Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children move to Windsor for new home and new school

Big changes are ahead for the Cambridge family when they return from their summer holiday, with a new school and new home on the cards.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expected to move into Adelaide Cottage, a four-bedroom home a stone's throw from Windsor Castle, in the coming weeks.

The property will allow Prince William and Kate to be closer to the Queen, who is 96, as they increase their royal duties.

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It will also give Kate's parents Carole and Michael more opportunity to help the Cambridges with the school run and the children's extra-curricular sporting activities.

The Middletons live in nearby Bucklebury, Berkshire, a short drive from Windsor.

For the first time, all three Cambridge children will attend the same school, rumoured to be Lambrook School, in Ascot, near Windsor Castle.

Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis are due to begin at their new school in September.

Shortly before George's ninth birthday on July 22, he and Charlotte finished at Thomas's Battersea, near Kensington Palace in London.

The family then headed abroad for the summer break, a helicopter seen carrying them to their secret destination.

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Prince Louis had been attending Willcocks Nursery School, which Charlotte had previously been enrolled at. Years before, Prince George had gone to Westacre Montessori School Nursery in Norfolk, close to the Cambridges' country home at Anmer Hall, Sandringham.

Before embarking on their new chapter at Windsor, the Cambridges are expected to join the Queen at Balmoral Castle where Her Majesty is enjoying a three-month summer getaway.

Members of the royal family traditionally spend time with the monarch at Balmoral as official duties slow down over the summer period.

But the Cambridges will soon see life get much busier when they move to Windsor and their children start a new school year.

The children's downtime will become more freer, with the large Windsor estate providing the privacy for them to play, ride their horses and walk their dog Orla without risk of being photographed.

Earlier this year video emerged of an irate Prince William confronting a photographer caught filming his wife and children during private outing in Sandringham.

Adelaide Cottage, which has been used as a "grace and favour" residence for royal friends for 60 years, was chosen because it requires no extra taxpayer-funded security or costly refurbishment.

It also meets the Cambridges' desire for a "modest home" in Windsor.

Being closer to Windsor Castle will also allow the Duke of Cambridge to have a greater role in official royal duties with the Queen and her staff now based permanently at the Castle.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will continue to base their office at Apartment 1A inside Kensington Palace in London and are expected to live between London and Windsor.

They will also retain their country home, Anmer Hall.