Prince William and Kate’s huge country mansion that his best friend lived in first

The Royal Family has a number of properties at their disposal which stretch as far north as the Castle of Mey in Scotland and as far south as Tamarisk House on the Isles of Scilly.

While the King has access to many royal residences up and down the country, did you know that the Prince and Princess of Wales can call four royal residences their own?

Thought to be their favourite property, Anmer Hall was a wedding gift to the couple from the late Queen and is located on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

Anmer Hall is an 18th century red-brick home situated in the village of Anmer in Norfolk, England. It is 12 miles northeast of King’s Lynn and two miles east of the King's main residence at Sandringham House.

The current house is described as being of a late-Georgian design but it could have been built earlier around a pre-existing smaller house. King Edward VII bought Anmer Hall in 1898 from Ernest Terah Hooley. It had originally been the seat of the Coldham Family from 1705.

From 1972 to 1990 the house was leased to the Duke and Duchess of Kent. The house was rented by two other families in between the time before the next tenants moved in, notably the family of Hugh van Cutsem. The van Cutsem family have many strong ties with the royals and are often pictured together.

Hugh van Cutsem was a close friend of King Charles during their days at university and his four sons (Edward, Hugh, Nicholas and William) have acted as close friends to Prince William and Prince Harry for many years.

Edward van Cutsem served as a pageboy at the wedding of King Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, whereas his brother Hugh made Prince William the godfather of his eldest daughter Grace.

Nicholas van Cutsem was asked to act as a godfather to Prince Louis and William took on the role at Prince George's christening. In January 2013, the-then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were allocated Anmer Hall by the Queen as a wedding gift.

Large renovations were carried out including a new roof, a conservatory, new kitchen and a substantial tree-planting scheme to offer the Prince and Princess more privacy. The refurbishments totalled £1.5 million and was paid for using private Royal Family funds.

The family lived in Norfolk full time between 2015 and 2017 as Prince George was attending nursery nearby at the Westacre Montessori School.

The Wales family's main home is now Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor Estate which was previously the home to Princess Margaret's ex-fiancée Group Captain Peter Townsend. They also have access Apartment 1A of Kensington Palace and to Tam-Na-Ghar cottage on the Balmoral Estate in Scotland.

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