Princess Kate's rarely-used London home looks so different in unearthed 60s photos
Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace was home to Princess Margaret before the Prince and Princess of Wales moved in in 2013
The Prince and Princess of Wales have largely swapped city living for the Windsor countryside, where they are raising their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Before the family relocated to be closer to the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, however, home was Kensington Palace. Apartment 1A was given to the couple following their 2011 royal wedding — but they were far from its first royal residents.
Shortly after her wedding to Antony Armstrong-Jones, Princess Margaret made the apartment her home — "apartment" being something of a misnomer for a residence with 20 rooms arranged across four storeys.
In April 1960, photographs of Margaret's newly appointed home were released, and they reveal a more intimate side of 1A than the rare glimpses royal watchers were given during William and Kate's residency.
One black and white image was captured inside an archway looking onto the home's courtyard, where flowerbeds broke up the flagstones and white sash windows overlooked the space.
Another photograph shows the princess's drawing room, complete with a grand piano, deep sofas and tall Georgian windows dressed in patterned curtains — a warmer, busier look than the pared-back interiors associated with the Waleses today.
While the family now bases itself at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor, Apartment 1A is understood to remain the couple's London foothold, used for engagements and meetings in the capital — meaning Margaret's old home is still very much a working royal residence.