Why Prince William and Kate Middleton Refuse to Have Live-In Staff at Their Forest Lodge Home

Prince William and Catherine, the Princess of Wales, have broken with generations of royal tradition by choosing not to employ any live-in staff at their family home, a decision royal experts say is deliberate and central to the couple's broader effort to keep their three children as grounded as possible.

Unlike many royals before them, the Wales family has no housekeepers, nannies or security personnel actually living inside their home. According to a source who spoke exclusively to the Daily Mail, that arrangement produces a household life that would likely surprise most people. "I think it would surprise people to see how ordinary things are at home," the source said, describing an environment where Prince George, 13, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, 8, actively participate in everyday household tasks. The source said the children help with "laying the table, clearing their plates when they've finished eating and helping with tidying up," adding pointedly, "There's no preferential treatment."

A Parenting Decision, Not Just a Household Policy

Royal biographer and author Katie Nicholl has described the no-live-in-staff policy as fundamentally a parenting choice, one aimed at ensuring the Wales children stay grounded despite their royal status. According to Nicholl, all three children are "expected to muck in" around the house. "They absolutely do menial tasks," Nicholl told The Mirror. "They are far more ordinary than many might imagine — the kids even have to do chores in return for their pocket money." She added that the underlying goal is straightforward: "It's about them wanting to have a normal, happy, ordinary family home and lifestyle."

Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine and a longtime royal biographer, offered additional insight into where the couple's thinking on the matter originated, tracing it back to both William's and Catherine's own upbringings. "Since William was a little boy, he's seen all the staff at the late Queen's homes, and he never wanted that. It's not something Kate grew up with either," Seward told HELLO! magazine.

A Policy That Predates Their Current Home

The couple's aversion to live-in staff is not a new development tied specifically to their most recent move. Royal biographer Robert Hardman documented the policy in his book "Charles III: New King, New Court," writing about the family's earlier home at Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor estate. "The couple did not seek to boost the staff numbers at Adelaide Cottage, not least because there would be little room to do so," Hardman wrote, according to The Mirror. "Reports that the Prince was hiring a valet were knocked back." Hardman noted that while Kensington Palace's broader team does include a "yeoman," a multi-tasking attendant responsible for everything from luggage to uniforms, there is no dedicated valet or personal attendant, and certainly no butler, living or working directly within the family's home. "It's very much them at home with the kids," one source told Hardman.

Continuing the Policy at a Larger New Home

The Wales family relocated in October 2025 to Forest Lodge, an eight-bedroom Georgian mansion within Windsor Great Park that royal insiders have described as the couple's "forever home." The property is roughly double the size of Adelaide Cottage and considerably more secluded, yet reports at the time of the move confirmed the family's no-live-in-staff policy would remain unchanged despite the significant upsize in living space. A royal source told NBC News that the move offered the family "an opportunity for a fresh start and a new chapter," calling it a long-term decision meant to leave behind some of the more difficult memories associated with Adelaide Cottage, where Catherine had received cancer treatment in 2024. The family is privately funding the move and paying market rent for the property, according to the same source.

Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith similarly described Adelaide Cottage as carrying painful associations for the family, telling People that it was, in her words, "a place of pain," and that after such a difficult stretch, it was entirely understandable the couple would want a fresh start elsewhere.

Staff Nearby, but Not Under the Same Roof

While no staff live inside the home itself, the Wales family does rely on a small support team based nearby. Longtime nanny Maria Turrion Borrallo, who has worked with the family since Prince George was an infant, remains closely involved, alongside a housekeeper reported to have worked with the family for 13 years. According to reporting on the arrangement, these staff members live in separate cottages nearby within Windsor Great Park rather than inside Forest Lodge itself, allowing the family to maintain daily support while still preserving the sense of a private, self-managed household. Former royal correspondent Valentine Low has reported that staff working near the family are encouraged to dress casually while on duty, part of a broader effort to keep the household atmosphere as relaxed and unassuming as possible.

A Broader Pattern of Deliberate Normalcy

The decision fits into a wider pattern of choices the Wales family has made in recent years aimed at shielding their children from some of the more rigid trappings traditionally associated with royal upbringing. Rather than relying on staff to manage childcare, meals or tidying, William and Catherine have consistently chosen to handle much of that responsibility themselves, a dynamic royal commentators have repeatedly pointed to as a defining feature of how the couple is choosing to raise the next generation of the royal family.

With the family now settled at Forest Lodge and George preparing to begin full-time boarding at Eton College this September, the household's day-to-day dynamics are likely to shift somewhat as the family's eldest child spends more time away from home for the first time. Even so, royal watchers expect the underlying philosophy behind the no-live-in-staff policy, one built around chores, shared responsibility and a deliberately unglamorous home life, to remain a defining and consistent feature of how William and Catherine continue raising George, Charlotte and Louis in the years ahead.