Ghosts
King Charles has quite a few spooks he needs to keep happy in his new royal residences
We may envy the royals their privileged lives and grand palaces, but if our new King ever invited you to stay at one of his fabulous homes, you’d be wise to prepare yourself for a sleepless night. For these historic houses have rather a lot of ghosts lurking about.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE
Built by the Duke of Buckingham in 1703, the sprawling 775-room palace has been the monarch’s official London home for centuries. While the palace is currently undergoing an extensive £369m refurbishment that won’t be complete until 2027, a source has claimed both Charles and Queen Consort Camilla ‘see that the reigning monarch must live at Buckingham Palace’ or else it will become ‘a visitor attraction rather than a working royal palace’. While it remains to be seen how much time the monarch will actually spend at the famed palace, there seem to already be some spooky residents with their feet firmly under the table.
A monastery once stood on the site and, according to Visit England, there have been sightings of the ghost of a monk who died in a punishment cell there. The vision appears cloaked in a brown cowl and clad in chains on the rear terrace. Palace staff have also reported hearing a single gunshot from a palace office where Major John Gwynne, King Edward VII’s private secretary, shot himself after his divorce caused a scandal.
Forget bumps in the night. This palace seems to go bang.
CLARENCE HOUSE
Though Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the monarch, King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla continued to live primarily at 19th-century Clarence House. Clarence House has been the King’s home since the early 2000s and he reportedly loves it there – it’s where he and Camilla host their receptions and welcome international visitors.
But someone else may also coming knocking. During World War II Clarence House was used as lodgings for the Red Cross. While working alone, a female clerk reported being confronted by a grey, swirling mass of triangular smoke. She was so scared that she fled the building.
King Charles, though, seems content to stay put for the time being.
DUMFRIES HOUSE
Though King Charles acquired Scotland’s imposing Dumfries House in 2007, it is not intended as a royal residence but a public site of education and training courses.
Perhaps one reason it will never become the King’s home is that his wife was apparently terrified of the place for years.
Looking back on the state of the 18th-century home when it was first purchased, the Queen Consort Camilla said, ‘It was so sad and unlived in, unloved and neg
