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For close to two decades, Tina has enjoyed sunrise hikes through the Windsor estate's ancient-oak studded expansive grounds with the freedom to let her dog off the lead.

Recently, though, she has noticed disturbing changes: new fences around her usual path near the gate at Cranbourne, holes being dug, shrubs installed, and CCTV cameras erected.

A week ago she saw several individuals carrying a “private property” 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 following day she had her answer. The park management announced an no-access section of about 60 hectares of once open to the public land to make way for the future dwelling of the William and Kate and their kids.

“Due to the pending designation of part of the Great Park as a Serious Organised Crime and Police Act exclusion area, access via Cranbourne Gate will permanently cease on Monday 29 September 2025. As a result, Cranbourne car park will be permanently closed from that Sunday,” the park management announced.

In an interview this week with the Canadian actor the performer at the royal residence for the program The Reluctant Traveler, he spoke of his wish to safeguard his loved ones from the press intrusion that he and his younger brother had endured as youths. George, 12, Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven, did not have mobile phones, he said.

William said of the “voracious” 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.”

Their new home, an eight-bedroomed Grade II-listed property, has been chosen by the couple their “permanent residence”. Not all locals are pleased, particularly those who regularly use the area now restricted by a substantial perimeter no-go zone.

“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 she, who declined to give 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 these parts. Several, actually, believed the royal family owned the estate, Tina said. Currently about half of the land is private and the remainder available for use.

Royal links stretch back to around 1070 to the Norman king, who used the area as a game reserve and constructed a home here. Although sections were briefly privatised by Cromwell to help pay for the English civil war, the area was enhanced in the 1600s during the royal revival.

It continued as the private domain of the sovereign until George III in 1760 ceded profits from monarch's properties to lawmakers in exchange for the fixed annual civil list payment. Windsor Great Park, and Forest Lodge, is now under the control of the public body, a government entity whose revenues go to the state finances. “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 10-bedroomed Anmer Hall on the royal property, a London apartment in their city home, and Tam-Na-Ghar cottage at the castle which was a gift by the the late queen.

Kensington Palace and the security department did not respond when approached, on the grounds they avoid commenting on safety details. Someone close has noted before that in recent years the couple have experienced “some really difficult times” at that residence. With Catherine in improved health 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”.

Although certain individuals in the town, including on social media, have expressed their frustration, others are more sanguine. An individual, a mechanical engineer, who walks his dog in the park about regularly, stated: “I completely understand the safety of the royal family is top priority so we should make sure they can live happily here.”

Windsor Great Park has said parking will still be provided at Ranger’s Gate car park, “located just down the road”. But for those with dogs it is different, as the path intersects with traffic and a village and would mean dogs being leashed intermittently. “At the moment I can walk off the lead all around the Cranbourne Gate, that’s the joy of it,” said Tina.

A spokesperson for the park said: “A security boundary is being established by the government department and the police in a small area of the park to improve safety. This does not affect the large portion of public access to the park and steps have been taken to lessen the effect on the public as far as possible.”

Previously, a Windsor estate property for a royal has led to disputes. The Sussexes repaid £2.4m of public money spent upgrading their former home as their residence after backlash they had occupied it for under 12 months before departing.