The Eerie Houseguest William & Kate Reportedly Had In Their Norfolk Home

In honor of their wedding in 2011, Queen Elizabeth gave William and Catherine, Prince and Princess of Wales, a home on the royal family's Sandringham estate. Anmer Hall, William and Kate's Norfolk mansion, is a historic 10-bedroom Georgian home built in 1802. William, Kate, and their kids lived there full-time from 2015 to 2017. Since then, it's served as a vacation home, and the family has often spent Christmas there. They also enjoyed roaming the property's extensive grounds while they stayed there during the lockdown restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before they moved in, William and Kate spent more than $2 million renovating the property. They made extensive changes, such as making the kitchen a focal point of the house, adding a conservatory for greenery year-round, and modifying the driveway leading to the house. Now that it's tailor-made to suit their family, they find it to be a calming place where they can relax.

However, that serenity could have been put in jeopardy by accounts that the property hosted an otherworldly denizen. Just as all the construction work was wrapping up, and their home was move-in ready, William and Kate were informed of tales that someone else had taken up residence there — a ghostly presence who a paranormal historian claims could have been Henry Walpole, a former inhabitant of the property.

Today Anmer Hall is filled with cozy vibes, as William and Catherine, Prince and Princess of Wales, and their three children have fun spending time together at their country home. In contrast, the tale of Anmer Hall's ghost is much more grim. "There was a ghost there of a Catholic priest that lived there and was hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason," Richard Felix, a paranormal historian, informed Hello!'s "A Right Royal Podcast."

While Felix didn't confirm the purported spirit's identity, his story matches that of Henry Walpole. The Jesuit priest spent time at the Tower of London, where he was tortured for his Catholic faith. After five years of imprisonment and punishment, he was executed in 1595. Walpole was declared a saint 375 years later in 1970. He once resided on the Anmer Hall estate, and Walpole was trying to get home to Norfolk by boat when he was captured in Yorkshire. After his traumatic end, his spirit allegedly decided to go home. 

Rather than feeling uncomfortable, William was purportedly unbothered by the news. According to Felix, the prince is said to have joked, "No old hall would be complete without a ghost, would it?" In addition to the accounts of the otherworldly spirit being seen and heard at Anmer Hall, reports abound of ghostly sightings on other royal properties, too. 

When King Charles bought Dumfries House in 2007, it was a fixer-upper in need of extensive repairs. The 18th-century house in Ayrshire Scotland didn't just look like a haunted house — according to Queen Camilla, it reportedly had a ghost. "I remember the first time I walked up the steps, got into the hall and I thought, 'I can't go any further.' I literally froze," Camilla recalled in the documentary "The Real Camilla," per the Daily Mail. "If my hair could stand on end, it would have done." After the unsettling encounter, Camilla stayed away from the house until the extensive construction project was complete. Fortunately, by the time she felt comfortable returning, she was pleasantly surprised to discover a feeling of contentment in the house. In addition, she didn't experience any incidents involving spooky manifestations.

However, other visitors to Dumfries House have reported ghostly encounters of their own. One tourist recounted observing a spirit come through a door. This ghost apparently had been inside a bedroom where two of the home's earlier residents died. Multiple individuals have also claimed that one of the home's more persistent spirits was smelled, rather than seen. Similar to Camilla's account, this malodorous ghost allegedly ceased bothering visitors after additional renovations were completed.  According to paranormal historian Richard Felix, accounts of ghosts are frequently linked to construction projects, perhaps due to the upheaval that accompanies them.

Sandringham, the royal residence where Queen Elizabeth loved to spend Christmas, is also associated with spooky tales. Located in Norfolk, the house is on the same estate as Anmer Hall, the second home of William and Catherine, Prince and Princess of Wales. Over the years, there have been reports of objects moving around mysteriously and unearthly footsteps.

There have also been accounts of more definite manifestations. "Prince Charles was apparently terrified at Sandringham when he was again in the library at Sandringham, he and a footman were in there and followed around the library by a ghost!" Richard Felix, a paranormal historian, detailed on Hello!'s "A Right Royal Podcast." According to this tale, King Charles was a kid at the time, and after feeling a disturbing cold sensation and sensing a presence, he and the footman left quickly. 

While the king hasn't divulged his beliefs about spirits, he may be sympathetic to the idea. Previously, Charles' philanthropic foundation supported repairs of the New Cumnock Town Hall, where a local spiritualist group is based. In 2019, Dumfries House's Facebook account shared a message from the group offering medium services. In addition, when Charles pledged to restore Dumfries House to its former glory he commented, per Tatler, "The physical renewal helps the spiritual and psychological."