Prince William has recalled an awkward moment at Highgrove House, his father King Charles's country residence, when he had to rush to close his curtains because tourists could see into his bedroom. The estate, which is a private home, also operates as a major tourist attraction and welcomes around 40,000 visitors each year.
The future King guest-edited the November 2026 issue of Country Life magazine, in which he described what it was like living in a house surrounded by a busy public garden.
Living in a Working Public Garden
"Living in a private house that was surrounded by a working public garden, which was constantly being developed and nurtured by my father — as well as being open to members of the public and therefore pretty busy — could be quite difficult," Prince William recalled to the magazine.
"I remember several times when I would wake up, open the curtains and have to hit the floor and hurriedly close them, because I was not fully dressed and there were people outside who could see straight into my bedroom window!" he said.
A Special Edition of Country Life
The guest-edited issue of Country Life, released on November 11, includes details of Prince William's love of the countryside, which he called "a place of escape for children, a place of peace and tranquillity".
The issue also features an image of a kingfisher taken by his 13-year-old son, Prince George, as well as an interview with his wife, Kate Middleton, in which she discusses nature and its role in her cancer journey and recovery, PEOPLE reports.
Family Memories at Highgrove
Highgrove House boasts nine bedrooms and served as a weekend and holiday retreat for Prince William and his brother Prince Harry, who spent time there with their parents, King Charles and the late Princess Diana.
Harry wrote in his 2023 memoir that he and William turned an underground bomb shelter beneath Highgrove into a secret teenage hideaway, which they named Club H. "When I wanted solitude, what better than a bomb shelter in the middle of the British countryside? Willy felt the same. I often thought he seemed more at peace down there than anywhere else on earth," the Duke of Sussex wrote.
Highgrove House also has four main reception rooms and was the setting for King Charles's reunion with Meghan Markle and his grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet over the summer, after not seeing them in person for four years.
