Prince William, Kate Middleton, and their three kids moved from Kensington Palace in London to Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor Castle estate in late summer 2022—but that’s not the only home on their property.

The four-bedroom, two-story Adelaide Cottage is modest by royal standards, and provides a sense of normalcy for Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis (although, as some of the most famous children in the world, it would otherwise be difficult to call their lives normal). As reported by Hello!, Adelaide Cottage has “seven gated entrances and exits to Windsor Castle,” so the family of five can come and go without the intrusion of photographers—perfect, especially, for Kate’s private battle with cancer that took up most of 2024.

But, as Hello! reported, there is a “mysterious property” that is “practically on their doorstep.” This building is called Adelaide Lodge, named to reflect Royal Lodge, which is also on the Windsor estate, boasting 30 bedrooms and currently occupied by Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson. 

But Adelaide Lodge, next to Adelaide Cottage, is “eerie and empty,” and is “currently abandoned and inhabitable due to problems with it not being underpinned.” Underpinning is a construction method used to support buildings, and Adelaide Lodge is unfit for safe living conditions without it, according to Hello!.

Adelaide Lodge is so close to Adelaide Cottage, in fact, that the two buildings share the same driveway, and is just “a stone’s throw” from where the Wales family of five call home.

“Little is known about what the property was used for or who live[d] there, nor is it known why the royals haven’t planned to renovate the now-abandoned Lodge,” the outlet wrote.

As George, 11, Charlotte, 9, and Louis, 6, grow up, Hello! assessed that the building so close to Adelaide Cottage “could make a welcome extension to their space as their children get older,” referring, of course, to William and Kate.

Adelaide Cottage—originally built in 1831 for William IV’s wife Queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (hence the name of the cottage, according to People)—was a favorite home of Queen Victoria and was once the home of Peter Townsend, the ex-beau of Princess Margaret. Adelaide Cottage underwent major renovations in 2015, seven years before the Wales family took residence.

A family friend told People in 2022 that “The move is mostly down to schooling,” and in Windsor, George, Charlotte, and Louis can play freely in the countryside, as opposed to Kensington Palace, in the heart of busy London.

“They love that the kids can go out on their bikes and cycle around the estate,” a friend told People. “It’s a real little community.”