Inside Adelaide Cottage where Kate Middleton will recover: Grade II listed 1831 royal residence 'might not be the best place' for Princess of Wales

The Princess of Wales is back home at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor Great Park as she recovers from abdominal surgery.

Kate Middleton, 42, has returned to the four-bedroom royal residence she shares with husband Prince William, 42, and three children: Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five.

However, the Grade II listed building built in 1831 for William IV's wife Queen Adelaide may not be the most suitable choice for Kate due to its cold interior, a royal expert claims.

Former BBC correspondent Michael Cole told GB News that the family home was “definitely not an ideal place” to recover from surgery, quoting a description of the property once written by Rosemary Townsend.

'She wrote in her memoirs that it was the coldest place she had ever encountered in her entire life. So maybe not the best place to feel better, especially in this quite cold winter we are currently enjoying.'

The Wales family moved from Kensington Palace to Adelaide Cottage, located in Windsor Great Park, in the summer of 2022.

Their preference was for a home that didn't require renovation or extra safety measures (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, by contrast, spent £2.6 million refurbishing the nearby Frogmore Cottage).

In addition, four bedrooms were considered sufficient as there are no live-in staff. Instead, assistants commute to the property when their services are needed.

Nestled in the heart of the Crown Estate's 655-acre private park, Adelaide Cottage was built in 1831 as a retreat for William IV's wife, Queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen.

It was also known as a favorite home of Queen Victoria as she often enjoyed breakfast there.

Its most famous former resident, however, is the late Princess Margaret's ex-lover, Group Captain Peter Townsend, whose affair with the Queen's sister caused a national scandal.

The cottage underwent a major renovation in 2015, meaning Prince William and Kate did not have to spend millions on the home's renovation.

Adelaide Cottage still boasts original features, including a marble Greco-Egyptian fireplace and a large bedroom, with a coved ceiling with gilded dolphins and rope ornaments reused from the royal yacht Royal George.

The property has seven gated entrances and exits to Windsor Castle, allowing the family to come and go in relative privacy.

Adelaide Cottage had mostly receded into the background, in the shadow of the gray stone of Windsor Castle.

Yet the four-bedroom home has a colorful past to draw from.

In the years following the Second World War, Adelaide Cottage was the favorite home of group captain Peter Townsend and his first wife, Rosemary.

But the dashing RAF pilot would soon cause a scandal and become Princess Margaret's divorced lover.

Townsend lived in the property with his first wife, Rosemary, in the 1940s so he could support the king in his role as equerry.

Despite its proximity to the monarch's residence, living conditions in the cottage were in stark contrast to those of its more powerful neighbor.

Electricity was supplied via cables from Windsor Castle, but the power was so poor that only a vacuum cleaner and a small electric heater could be used at the same time.

The interior of the cottage was reportedly 'gloomy', with Victorian wallpaper and heavy furniture. One commentator in the 1950s described it as 'small and unattractive'.

Princess Margaret, along with her sister, then Princess Elizabeth, and mother, Queen Elizabeth, regularly took tea in the cottage gardens with the Townsends and their two young sons.

Margaret was only 13 years old when Townsend was appointed, but later admitted: 'When he first appeared I was madly in love with him.'

Townsend and his family left Adelaide Cottage in 1952, when he divorced Rosemary. However, the affair was said to have been doomed by the Royal Marriages Act, which stipulated that no member of the royal family could marry a divorcee while the ex-partner was still alive.

Since then, the cottage has been home to a host of well-connected dignitaries and courtiers, including most recently Simon Rhodes, son of the Queen's cousin and best friend Margaret Rhodes, who died in 2016.

Adelaide Cottage is also close to Kate's parents, the Middletons, who live 45 minutes away by car in the village of Bucklebury.

Even closer is Frogmore Cottage, which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex use when they visit Britain, although the brothers' long-term effects make it unlikely they will socialize together anytime soon.

According to a source, the queen offered the monumental building to Harry and Meghan shortly after their wedding. The couple reportedly went for a viewing and liked it, but ended up moving into Frogmore Cottage, before leaving the UK completely.

Kate, who Kensington Palace says is 'doing well', left tThe London Clinic in Marylebone yesterday morning after admission for surgery on January 16.

The Mail revealed on Monday that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis were not taken to visit their mother in hospital after she underwent 'abdominal surgery'.

As her children would have been at school when she returned, they would probably not have seen her for the first time until they returned to Adelaide Cottage from Lambrook School, a ten-minute drive away, later in the afternoon.

It will almost certainly be the longest period the princess has been away from them.

William and Kate have both prioritized their children above all else, arranging arrangements so that at least one of them can do the school run where possible.

They have also made sure that foreign trips are shorter so that they can be home on weekends, with the only exception being their trip to the Caribbean in 2022.

It is understood that Prince William, who cleared his diary so he could be by his wife's side all the time, was in hospital when she was discharged and likely drove her home.

In a statement yesterday, a spokesperson for Kensington Palace said: 'The Princess of Wales has returned to Windsor to continue her recovery from surgery. She is making good progress.

'The Prince and Princess would like to thank the entire team at The London Clinic, and especially the dedicated nursing staff, for the care they provided.

'The Wales family remains grateful for the well wishes they have received.'