Kate and William, who were seen with their three children throughout the Platinum Jubilee celebrations last weekend, are said to be moving to a house on the Queen’s Windsor estate this summer. The royal couple will keep Kensington Palace as their family’s London home, and continue to visit their Norfolk home, Anmer Hall, according to the Sunday Times. Royal expert Neil Sean has claimed that the move is a response to Prince Harry’s comments about the Queen.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Mr Sean said: “The final decision for Prince William and Kate to make that tricky move out from Kensington Palace into Windsor Castle was sweetened up by the media. “But more importantly the message is basically Harry and Meghan wanted to make sure that the Queen had the right people around her so William and Kate moving directly into Windsor Castle was a direct message to say, ‘we are the right people’.
“Kate and Queen are very close, they speak almost daily on the phone. “She holds her in very high regard.” It comes as the Duke of Sussex appeared to issue a veiled warning to those closest to the Queen, saying he wanted to make sure his grandmother was “protected” and had “the right people around her”. Interviewed by a US network, Harry did not elaborate on whether he was referring to royal aides or members of his own family, but spoke positively about seeing the Queen with “some element of privacy” after two years away from the UK.
When asked if he missed the Prince of Wales or Duke of Cambridge, Harry, who is in the Netherlands hosting his Invictus Games, side-stepped the question and said he was focused on the competitors and their families. His comments are likely to deepen the rifts between the duke and the institution of the monarchy and his family, who until a few years ago appeared to have his backing. Harry also said he did not know if he will return to the UK to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, saying there are “security issues and everything else”.
And he appeared to commit his immediate future to the US, saying: “Home for me now is, you know, for the time being, it’s in the States, and it feels that way as well.” Speaking to NBC’s Today show about his meeting with the Queen, he said “Being with her it was great, it was just so nice to see her, she’s on great form. “She’s always got a great sense of humour with me and I’m just making sure that she’s protected and got the right people around her.”
The royal family have rallied round the Queen since her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, died in April, and she has been supported by a smaller and closer-knit group from her household during the lockdowns of the past two years. Harry and Meghan left for a new life in North America just before the pandemic struck and so have watched developments in the UK from afar, but during that time they laid bare their experiences of life in the royal family in a devastating Oprah Winfrey interview.
The couple accused an un-named member of the royal family – not the Queen or Philip – of racism and painted the monarchy as an uncaring institution. The duke has commented in the past about his rift with Charles and how he and William are on “different paths” and have good and bad days in their relationship.
