Prince William and Kate to have a new London home
(CBS/AP) LONDON - First, love. Then, marriage. Now, a new place of their own.
Prince William and his wife, Kate, are set to move into an apartment at London's Kensington Palace.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as the couple is officially known, plan to move into their new home before embarking on their first official overseas trip to Canada and the United States later this month.
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Up until now, according to BBC News, the couple had been sharing an apartment at Clarence House with William's brother Prince Harry when they visited London.
William and Kate's main residence will still be a small house on the remote island of Anglesey off the coast of northwest Wales, where William serves as a Royal Air Force helicopter rescue pilot, but the Kensington Palace apartment will be their base on their visits to London.
The finishing touches are being put on their new home, but the couple's stay there won't be permanent - the Daily Mail reports that the apartment is not considered large enough for the pair to start a family in.
"We can confirm that The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's official London residence will temporarily become a property at Kensington Palace. A number of options for longer-term solutions are still being considered," a palace spokesperson told BBC News. "The couple's main home will continue to be their house on Anglesey, and their household [administrative] office will continue to be based at St James's Palace."
William has strong ties to Kensington Palace - he lived there as a child, first with his parents, before their divorce, and then with his mother, the late Princess Diana, who used it as her primary residence until her death in 1997.
The palace is being extensively renovated. Much of it has been gutted in part so it can be brought up to current health and safety standards.
Other royals, such as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent also live in apartments within the palace, according to the Daily Mail. The combined apartments 8 and 9, where Diana lived with her sons, have since been converted into offices.
People magazine reports that the couple will have a servant helping them in their new quarters, a combination housekeeper-dresser.
No one has been chosen for the job yet, according to the report, but the position has been advertised internally within Buckingham Palace. The dresser is not a stylist, insiders told People, but will provide "valet service" for the duchess, who will continue to pick out her own clothes.
The couple lives without servants at their primary home in Anglesey.
