Prince William and Kate to live in Kensington Palace, Diana’s former home

Prince William and Kate will move into Kensington Palace, the London residence where the prince spent much of his childhood with his late mother Princess Diana, a spokesman said.

The newlywed couple now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expected to move this month into a “small apartment” at Kensington Palace.

Prince William lived at the palace with younger brother Harry and their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, after her divorce from Prince Charles in 1996. But William and Kate will live in a different apartment within the palace grounds.

The couple plans to use Kensington Palace, which is in London's Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea — the wealthiest borough in the United Kingdom — as a “starter home” for the first few years of married life, British tabloid the Daily Mail reports.

Kensington Palace is already the home of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

William, 28, who is second in line to the throne, currently works as a Royal Air Force search and rescue helicopter pilot in Anglesey, north Wales, where the couple is based.

He spent most of his childhood years at Kensington Palace after it became the London residence of his parents in 1981. Princes William and Harry attended nursery and pre-preparatory school in nearby Notting Hill, and their mother would take them to shops and restaurants on Kensington High Street.

After her divorce, the palace remained Princess Diana’s official residence until her death the following year.

Until now, William and Kate have been staying at the Clarence House apartment that the prince shares with Prince Harry when in London — not an ideal situation for a newlywed couple.

The Telegraph reports that the couple could move into the palace as early as this week, ahead of their first royal visit, a tour of Canada and California later this month. But they are only expected to live at Kensington Palace for a few years at most.

“A number of options for longer-term solutions are still being considered,” a spokesman from St. James’s Palace said.

“The couple’s main home will continue to be their house on Anglesey, and their household office will continue to be based at St James’s Palace. The property in question at Kensington Palace into which the couple are temporarily moving is small," the spokesman said.

“While it more than suffices for occasional visits to London for now, and the royal couple are very grateful for it, the Duke and Duchess are considering options for a more permanent official London residence. No suitable properties are currently available.”