It has additionally emerged that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor obtained undisclosed revenue from renting out three properties on his Royal Lodge property.
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie don’t pay lease on their properties (Picture: Getty)
TABLE OF CONTENT
- King Charles pays the lease of 4 non-working royals
- Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor rented out 3 properties for money
- York household had 12 properties of their title
- Queen reneged on Palace assertion
- William and Kate’s property dealings
- Buckingham Palace assertion in response to the report
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, the daughters of disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, don’t pay lease on their properties on the royal palaces, a brand new investigation has discovered. The King foots the invoice, regardless of the York sisters having major residences elsewhere and never being working members of the Royal Household, and their adjusted rents had been based mostly on outdated market valuations.
The report by the Nationwide Audit Workplace into the Agency’s residential property preparations additionally discovered that the previous Duke of York obtained undisclosed revenue from renting out three properties on his Royal Lodge property, regardless of paying solely a peppercorn lease for dwelling on the Windsor mansion for over 30 years.
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Different key findings embody that the monarch is paying the lease of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, and his spouse, at Kensington Palace, regardless of Buckingham Palace asserting that from 2010, the couple would foot the then-£120,000 yearly lease themselves.
Former Liberal Democrat minister Norman Baker branded the preparations “outrageous” and accused the Royal Household of “taking the general public for an entire experience”.
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“The entire thing is outrageous. For those who take a look at Andrew, that is including insult to damage,” he mentioned. “It exhibits an absolute whole contempt for the taxpayer, not solely that Andrew was capable of have a peppercorn lease for a big property, however then to make doubtlessly tens of millions on the facet from subletting properties. The cash ought to have gone to the Crown Property, not into (his) pockets.”
He added of Beatrice and Eugenie: “There’s no approach that non-working members of the royal household must be subsidised by the Duchy of Lancaster. The royal household is but once more taking the general public for an entire experience.”
Sources prompt that Andrew’s subletting didn’t generate a revenue and that the lease was set solely to cowl upkeep and workers dwelling prices. However no figures have been launched, rendering it unimaginable to find out whether or not any revenue was made after restore and family prices had been deducted from the agreed rental revenue.
The NAO mentioned they didn’t know what lease was charged or if the properties had been rented constantly after he secured the lease for Royal Lodge in 2003.
“Three cottages on the Royal Lodge property had been additionally sublet with revenue generated from subletting payable to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor,” the report said, noting the subletting of three residences resulted in April 2026.
King Charles is paying the lease of his two nieces royal properties (Picture: Getty)
King Charles pays the lease of 4 non-working royals
The report, printed right this moment, was compiled by the UK’s impartial public spending watchdog over six months. It discovered that the King pays the lease of three royal properties for non-working members of the Royal Household, Beatrice, Eugenie and the Kents.
It’s understood that this association was agreed beneath the late Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, and is one thing the King selected to honour.
The rents are paid to the Royal Family, which helps the King and dealing members of the Royal Household of their official duties, from the Privy Purse – which comes from the monarch’s non-public Duchy of Lancaster revenue.
The NAO discovered that the Family’s coverage was to cost an adjusted lease of 60% of the open market worth for Beatrice, Eugenie and the Kent’s royal properties, decreased as a result of they require tenants with safety clearance.
However the watchdog discovered that “rents weren’t constantly set at 60% of the open market worth obtainable on the time”, and the quantities had been based mostly on outdated valuations.
Up till this yr, Eugenie’s lease of the three-bedroom Ivy Cottage in Kensington Palace was based mostly on a 2018 valuation and Beatrice’s four-bedroom residence in St James’s Palace on a 2020 valuation.
Eugenie’s lease was 50% of the 2018 open market worth from 2020 to 2021, and ranged from 55% in 2022 to 63% in 2025, whereas lease on Beatrice’s was 60% of the 2020 market worth from 2020-2021 and ranged from 62% to 68% between 2022-2025, the NAO mentioned. The present rental charges are 64% of a 2026 open-market valuation for Eugenie and 68% of a 2026 valuation for Beatrice.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor made cash from renting out three cottages on the Royal Lodge property (Picture: Getty)
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor rented out 3 properties for money
The King’s nieces are non-working royals who each have jobs and separate major residences with their households.
Beatrice, 37, who’s married to Edoardo Mapello Mozzie, lives in a £3million residence in Oxfordshire with their daughters, Sienna 4, and Athena, 16 months, and Beatrice’s stepson Wolfie, 10. Eugenie, 36, now resides in Portugal together with her husband Jack Brooksbank, the place they stay with their two youngsters, August, 5, and Ernest, three.
Their non-working royal cousins, Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, whose mom, the Princess Royal, opted to not give her youngsters titles, each reside on the privately owned Gatcombe Park property in Gloucestershire and don’t have secondary properties on the Crown Property.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, who was arrested on suspicion of public misconduct in February and stripped of his prince title and dukedom by Charles over his friendship with intercourse offender Epstein, is presently eighth in line to the throne, adopted by his daughters and their youngsters.
