When Prince William and Princess Kate moved into Adelaide Cottage in the summer of 2022, things were looking up as they embarked on a new chapter with their three children: Prince George (born 2013), Princess Charlotte (born 2015), and Prince Louis (born 2018). Adelaide Cottage is a modest, elegant home that’s just a short walk from Windsor Castle. They picked that home so their children could have a more normal family life, and all seemed to be going as planned.
What followed was a tough period of time nobody could have anticipated. Within three years the family had weathered the death of Queen Elizabeth II, two cancer diagnoses, and a series of upheavals in their extended family, before leaving for their new “forever home,” Forest Lodge, in late 2025.
Reportedly, William had come to think of the cottage as “cursed.” But behind the recent heartache lies a genuinely fascinating royal history, including a 19th-century queen, a salvaged royal yacht, and one of the great forbidden romances of the 20th century. Here are some things that might surprise you about Adelaide Cottage. Do you think it’s truly cursed?
Adelaide Cottage was built for a queen, on her birthday, in 1831
Adelaide Cottage takes its name from Queen Adelaide, the wife of King William IV, for whom it was built as a royal retreat. According to the official Historic England listing, the cottage was built in 1831 under the supervision of architect Sir Jeffry Wyatville, and its entrance gable still bears the date “1831” alongside Queen Adelaide’s royal cypher. Built in the fashionable “picturesque” style, it sits in Windsor’s Home Park, the private royal parkland just east of the castle, roughly half a mile from Windsor Castle itself.
Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV, for whom Adelaide Cottage was built in 1831. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
(William Charles Ross, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Adelaide Cottage was partly recycled from another royal house
Here’s a detail that surprises most people: Adelaide Cottage isn’t built entirely from new materials. As the official Historic England listing confirms, the cottage incorporates parts of John Nash’s original Royal Lodge, the home built for the Prince Regent in Windsor Great Park. In other words, when the cottage was re-erected for Queen Adelaide in 1831, builders reused salvaged material from a grander royal residence nearby, making it a literal patchwork of royal history. Few royal residences were put together that way!
Adelaide Cottage’s bedroom ceiling came off a royal yacht
One of the most extraordinary features in Adelaide Cottage’s history is hidden in its principal bedroom. According to the official Historic England listing, the room has a coved ceiling decorated with gilded dolphins and rope ornament salvaged from the decommissioned royal yacht HMY Royal George, alongside a marble Graeco-Egyptian fireplace. It’s a remarkable piece of royal recycling: ornamentation rescued from a 19th-century royal ship and built into the fabric of the cottage, recorded as one of the building’s most distinctive historic details.
A depiction of the royal yacht HMY Royal George, the source of the gilded dolphin decorations recorded in Adelaide Cottage’s principal bedroom.
(Huggins, J M (engraver); Huggins, William John (artist and publisher), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Queen Victoria used to pop in for breakfast and tea
Adelaide Cottage has long been a favourite royal bolt-hole. History Hit notes that after Queen Adelaide’s time, Queen Victoria is said to have often visited the cottage for breakfast and tea, treating the little house in the park as a pleasant escape from the formality of the castle. For a property most people had never heard of until 2022, it has quietly hosted royalty for almost two centuries.
Adelaide Cottage was the setting for one of the royal family’s greatest forbidden romances
This is the story that gives Adelaide Cottage its real historical drama. From 1944, the cottage was the grace-and-favor home of Group Captain Peter Townsend, a decorated Battle of Britain pilot who served as equerry to King George VI. As Town & Country and other outlets have reported, Townsend went on to fall in love with the King’s younger daughter, Princess Margaret. Because Townsend was divorced, their proposed marriage caused a constitutional crisis, and Margaret ultimately chose not to marry him. Decades before it became William and Kate’s home, the pretty cottage in the park was at the very center of one of the 20th century’s most poignant royal love stories.
Why William and Kate chose such a modest home, and how it shocked royal watchers
When the Wales family moved in during the summer of 2022, the choice raised more than a few eyebrows. As Town & Country reported, the four-bedroom cottage was strikingly modest for a future king, with no space for live-in staff, a deliberate downsizing aimed at giving Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis a more grounded childhood near Windsor Castle and the late Queen. It was a statement of intent about the kind of family life William and Kate wanted.
Why William and Kate’s years at Adelaide Cottage felt “cursed”
The cottage’s recent history is where the “cursed” reputation comes from, and it’s genuinely sobering. The family moved in just weeks before Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022. In 2024, both Princess Kate and King Charles III announced cancer diagnoses. Those years also saw continued public strain involving Prince Harry and wider family controversy. As royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith told People, Adelaide Cottage had become “a place of pain, suffering, and sadness.” Reporting n Marie Claire and InStyle relayed a royal source’s blunt summary: that with everything the family had endured there, it was “little wonder that William feels like it was cursed.”
Why William and Kate finally left for a fresh start
In late 2025, William and Kate moved roughly 15 minutes away to Forest Lodge, an eight-bedroom Georgian mansion in Windsor Great Park that insiders describe as the family’s “forever home.” As multiple outlets including Vanity Fair reported, the move was framed as a chance to “start afresh” and leave the unhappiest memories behind. The couple are funding the move privately and paying market rent to the Crown Estate, and Kensington Palace has indicated they intend to stay even after William becomes King someday.
Adelaide Cottage at a glance
Built: 1831, for Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV
Architect: Sir Jeffry Wyatville, in the “picturesque” style
Location: Windsor Home Park, about half a mile east of Windsor Castle
Listed status: Grade II*, on the National Heritage List for England since 1975
Famous past resident: Group Captain Peter Townsend, of the Princess Margaret romance
Royal residents (recent): Prince William and Princess Kate, 2022 to 2025
Frequently asked questions
Why did William and Kate leave Adelaide Cottage?
Prince William, Kate, and their three children moved to the larger Forest Lodge in late 2025 for what sources describe as a “fresh start” after three difficult years, which included Queen Elizabeth II’s death and the cancer diagnoses of both Princess Kate and King Charles. A royal source, as relayed by several outlets, said William had come to feel the cottage was “cursed.”
Who lived in Adelaide Cottage before William and Kate?
Its most famous former resident was Group Captain Peter Townsend, equerry to King George VI, whose romance with Princess Margaret became a major royal scandal. Queen Victoria also used the cottage regularly for breakfast and tea in the 19th century.
How old is Adelaide Cottage and who built it?
It was rebuilt in 1831 for Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV, under architect Sir Jeffry Wyatville, partly using materials salvaged from John Nash’s original Royal Lodge.
Can you visit Adelaide Cottage?
No, Adelaide Cottage isn’t open for tours. It sits within Windsor’s private Home Park, which is closed to the general public, so unlike Windsor Castle or the State Apartments, the cottage can’t be toured.
For a house most people had never heard of before 2022, Adelaide Cottage holds a remarkable amount of history. The Wales family have moved on to a new home, but their former house remains a lovely cottage with a fascinating history.
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