Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 47,657
Thanks: 27,646
Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts
|
Re: ROYALS: Princess Catherine is Recovering at Adelaide Cottage on The Windsor Estat
Inside Adelaide Cottage Where Princess Catherine Will Recover: The Grade II Listed Royal Residence in Windsor Great Park Was Constructed in 1831
The Princess of Wales set to be out of the public eye until Easter while recovering from abdominal surgery as she spends time at home with her children and Prince William
MailOnline 1 FEB 2024
Princess Catherine 42, has returned to the four-bedroom royal residence she shares with her husband Prince William, 42, and three children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five.
Adelaide Cottage is only a few minutes' walk from Windsor Castle
The four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage which has been recently refurbished and is on the Windsor estate
However, the Grade II listed property constructed in 1831 for William IV's wife Queen Adelaide may not be the most suitable choice for Kate due to its chilly interior, a royal expert has claimed.
Former BBC royal correspondent Michael Cole told GB News the family home was 'absolutely not an ideal place' for recovery from an operation, and cited a description of the property once written by Rosemary Townsend.
'She wrote in her memoir that it was the coldest place she'd ever encountered in the whole of her life. So maybe not the best place to start feeling better, particularly in this quite cold winter that we're enjoying at the moment.'
The Wales family moved from Kensington Palace to Adelaide Cottage, located within Windsor Great Park, in the summer of 2022.
Their preference was for a residence that required no renovation or added security arrangements (in contrast, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle spent £2.6m fixing up nearby Frogmore Cottage).
Additionally, four bedrooms were deemed sufficient since there are no live-in staff members. Instead, aides commute to the property as and when their services are needed.
Nestled at the heart of the Crown Estate's private 655-acre royal park, Adelaide Cottage was built in 1831 as a retreat for William IV's wife Queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen.
It was also known to be a favourite home of Queen Victoria, as she frequently enjoyed taking her breakfast there.
However, the most famous former resident has to be the late Princess Margaret's ex-lover, Group Captain Peter Townsend, whose affair with the Queens' sister caused a national scandal.
Townsend lived in the grace and favour property in the 1940s with his first wife Rosemary, so he could be on hand for the king in his role as equerry.
Above: Townsend with Princess Margaret in 1955, after their affair had become public knowledge
The cottage underwent major renovations in 2015, which meant that Prince William and Kate did not need to shell out millions in remodelling the house.
Adelaide Cottage still boasts original features, including a marble Graeco-Egyptian fireplace and a principal bedroom, with a coved ceiling featuring gilded dolphins and rope ornament reused from the Royal yacht Royal George.
The property has seven gated entrances and exits to Windsor Castle, so the family can come and go in relative privacy.
For the most part, Adelaide Cottage had sunk back into its backdrop under the shadow of Windsor Castle's grey stone.
Yet the four-bedroom residence does have a colourful past to draw from.
Back in the years following the Second World War, Adelaide Cottage was the grace-and-favour home of Group Captain Peter Townsend and his first wife, Rosemary.
But the dashing RAF pilot would soon precipitate a scandal, becoming the divorced lover of Princess Margaret.
Townsend lived in the property in the 1940s with his first wife, Rosemary, so he could be on hand for the King in his role as equerry.
Despite its proximity to the monarch's residence, the living conditions in the cottage were in stark contrast to its mightier neighbour.
Electricity was delivered to it via cables from Windsor Castle, but the current was so poor that only a vacuum cleaner and a small electric heater could be used at once.
The cottage's interior was allegedly 'gloomy', with Victorian wallpaper and heavy furniture. A commentator in the 1950s described it as 'pokey and unattractive'.
Princess Margaret, along with her sister, then Princess Elizabeth, and mother, Queen Elizabeth, would regularly take tea in the gardens of the cottage with the Townsends and their two young sons.
Margaret was aged just 13 at the time of Townsend's appointment but later admitted: 'When he first appeared, I had a terrific crush on him.'
Townsend and his family left Adelaide Cottage in 1952, when he divorced Rosemary. The affair, however, would be doomed by the Royal Marriages Act, which stated no member of the Royal Family was permitted to marry a divorcee while the ex-partner was still living.
Since then, the cottage has been home to a host of well-connected dignitaries and courtiers, including most recently Simon Rhodes, son of the Queen's cousin and best friend Margaret Rhodes, who died in 2016.
Adelaide Cottage is also nearby to Kate's parents, the Middletons, who live 45-minutes away by car in the village of Bucklebury.
Even closer is Frogmore Cottage, which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex use when visiting the UK, although the brothers' long-running fallout makes it unlikely they will be socialising together any time soon.
According to a source, the Queen offered the Grade II listed property to Harry and Meghan as a gift shortly after they married. The couple allegedly went for a viewing and liked it, but ultimately moved to Frogmore Cottage, before quitting the UK entirely.
Kate, who is said by Kensington Palace to be 'doing well', left the London Clinic in Marylebone yesterday morning after being admitted for surgery on January 16.
The Mail revealed on Monday that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis were not taken to visit their mother in hospital after she recovered 'abdominal surgery'.
As her children would have been in school when she arrived back, it is likely they would only have seen her for the first time when they returned to Adelaide Cottage later in the afternoon from Lambrook School, a ten-minute drive away.
It will almost certainly be the longest period the Princess has been away from them.
William and Kate have both prioritised their children over everything, arranging engagements so at least one is able to do the school run where possible.
They have also ensured that foreign tours are shorter to allow them to be home at weekends, the only exception being their 2022 trip to the Caribbean.
It is understood that Prince William, who had cleared his diary to be by his wife's side throughout, was at the hospital when she was discharged and is likely to have driven her home.
In a statement yesterday, a Kensington Palace spokesman said: 'The Princess of Wales has returned home to Windsor to continue her recovery from surgery. She is making good progress.
'The Prince and Princess wish to say a huge thank you to the entire team at The London Clinic, especially the dedicated nursing staff, for the care they have provided.
'The Wales family continues to be grateful for the well wishes they have received.'
|