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For almost 20 years, a local resident has taken pleasure in early morning walks through the park's oak-filled open fields with the ability to let her dog off the lead.

In recent weeks, yet, she has spotted disturbing changes: barriers going up around her customary walk near the gate at Cranbourne, ditches being excavated, shrubs installed, and security cameras installed.

Last week she saw a trio of workers carrying a “no public entry” sign. “So, I walked up to them and said: ‘Oh, are you going to close this area?’ And one guy sticks the sign behind his back, and said: ‘We’re just checking the size of the sign for somewhere else.’ Then they all clammed up.”

The next day she had her answer. Windsor Great Park announced an restricted area of about 60 hectares of previously publicly accessible land to provide for the new residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their kids.

“Due to the forthcoming status of part of the Great Park as a Socpa protected section, access via that gate will end for good on Monday 29 September 2025. As a result, Cranbourne car park will be no longer available from 7pm on Sunday 28 September 2025,” the park management announced.

While speaking this week with the entertainer Eugene Levy at Windsor Castle for the Apple TV+ series The Reluctant Traveler, the Prince spoke of his desire to shield his children from the media scrutiny that he and his sibling had experienced as children. Prince George, 12, His daughter, 10, and His youngest, seven, did not have cellphones, he said.

He said of the “insatiable” media he experienced growing up: “They wanted every bit of detail they could absorb and they were in everything, literally everywhere. They would know things, they’d be everywhere.

“And if you let that creep in, the damage it can do to your family life is something that I vowed would never happen to my family.”

Forest Lodge, an spacious historically significant Georgian mansion, has been chosen by the couple their “permanent residence”. A number of people are pleased, notably those who regularly use the area now closed off by a 3.7-kilometer perimeter exclusion area.

“To the people who lose it, it’s a big loss. There are so many houses they could have chosen, why choose one where the public has to lose such a big chunk of the park for their private benefit,” said Tina, who did not provide her surname. “I am very upset.”

She added: “I do think it’s outrageous, the way it was done. I think it’s a selfish act.”

There is a lot of deference to the royals in this area. Some, actually, assumed the royal family had title to the park, Tina said. Currently about half of the land is not public and the remainder available for use.

Monarchial connections stretch back to approximately 1070 to the Norman king, who used the area as a game reserve and established a dwelling here. Even though areas were temporarily sold off by Oliver Cromwell to help pay for the the conflict, the area was improved in the 17th century during the Restoration.

It continued as the personal fiefdom of the monarch until the king in 1760 ceded profits from monarch's properties to the government in exchange for the set stipend. The park, and Forest Lodge, is now the property of the crown estate, a government entity whose funds go to the Treasury. “Which means it belongs to you and me,” said the walker.

The Waleses are transferring from four-bedroomed Adelaide Cottage a short distance. They also have Anmer Hall on the Sandringham estate, 21-roomed Apartment 1A in their city home, and Tam-Na-Ghar cottage at the castle which was presented to him by the his grandmother.

Their office and the Home Office offered no statement when contacted, on the grounds they do not talk about protection issues. A royal source has previously said that in lately the couple have endured “some really difficult times” at their current home. With Catherine in remission after her cancer diagnosis, the move would afford them a “fresh start and a new chapter” and allow them “to leave some of the more unhappy memories behind”.

Even as a number of residents in the area, including on online platforms, have expressed their frustration, others are less concerned. One dog walker, a resident, who walks his dog in the park about twice a month, stated: “I completely understand the safety of the royal family is top priority so we should make sure they can live happily here.”

The estate has said car spaces will still be provided at another lot, “located just down the road”. But for dog walkers it is inferior, as the way goes through streets and a community and would mean dogs being on and off lead. “At the moment I can walk off the lead all around the gate area, that’s the joy of it,” said she.

A spokesperson for the estate said: “A safety zone is being established by the authorities and Thames Valley police in a restricted part of Windsor Great Park to increase security. This does not affect the vast majority of public access to the park and steps have been taken to lessen the effect on visitors as far as possible.”

This is not unprecedented, a Windsor estate property for a member of the monarchy has caused controversy. The Sussexes repaid millions of public money spent renovating Frogmore Cottage as their dwelling after complaints they had lived in it for less than a year before leaving the UK.