Prince William Reveals Unusual Childhood Experience Growing Up at King Charles Highgrove Home

Prince William has opened up about an unusual part of his childhood at King Charles’ private Gloucestershire residence, revealing how visitors to the gardens could sometimes see directly into his bedroom.

The Prince of Wales shared the personal memory while guest-editing the November 2026 edition of Country Life magazine.

William recalled growing up at Highgrove House, where the private family residence was surrounded by a popular public garden that attracted thousands of visitors each year.

The gardens, which were regularly developed and maintained by Charles, were open to members of the public and brought a steady stream of visitors to the estate.

Reflecting on the experience, William admitted that living in a private home surrounded by a busy tourist attraction could sometimes be challenging.

“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,” he told the magazine.

The future King also shared a funny childhood memory that illustrated just how little privacy he sometimes had at the property.

“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,” William recalled.

Highgrove was an important family retreat for William and his younger brother, Prince Harry, who spent weekends and holidays there with their parents, Charles and the late Princess Diana.

Despite the public gardens surrounding the property, the house provided the brothers with a place to spend time away from their official royal responsibilities.

Highgrove also has a special place in the family’s history because of Charles’s long association with the Gloucestershire estate.

Following Charles’s accession to the throne in September 2022, the Duchy of Cornwall passed to William, who became its Duke and took over responsibility for the estate.

As the property belongs to the Duchy, Charles now leases Highgrove from his eldest son.

William’s latest recollections offer a rare glimpse into the everyday challenges of growing up in a royal household where public interest was never far away.

His brother Harry also shared memories of life at Highgrove in his memoir, Spare, revealing that the pair transformed an underground bomb shelter in the house’s basement into a secret bar they called ‘Club H’.

Together, the brothers’ accounts provide an insight into their childhood at the Gloucestershire residence, including the private memories and unusual experiences that accompanied growing up as members of the Royal Family.