Next year, the ten-year renovation project on Buckingham Palace will finally be completed. If British contractors are anything like American contractors, the palace might not be move-in ready until 2030 though. But sure, for argument’s sake, let’s say that the £369 million renovation job will be completed next year. We’ve known for years that King Charles has no intention of moving into BP when the reno is completed. He and Camilla are happy at Clarence House and their plan was always to stay there and “use” BP as an office, for events and meetings. When the Prince and Princess of Wales moved into Forest Lodge last year, we also heard that they have zero inclination to move into BP when Scooter King is on the throne as well. So, a massively costly renovation for a palace where no king or queen will ever be in residence again. This is the story behind Richard Eden’s Mail column this week.
[Queen Elizabeth’s] move to Windsor coincided with an extensive renovation programme at Buckingham Palace, which began in 2017. The Government allocated a staggering £369million of taxpayers’ money for the scheme. At the time, royal aides rejected claims that Prince Charles intended to use it as a sort of ‘monarchy HQ’ rather than his residence, Clarence House, when he eventually became king. ‘Buckingham Palace will remain the official residence of the monarch,’ said a statement from Clarence House.
Since King Charles ascended the throne in 2022, he and Queen Camilla have, however, stayed at Clarence House, which he inherited from his beloved grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, after her death two decades earlier. Unlike Winston Churchill, no prime minister has told the King to move to Buckingham Palace. And this has left some prominent royalists disappointed.
As I reported in my social diary column, Eden Confidential, in the Daily Mail today, interior designer Nicky Haslam, an old friend of Queen Camilla, warned that it would be a grave mistake for her and the King not to live at the palace.
‘Turning Buckingham Palace into an office is wrong. Period,’ said the Old Etonian, 86, whose mother, Diamond Ponsonby, was one of Queen Victoria’s goddaughters. ‘William won’t use it either. It stops Buckingham Palace being the jewel in the crown.’ Haslam believes that the palace would lose its appeal to tourists if it was no longer a royal residence. ‘If people think it’s an office they won’t go there,’ he said.
I have noticed myself that stately homes still used by their titled owners seem to be more attractive to visitors. Part of the appeal of Chatsworth in Derbyshire, for example, is that the Duke of Devonshire’s family live there. When I visited Arundel Castle, in West Sussex, recently, there were new photographs of the Duke of Norfolk and his family on display in the rooms open to the public, which added to its charms.
It’s easy to see why the King and Queen prefer Clarence House, an elegant family home, to the vast Buckingham Palace with its 775 rooms. Yet it’s their duty to move out.
I hear whispers, however, that Their Majesties will never live at the palace. ‘Buckingham Palace will be used for royal events,’ a source tells me. ‘There will be investitures, receptions and banquets, but the King and Queen won’t sleep there.’
This leaves me worried for the future of the monarchy. The King’s grandfather, George VI, and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, defied Adolf Hitler and remained at Buckingham Palace throughout the war, even during the nine occasions when German bombs fell on it. Churchill knew the symbolic power of the King being at the nation’s home. That is why the Government agreed to spend £369 million of taxpayers’ money on restoring the palace to its former glory. For King Charles to abandon it at a time of peace would be a serious mistake.
The larger problem is that the monarchy is in their “who gonna check me, boo” era. While the Windsors are facing a steep decline in popularity and relevancy, they have never been more well-funded and coddled by medieval bureaucracy. Prince Andrew is likely going to skate by with little more than a slap on the wrist (if that). Prince Edward and Sophie will continue to live in their huge mansion and siphon money from the taxpayers. Charles will continue to travel among his eleventy billion homes, castles, palaces and estates. William will continue to hide out at Forest Lodge and Norfolk, doing f–k all. There’s not even a real public pressure campaign to “force” these people to “live in a palace.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
