One of the royal stories of the year was about the Wales family moving from Adelaide Cottage to Forest Lodge. The Wales family moved into Adelaide in the summer of 2022 after publicly lobbying QEII and Charles for a grander property on the Windsor estate. Adelaide was not grand, and as such, it always had the feel of Kate’s separation cottage, especially since “they” didn’t give up their spacious Kensington Palace apartment, nor did they give up their country home in Norfolk, Anmer Hall. Soon after “they” moved into Adelaide, QEII died. And then the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix docuseries came out, followed by Prince Harry’s Spare. Then in 2024 came Kate’s health issues, including her mysterious abdominal surgery. All of which led to William reportedly feeling like Adelaide was and is “cursed.” Mind you, William did not feel like Anmer or Kensington Palace were cursed, even though those were their homes during that time period as well. Well, would you like to hear more about why the Waleses simply had to get away from their one cursed home?
Kate Middleton and Prince William’s new home, Forest Lodge, offers a fresh start after a challenging chapter.
“Adelaide Cottage was a place of pain, suffering and sadness. After such rough times it’s perfectly understandable they would want a new place,” Sally Bedell Smith, royal biographer behind the Royals Extra Substack, tells PEOPLE in this week’s exclusive cover story.
In the autumn, the Prince and Princess of Wales moved their family to Forest Lodge, a secluded property in Windsor Great Park. PEOPLE understands the eight-bedroom residence is their forever home and where the family intends to remain even when William becomes King one day. It also represents a longterm reset — a chance to build new memories with their children, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7, after a difficult stretch.
Adelaide Cottage, their previous home nearby, quickly became tied to some of the hardest chapters of their lives after they moved there in 2022. The house was the backdrop to Queen Elizabeth’s death just days after the children started school that September to the turbulence that followed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bombshell docuseries and Harry’s subsequent memoir, Spare, published in 2023.
The upheavals of 2024 followed close behind. In February, King Charles announced his cancer diagnosis while Princess Kate was privately managing her own. By the time she shared her news in March — after first preparing her children — she had already faced weeks of speculation and online conspiracy theories about her absence and well-being.
“She didn’t just face a life- threatening illness — the global Internet went after her,” royal historian Amanda Foreman tells PEOPLE. “It was a character assassination.”
At Forest Lodge, the Princess of Wales is applying her artistic eye to create a warm, elegant family home. With room to host family, including a 24-seat dining table she was spotted selecting, the house also reflects their shared goals.
“They are signaling a different kind of lifestyle — it’s very centered on their children,” says Foreman.
I still find it bonkers that they cite Harry’s memoir and the Sussexes’ docuseries alongside cancer and the death of a queen. “Yes, we lived in Adelaide when QEII died but my brother wrote a book too!!” I also still find it odd that the curse never extended to their other homes, and Adelaide is solely the place of suffering for them. The reasons cited for their move to Forest Lodge are never what they should be: that William is heir to the throne and he needs a larger space to work, live and entertain. In fact, there’s been no mention of using Forest Lodge as an entertaining space or a workspace, which is very telling, actually.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Kensington Palace.
