Kate Middleton's childhood home up for sale

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Kate Middleton's childhood home is up for sale for almost £500,000 (570,000 euros, $800,000), just weeks before her wedding to Prince William, an auctioneer said on Monday.

Kate's parents Michael and Carole bought the red-bricked, four-bedroomed property in the village of Bradfield Southend, southeast England, in 1979 and raised their three children in the property.

The family left the house, called West View, and moved to the nearby hamlet of Chapel Row in 1995 when Kate was about 13. It is let to tenants by its present owners and will be auctioned on June 3.

Auctioneer Dudley Singleton, who is selling the property, said the house was valued at £495,000 but predicted intense interest given the mounting excitement around the royal wedding on April 29.

Last month, the see-through dress that helped Kate catch the eye of William, second-in-line to the throne, sold for £78,000, almost eight times the expected price.

Referring to the house, Singleton said: "Who knows how much it will sell for? It's different to a dress modelled by Kate you can put in a frame.

"But it's every little girl's dream to marry a prince and who knows, she might be queen, so its association with royalty will heighten the interest."

William and Kate are to marry at London's Westminster Abbey in a ceremony attended by foreign royals, leading politicians and celebrities, which is expected to attract a global TV audience of more than one billion.