Yahoo Finance Prince Charles' bold new plan for when he becomes king
Prince Charles reportedly has a bold new plan to give the public greater access to the royal palaces once he becomes King.
The Prince of Wales reportedly wants to turn royal residences such as Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Balmoral, Sandringham and Clarence House from "private spaces to public places" according to The Sunday Times.
The reports suggest Charles wants to open more areas of Balmoral Castle in Scotland, which is privately owned by the Queen.
Sandringham House is also privately owned but could be open all year under the new plans.
The Duke has reportedly spoken to wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and his son and daughter-in-law Prince William and Kate Middleton.
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The Queen is reportedly aware of the plan, which aims to "bring people in to connect with the institution".
"He recognises it needs to keep evolving, and in the modern era people want to be able to access their palaces," a source told The Times.
"He embraces that and sees them as public places more than private spaces."
There's no doubt this would be a popular attraction for royal fans, with the Royal Collection Trust seeing their website crash following huge interest in a ticketed event at Buckingham Palace which would allow people to enjoy a picnic on the lawns and explore the gardens.
When the Queen is in Balmoral in the summer months from July to October, the State Rooms are usually open to the public.
It's believed around 500,000 people per year visit Buckingham Palace with the tickets funding works and restoration. The Palace is currently undergoing a $668 million restoration, which will be complete in 2027.
Charles is expected to split his time between Buckingham Palace, Highgrove House, Sandringham, Birkhall and Balmoral.
It comes following Prince Harry's most recent bombshell interview where he made extraordinary claims against Charles.
Speaking candidly on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the Duke of Sussex said he felt Charles handed down a "cycle of genetic pain and suffering" to him, which prompted his decision to leave the UK with wife Meghan Markle and son Archie.
"It’s a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway," Harry said, opening up about how he wanted to leave royal life since his “early 20s” because of "what it did to my mum".
"So we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say, ‘You know what? That happened to me, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you," he added.
Harry went on to say he started to 'piece together' the 'cycle' - pointing out he felt the way he was treated when he was a child, was likely the same way his father was treated by his parents, the Queen and Prince Philip.
"I never saw it, I never knew about it, and then suddenly I started to piece it together and go, ‘OK, so this is where he went to school, this is what happened, I know this about his life, I also know that is connected to his parents so that means he’s treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids?'" he told Dax.
"And here I am, I moved my whole family to the US, that wasn’t the plan but sometimes you’ve got to make decisions and put your family first and put your mental health first."
