Where Do The Royal Family Actually Live?

Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Hillsborough Castle and Holyroodhouse might be the UK’s official royal residences, but where do King Charles and his family actually live? We glimpse inside the properties which the British royal family call home, from opulent London townhouses to grand estates in the Cotswolds and villas on the Portuguese coast.

A Guide To The British Royal Family’s Residences

Clarence House, London

While Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip lived in Buckingham Palace, King Charles and Queen Camilla broke tradition by staying put at Clarence House, where they have spent the majority of their time since getting married in 2005. Located on The Mall in Westminster, the property is just half a mile away from the Palace – and rumour has it there’s a secret, underground tunnel connecting the two. 

Built between 1825 and 1827 for the Duke of Nash, the Grade I listed building has been the home of numerous royal family members over the years. In 1953, The Queen Mother moved in following Queen Elizabeth II’s ascension to the throne – and she stayed there until she died in 2002. Both Prince William and Prince Harry have also lived at Clarence House.

It’s thought the property has five bedrooms, as well as other rooms which are used for receptions and entertaining guests. While the majority of the house is kept private, King Charles did previously give us a peek inside, allowing Google Arts and Culture to photograph his extensive royal art collection in honour of his 70th birthday. This gave us a glimpse at its maximalist style: rooms are filled with artworks, historic objects, trinkets and family photographs, with opulent gilded detailing (take a look here). 

Forest Lodge is located in the grounds of Windsor Castle

Forest Lodge, Windsor

At the end of 2025, Prince William and Princess Kate officially moved into their ‘forever home’ of Forest Lodge. An 18th century Georgian mansion located within Windsor Great Park in Berkshire, the pair live there with their children George (13), Charlotte (11) and Louis (8).

In 2022, the royal couple decided to move out of central London, abandoning their Kensington Palac lodgings for the more modest Adelaide Cottage, close to Charlotte and Louis’ Lambrook School. But after a tumultuous few years of Kate and Charles’ cancer diagnoses and Queen Elizabeth II’s death, William and Kate are officially looking for a fresh start – and it seems that Forest Lodge has ticked all their boxes.

Located just four miles from Adelaide Cottage, the eight-bedroom Grade II listed property is secluded within the 4,800 acre Windsor Great Park. While William and Kate have technically downsized from their palace days, the 328-year-old home (which is owned by King Charles III as part of the Crown Estate) is said to be worth up to £16m. First built in the 1770s, the red-brick manor was originally known as Holly Grove. George IV purchased it in 1829, making it part of the royal estate, and it was renamed in 1937. The family did carry out some renovations on the home, but this work was self-funded rather than using money from the Sovereign Grant. They are also funding the move privately and paying market rent on the property, rather than the peppercorn rate at which royal estates are often leased out to family members.

Gatcombe Park, Cotswolds

Everyone from the Beckhams to Ellen DeGeneres have bought-up homes in the Cotswolds recently – but the royal family have long had ties there. Princess Anne has lived at Gatcombe Park, just outside the village of Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire, since 1976, after being gifted the property by the late Queen Elizabeth as a wedding present. 

Built in 1774 but redesigned for economist David Ricardo in 1820, the Grade II-listed house is believed to be pretty sizable, with five bedrooms, four secondary bedrooms, four reception rooms, a library and a billiard room.

Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall lives in a separate home called Aston Farm on the 700-acre estate, along with husband Mike Tindall and their three children: Mia, Lena and Lucas. The Tindalls have shared snippets of the house on social media, showing a kitchen with bronze marble worktops, an island and sage-green panelled walls. There’s also a home gym (no surprise considering Tindall’s background as a professional English rugby player). And in an interview with Vogue, the pair revealed there’s also a ‘party barn’ on the farm, which is used for family events and gatherings.

Highgrove, Cotswolds

When they’re not ruling from London and Scotland, King Charles and Queen Camilla can also be found among the Cotswolds celeb set. Sitting southwest of Tetbury, in Gloucestershire, Highgrove is the King’s favoured country retreat. He first acquired the esate through the Duchy of Cornwall in 1980, just before marrying Princess Diana in 1981.

The property was originally built in the late 1700s by architect Anthony Keck. Whilst the home is not as grand and imposing as Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, it does boast impressive grounds that span to more than 900 acres. Though neglected when he first arrived, over the following decades, he’s worked alongside renowned horticulturalists, landscape designers, artists, and craftspeople to transform roughly 15 acres into a series of interconnected gardens that attract around 40,000 visitors each year. A testing ground for Charles’s environmental ideas, the estate boasts solar panels, natural wastewater filtration, energy-efficient infrastructure, and a fully organic farm. Writing about the estate in 1993, Charles said: ‘The garden at Highgrove really does spring from my heart and, strange as it may seem to some, creating it has been rather like a form of worship.’

