06/11/2011
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are to make Kensington Palace their family home after the Queen personally intervened to enable them to live in Princess Margaret’s former apartment.
About £1million will now be spent renovating the lavish four-storey, 20-room Apartment 1A – which comes complete with its own private walled garden – to make it fit for William and Kate.
The couple are not expected to move in until 2013, when the extensive work will be completed.
Many of the rooms are still painted in pink and turquoise, Princess Margaret’s favourite colours, but as well as redecorating, work will also have to be done to install new plumbing, rewire the electrics and remove asbestos.
The cost of the renovations will be met by a mix of public grants and contributions from the Royal Family’s own fortune.
The accommodation, which has been uninhabited since the death of the Queen’s sister in 2002, includes a dining room, drawing room, Lord Snowdon’s former study, Princess Margaret’s garden room, extensive staff quarters and a nursery.