King Charles is giving up Llwynywermod, his 192-acre estate in Wales

While King Charles was “Prince of Wales” for nearly seven decades, he only bought a home in Wales in 2007, the year before his 60th birthday. He purchased Llwynywermod, a farmhouse on a 192-acre estate, through the Duchy of Cornwall, meaning it’s a Duchy property and not a personal property for Charles. He has the same arrangement with his Highgrove home – that too was folded into the Duchy. When he became king last year, he began “renting” those two properties from the Duchy, which is now controlled by Prince William. Well, now it looks like Charles is trying to “downsize” his real estate portfolio, and as such, he’s giving up Llwynywermod. No more annual trips to the Welsh countryside.

King Charles has given up his home in Wales as he begins the process of trimming the costs of his multiple residences, The Telegraph can disclose. His Majesty bought Llwynywermod in 2007 via the Duchy of Cornwall, paying £1.2 million for the farmhouse near Llandovery in Carmarthenshire.

When he was Prince of Wales he used it as his base during regular visits to the nation, but after the title passed to his son, Prince William, he will no longer spend as much time in the region. Royal sources said the King remained “passionate” about Wales but had decided to give up the property because it was “unlikely” he would be able to use it in the same way as before.

With the Coronation out of the way, the King and his aides have turned their attention to what to do with the various homes owned by or used by the King, which include Highgrove, Birkhall, Clarence House, Sandringham and Balmoral, as well as official residences such as Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

Since the Duchy of Cornwall was passed to Prince William, the King has been paying rent on Llwynywermod, which sits on a 192-acre estate. Buckingham Palace confirmed that the King had given notice to the Duchy earlier this year that he would be giving up the lease, which is due to expire later in the summer.

Other properties on the estate are available as holiday rentals when the King is not in residence, and it is likely that Llwynywermod will be let out commercially, either for holidays or on a long-term lease.

A spokesman for the Prince of Wales said he had no plans to establish his own home in Wales, preferring to stay in hotels to help out the local economy wherever he happened to be.

The holiday cottages on the Llwynywermod estate cost between £550 and £1,200 per week depending on the season, meaning the commercial rate to rent the King’s larger property on a long-term lease would be around £2,000 per month.

[From The Telegraph]

Let’s be real, he barely spent any time there and purchasing Llwynywermod was always more of a performative gesture, the idea that he should have a “home in Wales.” So it’s funny that William can’t even mirror that performative gesture now that he’s Prince of Wales. “He had no plans to establish his own home in Wales, preferring to stay in hotels to help out the local economy wherever he happened to be…” I bet William is used to checking into hotels, huh. And doesn’t it also help out the local economy to have what amounts to a royal patron in the area, a prince who employs locals on his estate, someone who puts money into the local economy by renovating a local estate’s cottages and encouraging tourism? Oh, well. Anyway, it’s weird to think about William having access to the vast Duchy of Cornwall portfolio and he’s still throwing a tantrum about wanting Royal Lodge.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

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42 Responses to “King Charles is giving up Llwynywermod, his 192-acre estate in Wales”

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  1. Pinkosaurus says:

    How does rent of £1,200 a week equate to a rate of £2,000 per month for the king’s “cottage”? Regardless, I assume for that rate you will be paying all the upkeep, staff salaries etc because that is a large fancy property to rent for less than a small apartment.

    • Shawna says:

      It sounds like there’s a main house on the estate, as well as the holiday cottages. The latter have always been for rent, but now the main house will also be available. They’re just estimating how much more a main house could go for.

      • Mary Pester says:

        . Mmm well prince (I Want) William won’t be getting any money from daddy in rent, is that Charlie saying “if you can afford wiglets for your wife to upstage me at events, you obviously have more money than sense. So over to you dear boy, start running your own estate”

    • BeanieBean says:

      Royal math. So if Charles is giving up the lease, William as Duke of Cornwall is now stuck with an empty expensive piece of property to maintain. Same for the other duchy houses Charles will be vacating. Interesting. I wonder how long it will take William to burn through the duchy’s millions & be forced to sell off bits & pieces.

      • Becks1 says:

        I don’t think Charles is giving up Highgrove. Its website describes it as the private residence of the queen and queen. I wonder if he bought it from the duchy?

      • BeanieBean says:

        @Becks1: that’s interesting. If that’s the case, I wonder if William will inherit that eventually. I think they spent a fair amount of time there when he was a kid. He might want it. Or Charles will figure out how to screw him out of it.

      • BQM says:

        @becks1 they describe highgrove as a private residence because Charles has a life tenancy set up when the duchy purchased the property. But it’ll revert to the Duchy and William and Charles pays rent on it now.

    • Nieve says:

      he should return it to the welsh people.

  2. ThatsNotOkay says:

    So he is not going to performatively pay (himself) to stay on the property, he’s going to let other people pay to rent the property for actual income. What a grand gesture. Given that rental money now goes to William through that Duchy, Charles has no Intention of propping his kid’s lazy ascot up.

    • LadyE says:

      Exactly!!! Before, he was “paying” rent…to himself, given that he is the recipient of the Duchy (landlord) income. Now the, Duchy is going to rent this to someone else who will pay rent to William. None of this is downsizing anything. Reducing RF rental property of property OWNED by the RF is not downsizing, reducing the property owned by the RF personally or through the Duchy is. And that’s what they are NOT doing

    • The Recluse says:

      Yet another house for William and Kate – that they will never occupy.
      They should just sell it. If they had any decency, they would donate the proceeds to charity. They can afford to.