The King’s brother was entitled to sublet as much as three properties on the Royal Lodge property in Windsor Nice Park beneath the phrases of his lease.
No particulars of how a lot he earned by way of subletting – an quantity that isn’t returnable to the Crown Property – or how a lot the King pays for Eugenie and Beatrice’s lease had been launched by the NAO, with the watchdog saying the quantities had been non-public.
York household had 12 properties of their title
The watchdog’s 56-page report additionally discovered that up till the beginning of this yr, Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s household had a complete of 12 royal properties of their portfolio – both leased or rented.
This included his 75-year lease of Royal Lodge and its eight cottages, a further lease on East Lodge, a Crown Property property close to his former residence at Sunninghill Park in Berkshire, and the 2 royal palaces rented by his daughters.
The previous prince surrendered the lease of his sprawling Windsor mansion in October 2025 and gave up the lease on East Lodge firstly of the yr.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor could also be due some compensation after his early give up of Royal Lodge, with the report noting that the sum may very well be as a lot as £488,000. However any cash owed “will likely be offset towards any dilapidation prices recognized on ultimate inspection”.
Although a full inspection is but to happen, the King’s brother just isn’t anticipated to obtain any compensation as a result of repairs required. He might even be required to pay some cash to the Crown Property himself, if the restoration works exceed the £488,000.
The previous prince now lives at Marsh Farm, on the King’s non-public Sandringham property.
Prince and Princess of Michael of Kent stay lease free at Kensington Palace (Picture: Getty)
Queen reneged on Palace assertion
Strikingly, the investigation discovered that “there isn’t a recorded valuation on the lease for The Prince and Princess Michael of Kent previous to 2026”.
The royal couple have been utilizing the Kensington Palace residence since 1978, when the late Queen made it obtainable to them, and it grew to become their most important residence in 2006 after they bought their Gloucestershire nation mansion.
In 2008, Buckingham Palace introduced that the royal couple can be charged the complete industrial fee from 2010 after it emerged in 2002 that they paid a peppercorn lease of simply £69 per week, regardless of not being working royals. MPs on the Public Accounts Committee demanded that full lease must be paid for the property, prompting the late Queen Elizabeth II to cowl the £10,000-a-month price till 2010.
Nevertheless, the NAO report reveals that the couple’s lease is now paid by the King from the Privy Purse – not the couple, calling into query the earlier assertion by courtiers. Sources say the late monarch agreed to proceed paying the lease privately, and the King wished to honour his mom’s dedication to the Prince and Princess, each of their 80s.
It’s not identified precisely what the present lease is, nevertheless it has elevated by 34% between 2020 and 2026 and is 63% of a 2026 open-market valuation, the NAO mentioned.
The Prince and Princess of Wales and their household lately moved to Forest Lodge (Picture: Getty)
William and Kate’s property dealings
Different particulars within the report embody the Prince and Princess of Wales’s short-term 20-year lease of Forest Lodge, the Windsor property they moved to on the finish of the yr.
They pay an annual lease of £307,200 each year and they didn’t pay a deposit as they funded the inner renovations as an alternative. As the owner, the Crown Property spent £400,000 on important refurbishments, together with heating and plumbing, structural repairs to ceilings and brickwork, and stabilising exterior partitions for security.
In different findings, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh had been proven to pay a peppercorn lease after signing an extended lease of 150 years in 2007 for Bagshot Park in Surrey with a cost of £5 million, and Edward’s firm, Eclipse Nominees Restricted, was listed because the leaseholder.
In addition they held a earlier lease from 1998 to 2007, with a dedicated restoration spend of £1.38 million.
Edward and Sophie, like Andrew, are additionally entitled to sublet on the property, and generated a non-public revenue after renting out the secure advanced at Bagshot Park to a 3rd occasion as much as 2020.
Buckingham Palace assertion in response to the report
The NAO’s investigation was prompted by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) launching an inquiry into The Crown Property and its properties final December, following scrutiny of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s dwelling preparations at Royal Lodge and the revelation he solely paid a peppercorn lease.
The report was a fact-finding mission and explored the principles and processes and whether or not or not they’d been utilized accurately. It doesn’t take a look at whether or not the properties are worth for cash or make any suggestions.
However MPs are anticipated to scrutinise the report in the end.
A Palace spokesperson mentioned: “We’re grateful to the Nationwide Audit Workplace for this report, which is in keeping with The Royal Family’s dedication to transparency. We hope that the findings will assist appropriate, make clear or contextualise various factors concerning Royal properties.
“Because the report notes, preparations for properties managed by the Royal Family range based mostly on various components to make sure residences are crammed appropriately, relying on their location, tenants and objective.”
A spokesperson for The Crown Property, mentioned: “The Crown Property welcomes the Nationwide Audit Workplace’s overview which confirms its leases with members of the Royal Household had been agreed in keeping with impartial, skilled recommendation and open market valuations. We look ahead to discussing the report additional with the Public Accounts Committee in the end.”
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