Duchess loses fight over neighbour’s ‘granny’ flat

The Duchess of Cornwall has lost a long-running planning battle to thwart permission for her next-door neighbour’s “granny” flat.

The 71-year-old kept the Grade Ii-listed Rey Mill House, her former home, after she married Prince Charles in 2005. She locked horns with Phil Clayton, her neighbour, when he applied to demolish an outbuilding next to his house and build a flat for his elderly mother.

She objected three times to his plans, via letters from the head of Charles’s Highgrove estate written on Hrh-headed notepaper.

But despite her objections, Wiltshire Council has now approved the plans.