The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are set to split their household before the arrival of Baby Sussex according to an exclusive in The Sunday Times.
“William and Harry are working to make sure the Sussexes have an office that can support their family when they move to Frogmore this spring,” an unnamed royal source told The Sunday Times, who confirmed that the split had been planned since before Harry and Meghan’s wedding last May.
According to another unnamed source, the split in the Kensington Palace household is due to the style and approach of the couples’ work – and because of the paths they’re both set to take as the Royal Family evolves.
The source noted that William and Kate would do different work as “future head of state and consort” than “Harry and Meghan, who have more of a blank canvas with their roles.”
“When William becomes the Prince of Wales, he will take on a lot of extra responsibility, including the Duchy of Cornwall,” another unnamed source said.
“Harry and Meghan have none of that, and seem ambitious about forging their own paths.”
Though Harry and Meghan are moving to Frogmore Cottage this spring, their office will remain at Kensington Palace. The Sunday Times reports that the division is largely “their communications team, giving each couple more freedom to forge distinctive media styles.”
The Cambridges and the Sussexes will reportedly split their communications team between them, and take extra staff from Buckingham Palace possibly stepping in as needed.
William has reportedly been attending Duchy of Cornwall meetings in recent weeks and months to ensure a smooth transition before “the change of reign.”
Prince Charles is said to approve of the split household as long as it is cost neutral. Prince Charles pays for William and Harry’s household out of Duchy of Cornwall money.
“If you have one private office trying to manage both, things get difficult. William and Harry’s double act has naturally been supplanted by the two couples and their families.”
The brothers separated from under their father’s household in 2009, with an office based at St James’s Palace.
Last fall The Sunday Times revealed that William and Harry were going to split their household.
