Prince William and Princess Kate to avoid being dragged into royal hypocrisy row

It comes as Prince Andrew, William's uncle, is locked in crunch talks with King Charles regarding his home, Royal Lodge.

The monarch is understood to want the Duke of York, 64, to downsize and leave Royal Lodge amid expensive security costs.

Prince Andrew ceased being a working royal in 2019 following his career-ending Newsnight interview, where he discussed his friendship with the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.

Many royal commentators have suggested that Kate and William, both 42, are the ideal couple to move into Royal Lodge, should Andrew be forced to leave.

However, royal author Richard Kay has suggested this is very unlikely due to the Waleses risking being dragged into a hypocrisy row.

Writing in The Mail, Kay said: "William is not interested in the property, at least not at the moment when all his focus is on Kate's health as she battles her cancer diagnosis.

"William has also ruefully conceded that occupying yet another royal mansion – he already has a substantial Kensington Palace apartment and Anmer Hall near Sandringham in Norfolk – is not a good look for a prince who campaigns against homelessness."

In 2023, the Prince of Wales launched Homewards - a programme that seeks to prove that homelessness can become a thing of the past.

Should Kate and William acquire a fourth home, the father-of-two would likely risk a huge backlash.

The couple formerly spent most of their time at Apartment 1A in Kensington Palace, London.

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Their eldest two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, attended the nearby Thomas's School in Battersea.

During the school holidays, William and Kate often take George, 11, Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6, to Anmer Hall in Norfolk, a country manor house gifted to the couple by the late Queen as a wedding gift.

King Charles, 75, appears to be escalating the "Siege of Royal Lodge" by removing the 10-man privately funded guards who patrolled the grounds of the house and its 98-acre estate.

Prince Andrew originally moved into the home in 2003, and shares the grounds with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.