Princess Eugenie is moving to Kensington Palace & shell be paying rent
I got something wrong in last week’s story about Princess Eugenie. I really thought she lived The Royal Lodge Windsor, her father’s official residence. But she does not! Her official residence is/was a smallish “apartment” at St. James’s Palace, an apartment she shares with her sister Beatrice. Come to think of it, it sort of makes sense – both Beatrice and Eugenie have been jet-setting for years now, and Eugenie was living full-time in New York up until last summer. The St. James apartment was probably a temporary solution for the princesses while they figured out where they were going to call homebase. Now that they’re both permanently back in London, that smallish apartment must be getting sort of crowded, so Eugenie is moving… to Kensington Palace. Or rather, a cottage within Kensington Palace.
Welcome to the palace, Eugenie! Prince William, Princess Kate and Prince Harry are likely to have their cousin for a neighbor. PEOPLE confirms that plans are underway for Princess Eugenie, 26, to move into a cottage in the Kensington Palace compound that houses William and Kate, their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte, along with Harry.
Under the plan, Harry – whom Eugenie introduced to his last serious girlfriend Cressida Bonas – would live just yards away from his first cousin. He is in the two-bedroom Nottingham Cottage, while nearby the three-bedroom Ivy Cottage is being earmarked for her, says a source. The “rent” for apartments in Kensington Palace is private, but a comparable apartment in London might run as high as $4,500 per week. The palace does not disclose who pays the rent.
Eugenie currently lives in an apartment at St. James’s Palace that she shares with her older sister, Princess Beatrice, 28. A Buckingham Palace spokesman declined to comment on the potential move. But a friend tells PEOPLE that it is “under discussion.” There are still some things to iron out and nothing has been agreed yet, says the friend.
If she does relocate, it would continue a trend among the younger royals living relatively close together. Eugenie, who last week gave an insight into her royal and non-royal life, has been dating boyfriend Jack Brooksbank for several years now and there has been speculation that they are set to wed. A spokesman for her mother, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, tells PEOPLE, “They are not engaged and there are no plans to get engaged. But they are very much a couple.”
According to the Daily Mail, Eugenie and Beatrice weren’t paying any kind of rent for their SJP apartment, and I find it hard to believe that Eugenie would have to pay rent for a KP cottage either. The DM’s source reiterates People’s source though, claiming that Eugenie will pay “market rent.” I have a solution for everybody: just let Eugenie live in Apartment 1, the mansion-within-the-palace that underwent extensive and costly renovations and redecorating at the Cambridges’ behest, only for the apartment to stand completely empty for what amounts to 11 months a year. The Cambridges are too busy doing their Normal Middle Class Blokes cosplay in Norfolk. So let Eugenie have the apartment.
Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News, Fame/Flynet and WENN.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmbXFpa4Zye8%2BroKeblajAoLHUoJynoZWUtrSrzKitoqaXlMGwq8qepayhnpzBsLq%2BqZilmZOarLS0xKWjmJqVlL2ixcinnpiqlaPBcA%3D%3D