The occasional day working from home has become one of the few perks to emerge from the lockdown years. In fact, I’m writing this from my desk in the spare room, after a hectic week of royal events in a heatwave, grateful for the chance to be in my own space.
But what if the home you also work from is one of the UK’s biggest tourist attractions?
A place that attracts 700,000 visitors a year, where state visits, garden parties and receptions take place, where staff and security teams are constantly coming and going, and where the cameras are never far away. That’s the reality of Buckingham Palace.
So when officials announced this week that the King and Queen will never make it their permanent home, I wasn’t surprised.
In fact, having spent years reporting from BP – as staff know it – it strikes me as entirely understandable.
For all its grandeur, the Palace has always felt more like a workplace than a home. It’s the operational heart of the monarchy, hosting everything from weekly audiences with the Prime Minister and glittering state banquets to investitures and press briefings. Even on quieter days, it’s a building that rarely stands still.
And with 775 rooms, including 188 staff bedrooms, it’s hard to imagine it ever feeling like a cosy bolthole for the monarch and his family. For the past nine years it has also been something of a building site, with plenty of scaffolding dotted around, workers in hard hats and hi-vis vests, and large swathes of it sealed off for asbestos removal.
Choosing Clarence House over Buckingham Palace
That’s precisely why this week’s announcement was so significant. Despite almost £370 million being spent on modernising the Palace and securing its future for generations to come, Charles and Camilla have chosen to remain at Clarence House.
At first glance, it may seem counterintuitive. But in reality it tells us a great deal about the King’s approach to royal residences. He isn’t turning his back on Buckingham Palace, he’s redefining its purpose.
A stone’s throw across The Mall, Clarence House is much smaller and offers far more privacy, even if some of the downstairs rooms are occasionally used to host smaller receptions and events.
Charles has lived there since 2003, and it has been his and Camilla’s home for more than two decades. It’s more secluded, despite being in the heart of the city, and close enough to HQ for him to make the short trip whenever duty calls.
© Tim Graham Photo Library via GetRoyal insiders have long suspected he would never make the move to the “Big House”, especially as he grows older. The late Queen rarely spent more than a few nights a week there in her later years and moved out for the final time in March 2020, to see out lockdown at Windsor Castle.
The announcement nevertheless made headlines, because until now, officials had always suggested that Charles and Camilla would move in once the vital reservicing work ends next year. The King’s decision not to do so ends years of speculation.
Opening up royal residences to the public
It also feels entirely consistent with his long-held desire to open up royal residences to the visitors rather than keep them as vast private homes. As a Palace spokesperson put it, he wants to maximise “greater public benefit rather than greater private benefit”.
There are signs, too, that the Prince and Princess of Wales share a similar outlook. Having settled at Forest Lodge, they’ve made it clear that they see it as their “forever home,” even when they become King and Queen.
With a keen instinct to protect his family’s privacy, it’s hard to see William ever moving back into the “goldfish bowl” of central London.
© Getty ImagesSome traditionalists might find that hard to imagine. For generations, the image of lights glowing behind the windows and the royal standard flying overhead symbolised the Sovereign at home.
But perhaps the monarchy no longer needs its King to live above the shop.
Instead, Buckingham Palace can become exactly what Charles believes it should be: not simply the King’s home, but a palace for the nation – the headquarters of the monarchy, and a place that belongs just as much to the public as it does to the Royal Family.
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