Kate Middleton's 'secret' hack to obstruct windows at Kensington Palace to protect privacy

Kensington Palace is not only the London home of the Prince and Princess of Wales, it is also a major tourist attraction, and one royal fan uncovered a trick to stop people peering into the royals' garden while touring the building

The Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children are some of the world's most recognisable people - and so they understandably appreciate their private family time.

But when they are together at their official London residence of Kensington Palace, this can often prove very tricky. That's because their home is also one of London's biggest tourist attractions, with thousands of visitors flocking to the palace annually for a peek inside the staterooms and to see the every-changing exhibitions.

Visitors do not get see Prince William and Kate's private quarters at Apartment 1A in the palace, with the visiting public finding the rooms strictly off-limits. However, one royal fan uncovered that it's more than just cordoning off their apartment in order to preserve their Wales family's privacy - they also employ a trick to stop visitors from being able to stare into their garden.

The clever deterrent was spotted by Laura Ann Barr on TikTok, who revealed the palace has partially frosted windows that look out on to the garden. The fan wrote: "I'm at the Kensington Palace tour! Look at the secret windows they have that make sure you can't see into Kate & Will's private garden to the right. They have it on all the windows in this room."

William and Kate have only shared small glimpses inside their home at Kensington Palace in the past such as when Barack and Michelle Obama visited. They also showed some of their living quarters in a glossy video they shared on social media showing the couple and their children getting ready to go to King Charles' Coronation in May 2023.

However, their sleeping quarters are strictly off-limits - but they did once give an insight into what the bedrooms of Prince George and Princess Charlotte might look like.

During a visit to Sweden's National Museum of Architecture and Design in Stockholm in 2018, they revealed they had some Ikea furniture. Marcus Engman, the company's head of design, said they told him that they had some of the company's furniture for George and Charlotte's own rooms.

Despite it being the Waleses home, along with Adelaide Cottage in Windsor, Kensington Palace is also home to the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry also used to live there, in Nottingham Cottage, before moving to Windsor, and then Canada and LA.

Speaking about Kensington Palace on True Royalty's Royal Beat, the late royal author Christopher Warwick said: "It has 20 rooms from the basement to the attic, it is not a small house. All of these royal residences at Kensington Palace are called apartments, which of course makes people immediately think they are flats like the American term for an apartment.

"They are not. If you think of Kensington Place in a way it is built around three courtyards. If you kind of think of them as being these wonderful red brick terrace houses. Because they are all joined, but separate houses."