King Charles won’t move to Buckingham Palace for five years due to £370m renovation – inside his other luxury properties
THE King will not be able to move into Buckingham Palace for FIVE YEARS due to its £369million renovation.
Instead Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla will live 400 yards away at Clarence House for three days a week and Windsor Castle for two, with weekends spent at Sandringham in Norfolk.
The palace is halfway through its ten-year repair programme, which includes new wiring, plumbing and heating, and will be largely uninhabitable until 2027, though the King will use it for work and meetings in the meantime.
A source said: “Refurbishment is very far behind schedule but the Monarch should be living at Buckingham Palace.
“It’s the heart of the monarchy in London, otherwise it risks becoming just a tourist attraction.
“We effectively have a king without a palace to live in.”
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Charles, 73, and Camilla, 75, moved into four-storey, five-bed Clarence House in 2003 after the death of the Queen Mother a year earlier.
The 200-year-old building is a short walk along The Mall from the palace.
Charles also has rooms in Windsor Castle and stayed there at least once a week over the past year when his mother had mobility problems.
This year he is planning to host a family Christmas at Sandringham — the first in three years due to coronavirus.
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Since 2018 he has run an organic farm at the Norfolk estate and a source added: “The King is very attached to Sandringham and it will be a sort of retreat when needed as well as the difficult Christmas this year, which will be the first since his mother’s death.”
But although the family want to spend the festive season in Norfolk they are still checking everyone’s diaries, according to insiders, though one added: “It is very likely.”
