Apparently Prince William and Kate Middleton Have a Relatively Secret Third Home in Scotland

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published 29 July 2022

Much ado has been made of late about the Cambridges’ move to Windsor this summer. It will become their primary home, but the family of five—Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis—will also keep their apartment at Kensington Palace in London, using it as an office from here on out. In addition to their new digs at Windsor, the Cambridges’ country home, Anmer Hall, sits on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

In addition to KP (soon to be replaced as their primary home by Windsor) and Anmer Hall, The Mirror reports that the family actually has a third home, but no photos of it are known to exist and very few know about it.

It’s an interesting name—Tam-Na-Ghar Cottage—and it was gifted to William by his late great-grandmother, the Queen Mother, shortly before her death in 2002, when William and Kate were at university together, beginning a friendship that eventually turned into more. It sits on the Queen’s beloved Balmoral estate in Scotland, where she summers and where she is right now. The Cambridges frequently visit Her Majesty at Balmoral, and, The Mirror reports, “they don’t have to rely on the Queen putting them up in the main castle—that’s because they have the option of staying in their extremely private third home.”

That said, the house is a little small for a family of five (speaking in royal terms here, not layman’s terms): it’s only three bedrooms, so it might be a bit crowded for the fivesome. The outlet reports that William and Kate used the home “a lot” in the early days of their romance, and “have used the cottage as a retreat since the days when they were students at St. Andrews University—also in Scotland.”

The Cambridges stayed at the cottage in 2019, with a source telling Vanity Fair at the time (per The Mirror) “the Queen has a lot of guests coming, and to ease the pressure, the Cambridges are likely to stay at the cottage. That could have added benefits for everyone, as it means more space in the castle.”

There are 150 buildings in total on the Balmoral estate, including the main house, Balmoral Castle, and Birkhall, owned by Prince Charles.

Apparently, Tam-Na-Ghar Cottage has a really special place in William and Kate’s heart—going all the way back to college, they’ve told friends that some of their happiest times were there.

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.