A royal bargain!
The house where Kate Middleton — and Pippa and James too — grew up was snapped up at auction on Friday for 485,000 pounds, approximately $796,733 in U.S. dollars.
The lucky bidders? Emma Appleby and Tom Wyatt, 35-year-old schoolteachers who are expecting their second child in 7 weeks. The duo reportedly beat out shipping tycoons and Russian billionaires interested in the four-bedroom, semi-detached Victorian home in Bradfield Sutton, England, where the future Duchess of Cambridge, now 29, lived with her family until the age of 13.
According to the Daily Mail, the unassuming couple got the home at 10,000 pounds below asking price. And the new homeowners claim royal fever had nothing to do with their purchase.
"We had been looking for a property for quite a while when we found this one," Appleby told the Daily Mail. "The Middleton factor did not influence us at all and we had no idea at first. We were attracted to the lovely village, lovely house, good primary school and being near friends."
Still, the red brick home is now a popular tourist stop for buses cruising through "Middleton Country."
Added auctioneer Dudley Singleton: "The Middleton family will be glad to know a young family is moving in there and not somebody who just wanted an investment on the back of their name."