  3. j.ferber says:

    I guess there are no plans to “gift” the property back to to true owners, the people of Wales?

    • AlpineWitch says:

      The Royal scroungers (as I call them, being a British taxpayer) have no interest to do any good in the kingdom. There’s no way any of their properties will ever be given back to the locals…

  4. Jay says:

    I don’t know if we can say this is really “giving up” the property if the Duchy is still trying to lease it. It makes sense for Charles not to live there and pay rent to his son, but “giving it up” would be gifting it to the people of Wales or establishing a nonprofit for Welsh families that can’t afford to spend £2000 per month on a rental property.

    As for Prince checking in to hotels to help the economy, doesn’t he already have a property in Wales? I can barely keep track, but I feel like he does.

    I’m more interested that William does trying to be putting some distance between himself and his father as POW. He’s said he doesn’t want the fuss of an investiture, he says he wants a much more scaled down coronation, and he seems to be throwing some shade at his father’s habits of acquiring properties instead of rather than staying at a hotel. Mind you, it does not prevent W from collecting the profits from those properties!

    • Shawna says:

      Charles seems to think spending less money—so there’s more to hoard for himself and the Crown—is somehow heroic.

    • Isabella says:

      William is quite the collector of properties himself.

  5. Nanny to the Rescue says:

    Charles does seem to like Wales, tho. And reportedly he’s been to Llwynywermod a lot even outside of the media fuss. Wales was his thing, like the Queen loved Scotland.

    William too seems to prefer Scotland, so I hope the Welsh kick him out at the first opportunity. Senedd needs braver politicians when it comes to dealings with the monarchy.

    • Hannah says:

      @ Nanny to the Rescue. Find me a picture of W in a kilt and let me know when he has taken his family to Scotland on holiday (not an obligatory family get together) and I *might* believe you

      • Nanny to the Rescue says:

        They are supposed to be regularly going to Tam-Na-Ghar, of which media occasionally writes about, but it’s not one of their regular publicity stunt locations so dunno if it’s true and how often it happens.

        Either way, I don’t know if William adores Scotland to the level the Queen did, it’s just clear that he likes it better than Wales, which was Charles’ preferred place. William acts like he’s being tortured every time he has to go near Wales.

      • Isabella says:

        Here it says that they went to Tam during their courtship but not so much now. One of many reasons given why they needed a home in Window. Tam only has 3 bedrooms, it says, so I can’ t imagine them there, given that they can’t stand each other and need copious household help. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/uk/prince-william-kate-middletons-not-so-popular-home-tam-na-ghar/articleshow/93735742.cms

    • Christine says:

      I feel like Scotland is also hoping the royals kick them to the curb….

  6. BW says:

    That’ll do, pig.

  7. Hannah says:

    I don’t know what the feeling on Celebitchy is about Ryan Reynolds. But here, he is single handedly credited with doing more for Wales (ito positive publicity, pr, tourism, Welsh pride & the economy) than the current or former PoW. An American celebrity (with no Welsh heritage) is credited with doing MORE for Wales & the Welsh people than the actual fkn Prince of Wales. Let that sink in

  8. Ceej says:

    Interesting that in all the talk of properties Charles has to visit they never highlight anything international. I wouldn’t even have known about the Transylvania (?) home if there hadn’t been a thing about how he was visiting it to avoid Harry being over for the trial.

    How many properties does he actually have? Not just the 4 or 5 the press cops to him owning?

    • Someone_Hears_a_Who says:

      His Transylvania home has been covered by the media for years. As an example, on Youtube, you can find a Telegraph video on it from 10 years ago.

  9. Tessa says:

    Is William having an Investiture. If so there will be stories of whether harry will attend and will Kate be peacemaker

    • Nanny to the Rescue says:

      Of course not. He’d be booed back across the border. Charles just declaring him the second the Queen died and trying to move on like nothing happened was a smart move. I think if they left some time in between or planned an actual Investiture, the Welsh would force them to abolish the title.

  10. Suzy says:

    From the pictures I’ve seen, I think the Welsh farmhouse property is delightful and charming. I like it. I think I read somewhere that the trees that were used inside Westminster Abbey for W + K’s wedding were planted on that property, which I thought was kind of nice. I hope whoever rents it really enjoys it.

  11. SarahCS says:

    Given that many parts of Wales have huge issues with second homes driving up prices and reducing housing stock for locals how about they rent all these properties out permanently at affordable rates and actually do something for the people of Wales?

    I also love that they’re openly saying that William DNGAF about Wales.

    • Brassy Rebel says:

      That would be totally out of character for them, SARAHCS. And William is such a putz.

  12. QuiteContrary says:

    Is this Charles’ idea of frugality? Giving up one rental property?

    Let me know when he turns over one of the many houses/palaces he owns to a nonprofit.

  13. Anne Keane says:

    There is a strong case that the last authentic Prince of Wales was Owain Glyndŵr or Glyn Dŵr (anglicised as Owen Glendower) in the Middle Ages. The Prince of Wales / Duke of Edinburgh stuff is intended to remind those countries of their subservient status within an alleged partnership.

  14. Christine says:

    Llwynywermod, pronounced “now that I am king, I can recognize that my heir doesn’t give a f!ck about anything, ever, the least of which is Wales.”