, Charles and Camilla oversaw a sensitive redecoration of the property, hiring their favourite interior designer Robert Kime for the job, but they were careful to retain its distinctive character.
Given this is a strictly private home, images of the interiors are few and far between but this shot, which is taken from a BBC documentary, gives you some idea about the décor, which is simple and homely. The house is said to feature Royal Stewart tartan on the floors and walls, plus a number of quirky features, including 11 grandfather clocks in the dining room.
The King and his wife aren't the only royals who enjoy staying at Birkhall. In 2011, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge celebrated what must have been a very memorable New Year's Eve at the property. The late Queen (pictured with Charles in the sitting room at Birkhall) also liked to spend time at the secluded estate and was said to particularly enjoy riding there.
King Charles' love of Scotland led him to save a struggling stately home, Dumfries House. The magnificent Palladian country house was built in the 1750s for William Dalrymple, 5th Earl of Dumfries, by eminent architects John Adam and Robert Adam. The property was eventually passed down to John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute, who struggled to pay for its upkeep.
Unable to keep the house on, the marquess (pictured) was forced to sell up. An architectural gem, Dumfries House was purchased for the nation in 2007 by a consortium led by King Charles at a cost of £45 million ($52m), with the monarch putting in £20 million ($23m) from his own charitable foundation's funds.
Dumfries House was in a rather poor state of repair when Charles acquired it. A painstaking restoration was carried out not long after the property was purchased, and the country house was opened to the public in 2008. The idea is for the estate to be self-sufficient and help regenerate the local economy.
As part of the project, an eco-village called Knockroon, similar to the King's experimental new town of Poundbury in Dorset, was undertaken in the grounds of Dumfries House. The sustainable project is expected to take around 25 years to complete. The royal is shown here in 2011 unveiling the foundation stone.
Charles received much praise for saving the estate—and some criticism for pumping so much of the Duchy's cash into it. Some view Dumfries House as a vanity project but it provided Cumnock locals with valuable employment opportunities. This picture shows the mansion's elegant drawing room restored to its former glory.
Chillingly, Camilla is convinced the house was haunted: “It had a really eerie feel about it," she revealed in an ITV documentary. “There was definitely a ghost. Without a shadow of a doubt.” Camilla, the Queen Consort, pictured here walking her dog in the grounds, would freeze upon entering the property initially, but now feels the phantom has gone.
The Castle of Mey is situated in an especially isolated location on the windswept north coast of Scotland. Featured in the Netflix series The Crown, the castle, which was built between 1566 and 1572 for the 4th Earl of Caithness, was purchased by the Queen Mother in 1952 following the death of her husband King George VI.
A faraway retreat for the widowed Queen Mother to mourn her late husband. She would escape to the much-loved Castle of Mey every August and October from 1955 until shortly before her death in 2002. Before moving in, the royal reinstated the original name—it was called Barrogill Castle when she bought it—and restored the building, removing many of the 19th-century additions.
While King Charles doesn't actually own the castle—it now belongs to a trust—he travels there every year in late August with the Queen Consort for a 10-day stay. Remarkable in its remoteness, there is very little to do at the castle aside from playing board games and venturing out for bracing walks.
Still, the Queen Mother was in her element at the Scottish estate. Charles and Camilla are said to be equally enamoured with the castle, enjoying its seclusion and distance from civilisation.
Keen to introduce the delights of the castle to paying guests, the King oversaw the renovation of the old stables and granary, which have been transformed into 10 eco-luxe guest rooms.
The sustainable project was completed in April 2019, in time for the summer season, offering 10 uniquely decorated bedrooms including two full suites offering views over the Pentland Firth to Orkney. This fine bedroom is available for two-night stays at a cost of £380 ($440).
The castle is popular with other royals too—Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex enjoyed a romantic break there in 2018. Whether they encountered the resident ghost is anyone's guess. The castle is rumoured to be haunted by the Green Lady, the ghost of Lady Fanny Sinclair, who is said to have had an affair with a stable hand in the 1880s. When her father found out, he banished the young man, and the heartbroken Lady Sinclair supposedly took her own life.
Llwynywermod is King Charles' 192-acre Welsh estate on the edge of the breathtaking Brecon Beacon mountains in Carmarthenshire. Though he was titled Prince of Wales in 1958, the new monarch acquired the property relatively recently, with the Duchy of Cornwall purchasing the house and grounds in 2006. This property will also be passed on to Prince William as the next heir to the throne.
The property was bought for £1.3 million ($1.5m) and has a long and illustrious history. It was first owned by William Williams back in the 13th century, a relative of the ill-fated Anne Boleyn, and was the seat of the Griffies-Williams baronets until 1877 when the line came to an end. The estate was originally called Llwynywormwood, which means “Wormwood Grove”.
This surprisingly modest four-bedroom bungalow on St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly was 20-year-old Charles' first proper property purchase. He bagged the compact bachelor pad in 1969 through his Duchy—it was constructed a few years before in the mid-1960s—and spent a royal Christmas there the same year, no doubt pleased as punch to have a place of his own to retreat to.
Once the King was a married man with children, however, he preferred to stay with his family in Tresco during their regular holidays to the gorgeous Scilly Isles. Here they are in June 1989 heading off for a bike ride. The bungalow was simply too small for the four of them, and the monarch lent it out to relatives and friends from that point onwards.
The property was named after the tamarisk shrubs that encircle it. Rare on the mainland, these plants thrive in the isles' sub-tropical climate. In 2016, the King was granted approval to transform the bungalow into a chocolate box cottage, though the revamp didn't go down well with everyone.
A local councillor voted against the renovation of the decidedly undistinguished 1960s property. Echoing criticism of some of Charles' other pet projects such as Poundbury and Knockroon, the council member described the revamp as a “pastiche”. In any case, the project went ahead and the property is now available to rent out.
The understated luxury carries into the cottage's four bedrooms. They feature pretty furniture, carefully selected artwork and quirky details such as a swan ornament (pictured), plus each bed is draped in high-end Egyptian cotton bed linen. All this doesn't come cheap, however. A seven-night stay costs from £1,410 ($1.6k) in January, rising to £5,295 ($6k) in high season.
Famed for its association with Count Dracula and brutal real-life ruler Vlad the Impaler, Transylvania is one of King Charles' favourite holiday destinations, believe it or not. The former Prince visited the region of Romania in 1998, not long after the death of Diana, and was smitten with the place—so much so that he went on to buy two properties there.
The pair of properties are looked after by the King's close friend Count Kalnoky. Charles acquired his first Transylvanian home in 2006 in the Saxon village of Viscri. He followed up the purchase in 2010 by buying this cottage in Zalanpatak for the rumoured price of £12,000 ($14k), which he restored. The former Prince is pictured here with the count and his staff.
The dinky Aunt Ida's Room has a traditional Transylvanian drawer bed, which sleeps two and is decorated in the same heritage style. Note the crucifix on the wall, which is clearly a must in this part of the world. If you're brave enough to stay at the cottage, you can expect to pay from £108 ($125) a night for the Prince's Room, and £90 ($104) per night for Aunt Ida's Room.
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10 September 2022
Homes
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