Highlights:
- Auditor says Andrew received income from subletting cottages on the Royal Lodge estate.
- Cottages were sublet while Andrew paid a peppercorn rent on the mansion.
- Report says Beatrice and Eugenie have palace apartments funded through the privy purse.
- Public Accounts Committee expected to launch an inquiry into royal properties later this year.
THE UK government auditor said Friday that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received income from subletting cottages on the Royal Lodge estate while paying a symbolic “peppercorn rent” for the mansion for more than two decades.
Andrew, the second son of the late Queen Elizabeth and brother of King Charles, until recently lived at the Royal Lodge on the royal family’s Windsor estate near London.
The National Audit Office said “three cottages on the Royal Lodge estate were ... sublet”, with “income generated from subletting payable to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor”.
“We do not know what rent was charged,” the National Audit Office said.
The report on royal property income comes as questions continue over the royal family’s property arrangements. The Audit Office said the cottages have been vacant since April.
The report also said Andrew’s daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, have apartments at royal palaces with rent paid from the privy purse, King Charles’s private income, despite not being working royals.
The findings come before parliament’s Public Accounts Committee is expected to launch an inquiry into royal properties later this year.
Andrew was briefly arrested in February following new revelations linked to his ties with late US billionaire and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Police searched the Royal Lodge in February as part of an investigation into suspected misconduct in public office.
Andrew has since moved to the king’s private Sandringham estate in eastern England.
He paid a £1 mn “premium” to lease the Royal Lodge and agreed to spend £7.5 mn on improvements in return for a 75-year lease at a peppercorn rent.
The lease arrangement allowed Andrew to claim compensation if it ended early.
According to the Crown Estate, Andrew could have claimed more than £300,000 by moving out this year but is expected to receive nothing because repairs are needed.
The Crown Estate, which manages royal properties as a self-funding public corporation, is expected to follow finance ministry rules on the effective use of public funds.
Charles has been reviewing the royal family’s finances since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.
The Audit Office also said Prince William, the Prince of Wales, pays more than £300,000 a year in rent for Forest Lodge in Windsor.
(With inputs from agencies)
