The Split

Why are Prince William and Kate Separating from their London home?

By: Courtney Hargrove

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 2 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

From the author of the #1 bestselling "Harry & Meghan" biography series comes an electrifying new take on fractures within the British royal family.

There is a split happening within the British royal family that has royal watchers raising their eyebrows: Prince William and Duchess Kate have separated from their old life and have moved to Windsor after 11 years of a marriage spent living together in London’s Kensington Palace.

The House of Windsor has seen its share of separations and fractures throughout history—perhaps most famously the divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana—now there's another big split on the horizon.

Before the summer of 2022 ended, William, Kate and their three young children will have upped stakes from their London home base of over a decade in favor of Windsor, a sleepier town that is a short drive from the home of Kate’s parents and her sister Pippa, who she is extremely close to.

Why are they moving now? William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, aren’t sharing their reasons, but there are certainly theories as to why they might be leaving the thriving, energizing capital of the United Kingdom for quieter environs—even though this will be Prince William's fourth current home in a time when Great Britain is facing a severe cost-of-living crisis.

Indeed, the changes keep rolling in for the British royal family. Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan split from their roles as working royals, and Harry and William have (hopefully temporarily) taken a break from their formerly close relationship.

What happens when major splits happen in their royal lives? What does a cleaving from one way of life in order to embark on a new experience and fresh locale look like? We’ve seen the chaos and jockeying for power since William and Harry’s estrangement, and we can look to history to see what happens when other kinds of royal splits happen.

William’s parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, sadly endured a messy and very public breakup, during which Diana once wryly observed, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” The third person, of course, was Camilla Parker Bowles, who is now married to future king Charles. As we know, there were myriad warning signs leading up to that historic divorce. The Charles and Di split is also an example of what the aftermath looks like when there are affairs in the marriages of senior royals.

More recently, William’s cousin Peter Phillips split from his wife Autumn; there were certainly hints all was not well in their union. With Prince Andrew stripped of various titles due to a scandal over his friendship with pedophile Jeffry Epstein and a woman accusing him of rape (a claim he denies), plus frayed nerves among courtiers and family members about Harry’s upcoming candid memoir, and you’ve got a recipe for potential upheaval in the British royal family.

Meanwhile, Charles is waiting in the wings to become king as his beloved mother, Queen Elizabeth II, 96, continues her reign from Windsor Castle. How will this family proceed with all the big changes? And what big split is coming next?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Courtney Hargrove is the pen name of a writer who covered royals, news and celebrities during a twenty-plus-year journalism career in nine countries.

Her time up close to the goings-on at various royal residences, including time spent around Kate Middleton, Prince William, Prince Harry, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, Princess Eugenie and Beatrice among others lends Hargrove’s work the weight of authenticity and a true knowledge of the history of how this family relates to one another—and to outsiders.
She covered the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles in Windsor and has spent time up close with various British royals through work and…well…she believes pretty much everything Meghan and Harry say about them.