King Charles and Queen Camilla at the Braemar Royal Highland Gathering in 2025.
Credit: Getty Images
The Gist
King Charles purchased the Old Mill for $3.8 million in early 2025.
The property is next to Ray Mill House, which has long served as Queen Camilla’s “refuge” from the royal spotlight.
It was acquired amid growing concerns that it would be turned into a wedding venue.
Though King Charles and Queen Camilla have only been atop the British monarchy since his ascension to the throne in 2022, the longtime couple have dealt with privacy concerns since they officially began dating in the mid-1990s. It was then that the future queen purchased Ray Mill House, the country estate that has long served as her “refuge” from the royal spotlight. As of early 2025, the neighboring property, OId Mill, is also officially under the couple’s purview.
King Charles and Queen Camilla at Clarence House in February 2023.
Credit: Getty Images
The Old Mill was purchased by King Charles amid security concerns and, relatedly, a growing fear that it would soon be turned into a wedding venue. It cost the monarch an estimated $3.8 million.
“The new arrangement is a pragmatic solution,” a source told the Daily Mail, “being both a sound financial investment and a way of maintaining Her Majesty’s privacy, protection and continued enjoyment of her much-loved home, without any public funds being used.”
Camilla, for her part, is understandably “relieved” that she no longer has to worry about curious neighbors. Ahead, here’s everything you should know about the Old Mill, including its history as a “holiday apartment” and its proximity to Ray Mill House.
The Old Mill is next door to Queen Camilla’s country retreat.
Queen Camilla at Manor Farm in Calne, England in July 2025.
Credit: Getty Images
The Old Mill’s contemporary significance largely stems from its proximity to Ray Mill House, a.k.a. Queen Camilla’s country “retreat.” The mother-of-two has owned the property since 1996 and spends most weekends there. Indeed, it has long served as her escape from “the whole royal world.”
Ray Mill House “is Camilla’s sort of release from royal life, if you like,” royal biographer Ingrid Seward once explained, per The Sun. “Before she married Charles, she made a pact with him that she would keep Ray Mill House as her bolthole. She goes every weekend when she can, and she goes during the summer so that she can spend some time with her grandchildren and her children.”
It was converted to a “holiday apartment” in 2018.
According to the Daily Mail, the Old Mill was purchased by Phil Clayton in 2018. The property developer subsequently began renovations and eventually turned a garage on the grounds into a holiday apartment called Pear Tree Loft. The Airbnb was just 200 feet from Camilla’s front door. Importantly, tourists who booked the apartment were also granted access to the private road which she shared with Clayton.
The constant flow of tourists was reportedly becoming “intolerable.”
Given the near constant breach of Camilla’s privacy, the Daily Mail reported that the “situation” was becoming “intolerable” with regard to the Old Mill and Pear Tree Loft. What’s more, when Clayton put the property up for sale in early 2025, it was reportedly at risk of becoming a wedding venue, which was causing Camilla “great anxiety.”
“Think of it—dozens of wedding guests carousing every weekend just the other side of her fence,” a source told the outlet, with a second source close to the queen noting that it was “an imperative” for Charles to buy it because a potential buyer for the Old Mill was looking to “maximize commercial use of the property as a short-term holiday rental and wedding venue.”
King Charles purchased it in 2025 amid security concerns.
King Charles at Balmoral Castle in August 2023.
Credit: Getty Images
When the Old Mill became available in early 2025, King Charles wasted no time before snapping it up to “avert a security crisis.” The property cost the monarch approximately $3.8 million. The monarch reportedly plans to find a “security-vetted tenant” for his new real estate investment.
“The new arrangement is a pragmatic solution,” a source told the Daily Mail, “being both a sound financial investment and a way of maintaining Her Majesty’s privacy, protection and continued enjoyment of her much-loved home, without any public funds being used.”
Queen Camilla was “relieved” by the acquisition.
Perhaps it will come as no surprise that Camilla felt immense relief following her husband’s purchase of the Old Mill. News of their real estate acquisition came amid a difficult time for the couple thanks to Charles’s ongoing battle with cancer. (The king later announced that his treatment had entered a “precautionary phase” in December 2025.)
“I know how grateful and relieved she is, not least given all the additional stresses and anxieties of the past year,” the same Daily Mail source said. “She has her horses, she walks her dogs and she loves spending time with her family. This business with her neighbor was frankly the last thing she needed.”
Read the original article on InStyle