Visitors to London often think of Buckingham Palace as the home of the Monarch. While that is often the case, the current facts are a little more complicated. On the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, Charles, Prince of Wales, became King Charles III.
At the time he was living with our new Queen Camilla in Clarence House. The two are yet to move, so Clarence House is the current home of the King. Buckingham Palace is undergoing a large refurbishment project scheduled for completion in 2027.
Origins of Clarence House
As the name suggests, the house was built for the heir to the throne, William, Duke of Clarence. William was the third son of King George III and Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz.
Royal Residences and their History
At the time William’s elder brother was ruling as King George IV. As heir to the throne, William wanted a house near to his brother. Apartments were available in the official residence of the monarch, St James’s Palace. However, William, like many before him, found the Tudor St James’s Palace built by King Henry VIII to be a bit cramped and fusty. William wanted a house of his own and a modern and fashionable one at that.
Architectural and Urban Development
Enter our great Regency Architect, John Nash. Nash was already working his fingers to the bone to support the London Regency developments of Buckingham Palace, the Mall, Regents Street, Regents Park and all of the superb terraced houses facing the park. But Nash could hardly turn down the heir to the throne. Clarence House took two years to build and was finished in 1827. William and his wife, Princess Adelaide, took up residence and spent the rest of their lives in the house.
Royal Traditions
William, as the third son of the king, was allowed to have a job. Generally, the eldest son as heir to the throne is kept close and safe; he is trained for the top job and given the money to start building up a bank account ahead of being crowned king. The remaining children are generally encouraged to have jobs. This means that girls are trained for a royal marriage and boys can go into the military.
William joined the Royal Navy. Curiously, William was in New York City when the Revolutionary War broke out. General George Washington, leading the Americans, devised a plan to kidnap the Duke and ransom him for battleships. The plan failed and a few days later William got on his ship and sailed away. In his lifetime, he never knew how close he came to being a political pawn in a world-changing war.
Marriage Law and Relationships
William had no interest in marrying. He was the third son so unlikely to inherit the throne. Both of his elder brothers George, Prince of Wales, and Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, were married. George had a child, Princess Charlotte Augusta, she was second in line to the throne after her father.
Later she too married, pushing William even farther away from the top job. So William was allowed to enjoy himself. He wasn’t married but he did have a girlfriend, Dorothea Jordan.
All children of the monarch who marry have to have the agreement of the King. This was the law following the Royal Marriages Act of 1772. The law forbade any Catholics from being accepted as spouses. It is still the law today. William did not ask his father to approve a marriage between himself and Dorothea. She was a Catholic. She was also Irish and an actress so had three strikes against her. Dorothea was the finest comic actress on the stage and a huge celebrity in her own right. The couple had ten children together, commonly known as the FitzClarences.
Later, when it became clear that he might need to marry and have children, Dorothea was unceremoniously dropped in favour of Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. The two were married in 1818. This marriage was approved.
William and Dorothea lived here as King William IV and Queen Adelaide for the rest of their lives.
Later, Clarence House was home to Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and then Prince Charles who moved here in 2003 where he remains today.
Want to explore Clarence House? Join our Wonders of Whitehall Walk and discover some of London’s most iconic royal residences!