A Cotswold Farmhouse

In 2021, Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, bought-up a sprawling Cotswold estate for £3.5m. They live there with their daughter Sienna, who they welcomed in 2021, and occasionally with Edoardo’s eldest child, Christoper Woolf, whom he shares with his ex-partner, Dara Huang. Though little is known about the property, we can report that the farmhouse boasts six bedrooms and multiple reception rooms, a guesthouse, outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts and party barn.

Edoardo also owns a stunning townhouse in Notting Hill and a property in New York, while his family own a 13th century Lake Como estate called Villa Mapelli Mozzi and a sister villa in the Italian town of Casatenovo.

Balmoral Castle

The favourite royal residence of Queen Elizabeth II (who died there in 2022), Balmoral Castle is primarily used as a private holiday retreat for King Charles III and other royals during the summer months. The estate and its original castle were bought from the Farquharson family in 1852 by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. However, he soon discovered that the house was too small for their needs and so commissioned the architect William Smith of Aberdeen to build the current structure in its place. Spanning 500,000 acres of land, Balmoral is not part of the Crown Estate, but is rather the private property of King Charles III.

Sandringham Estate

Though the royals summer in Scotland, they winter down in Norfolk. Another country retreat of King Charles and Queen Camilla, the 20,000 acre estate is located within the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Though the site has been occupied since Elizabethan times, the current manor house only dates as far back as 1771. In 1862, the house and grounds were purchased by King Edward VII, who completely rebuilt the house between 1870 and 1900. Like Balmoral, Sandringham is owned by King Charles, rather than the Crown Estate. The royal family traditionally celebrated Christmas at the house, and have a Christmas Day service in the chapel.

St James’s Palace

Though St James’s Palace is largely a ceremonial base today, Princess Anne and Princess Beatrice both call this 500-year-old palace a part-time home. Built by King Henry VIII in the 1530s, it is considered to be the most senior royal palace in the United Kingdom, despite the fact that Buckingham Palace has traditionally been the monarch’s primary residence.

Bagshot Park, Surrey

They may be called the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, but it is Surrey that Prince Edward and Sophie call home. Located on the edge of Windsor Great Park, Bagshot Park is a 120-room historic mansion set on 51 acres of land. Leased from the Crown Estate on a 150-year term, the royal couple live there with their children, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex. Edward and Sophie have lived in this Grade II listed residence for over 25 years, after moving in following their royal wedding in 1999. Once a series of small lodges, designed for King Charles I, the original estate was demolished in 1877 and rebuilt two years later in 1879.

Comporta, Portugal

In 2022, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank moved to Comporta on the Alentejo coast of Portugal, after Brooksbank landed a new job at the CostaTerra Gold and Ocean Club there. The couple live in a villa at the resort (where properties start at £3.6m), along with their two sons, August and Ernest. Often dubbed ‘the Hamptons of Portugal’, CostaTerra offers luxurious facilities, including an exclusive Tom Fazio-designed golf course, an organic farm, a wellness centre and a beach club.

And they’re not the only royals to call Portugal home. In 2023, Prince Harry and Meghan snapped up a £6.3m holiday home in the same compound. Reports suggest that the royals are currently splashing their Netflix cash on a renovation of their Portugal home alongside designers from Soho House (the pair’s favourite members’ club and the site of their very first date).

Kensington Palace

When Princess Eugenie isn’t living it up in Portugal, she and her family reside in the three-bedroom Ivy Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace. Originally built in 1605, King William III and Queen Mary II bought the palace (then known as Nottingham House) in 1689 to escape the damp air of Whitehall. Sir Christopher Wren then expanded the building into a royal residence, and it has since served as the childhood homes of both Queen Victoria, and Prince William and Prince Harry.

Though the Prince and Princess of Wales no longer live there full-time, they still maintain Apartment 1A for their official offices and London base. Other more minor British royals who call Kensington Palace home include: the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, who reside in the Old Stables; the Duke of Kent, who lives in Wren House; and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, who occupy Apartment 10.

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Montecito, Los Angeles

Since departing their UK home of Frogmore Cottage in 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have lived in Montecito, Santa Barbara, a hotspot for the rich and famous. The 19,000 sqft mansion boasts nine bedrooms and a whopping 16 bathrooms, plus a gym, sauna, library, home theatre, games room and wine cellar. Outside, there’s a swimming pool, a tennis court and a chicken coop.

However, it seems that the royal pair are soon set to give up their LA home. They’ve announced that they will be relocating back to the UK by the end of August 2026 and moving into a non-royal residence outside of London. Though we don’t yet have details of their new abode, we do know that their children Archie and Lilibet have been enrolled in a yet unnamed British school for September.