Catch you in the gift shop.

From the revelation that he’d be more than content living “in a flat above a shop” when he becomes King (despite having, oh, you know, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the 50,000 acre Balmoral Estate at his disposal), to the shade he just threw at the people who don’t think he should be King at all, suffice to say that Prince Charles has some unexpected ideas about the future of the monarchy.

Yep, apparently the Prince of Wales has big plans in the pipeline for the royal estate – including vastly reducing private living quarters, and opening up more space to the public.

As reported in the Mail on Sunday, Charles’ plans to live more humbly include maintaining his Gloucestershire home, instead of taking up residence at Windsor Castle (though that might change if the Cambridge family do, in fact, decide to move closer to the Queen, as is currently being reported), and passing his London residence, Clarence House, which was originally intended for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, onto Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

While earlier reports also claimed that Charles has plans to turn Balmoral Castle – believed to be one of the Queen’s favourite residences – into a museum, a royal source has now revealed that the same approach could apply to Buckingham Palace.

Speaking to The Express, royal historian Dr. Anna Whitelock said, “I think we’ll probably see Buckingham Palace opened up more or less when the monarch isn’t living there…I think there is a sense that these buildings need to justify their purpose and yes, they have a function as the headquarters of the monarchy, particularly when the monarch is in residence. But other times, maybe money could be raised using them in another way.”

Interesting.

The idea of turning the London landmark into a museum doesn’t come as a huge surprise, given that members of the Royal Family reside more permanently at other parts of the royal estate (the Queen at Windsor, the Cambridge family at Kensington Palace, and Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at Clarence House). So for years Buckingham Palace has been primarily used to house the monarch’s head offices, and to host events.

We wonder when they’ll start taking bookings…

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