Prince William and Princess Kate’s Windsor neighbourhood plagued by recurring ghost

The Prince and Princess of Wales’ neighbourhood woodland is shrouded in mystery, including a frightful story with ‘hideous’ ghost

Prince William and Kate Middleton at the Natural History Museum

The Prince and Princess of Wales moved into Forest Lodge in Windsor in November 2025 with their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. It has been coined their ‘forever home’ with the perfect surroundings and plenty of space, but there have been some mysterious goings on – with tales of a regular ghost!

Richard Herne, known as Herne the Hunter, is said to frequent Windsor Great Park, which is where their impressive 8-bedroom home is located. While some believe the local legend protects the woodland, others believe he has more of a sinister presence, attacking livestock.

Forest Lodge, formerly known as Holly Grove in Windsor Great Park, Berkshire, 2018.

The local Windsor website explains the tale: “His ghost still appears wearing the antlers of a stag, riding a phantom black stallion at the head of a pack of black hounds. He appears to warn of times of trouble and gallops through Windsor Great Park only to disappear into thin air.”

Legendary playwright William Shakespeare explicitly named Herne in his play, The Merry Wives of Windsor, immortalising the ghost in literature. Act four, scene four reads:

Windsor Great Park is reportedly home to a ghost

“There is an old tale goes that Herne the Hunter
Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest,
Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight,
Walk round about an oak, with great ragged horns;
And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle,
And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain
In a most hideous and dreadful manner.
You have heard of such a spirit, and well you know
The superstitious idle-headed eld
Receiv’d, and did deliver to our age
This tale of Herne the Hunter for a truth.”

Royal ghosts

Many historic royal residences come with ghostly tales, so Prince William will be well-versed in spooky and supernatural stories. Paranormal historian Richard Felix spoke to HELLO! about the properties thought to have strange activity. He told us that King Charles was left “terrified” following a spooky encounter at Sandringham. He said: “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!”

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace has a haunting presence, too. “Buckingham Palace was actually built on a site that belonged to the monks of Westminster Abbey,” explained Richard. “This monk, we don’t know what happened to him, but he’s seen with a cowl, in other words, his hood, wandering through the halls of Buckingham Palace.”