Settling into your first home is an exciting moment for any couple and Prince William just included a tribute to his and Kate’s time living on Anglesey in his guest-edited issue of Country Life. They called the island home for three years and he chose the view from there as his “favourite”, calling it “incredibly special”.

“It is from the first house Catherine and I lived in together after we were married and where we brought George home after he was born,” he explained, before adding, “I would struggle to find a better view anywhere in the country: it has mountains, beach and estuary all tied together in one place. When I loved most was the sense of being close to wilderness.”

The landscape is undeniably breath-taking and it gave the Prince and Princess of Wales a level of privacy they never had in London. However, the “wilderness” element that William adored actually made Kate feel “cut off” as a first-time mum.

“I had just had George and William was still working with search and rescue, so we came up here when George was a tiny, tiny little baby, in the middle of Anglesey,” the Princess shared. “It was so isolated, so cut off, I didn’t have my family around me, he was doing night shifts, so if only I’d had a centre like this at a certain time.”

Like she mentioned, if she’d had a similar community centre – or if Prince William hadn’t been on night shifts – perhaps her experience living in their “isolated” house with baby George might have felt more positive.

From the sounds of it, those days were a challenge for the new mum and perhaps her memories of that first home are a little more bittersweet than William’s are. He grew up in the Royal Family, being constantly scrutinised and photographed, so it makes sense that living in the deep countryside might appeal to him more.

That’s not to say that the Princess didn’t enjoy living there at all and in 2023 Kate attended the Welsh Guards’ St David’s Day Parade and reportedly reminisced about her first home. As per People, Krystal Cunningham, who was at the event, claimed the Princess “said she missed it” and is “hoping to take her children there” to show them the beaches.

Prince George, Charlotte and Louis have all inherited their parents’ love of the great outdoors and they’d surely love to explore the beautiful landscape and see where William and Kate once lived.

Now they’re full-time working royals, the Waleses have four homes – Forest Lodge in Windsor, Anmer Hall in Norfolk, Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace and the little-known Tam-Na-Ghar Cottage on the Balmoral Estate. Scotland is another place that is very special to William and Kate and when they were dating at university, they are said to have enjoyed trips there.

“There is nowhere I feel more relaxed, energised and at peace than the British countryside,” the Prince of Wales previously told Country Life. “Of course, a big part of me is also in Scotland – my family has deep connections there and it was such a fun part of my childhood and upbringing.”