Prince Edward paid the market rate for his Surrey mansion in contrast to brother Prince Andrew’s ‘peppercorn rent’ for Royal Lodge in Windsor, it has been revealed.
Edward, now titled as the Duke of Edinburgh, lives at Bagshot Park and has been paying a ‘market value’ for the property, records show.
The information has emerged amid revelations also about how Andrew hosted late paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Harvey Weinstein at Royal Lodge in 2006.
Edward, who became Duke of Edinburgh after his father Prince Philip’s death in April 2021, moved into his Surrey property in March 1998.
He initially leased the home for five decades for £50,000 a year, though that rose to an annual sum of £90,000, while he paid £1.36million to renovate the estate.
The Crown Estate handed over another £3million for refurbishments.
Meanwhile, there have been new claims that Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson have been living separate lives under one roof at Royal Lodge as it is a ‘lucrative’ and ‘mutually advantageous’ arrangement for the disgraced former couple.
The former Duke and Duchess of York have been able to ‘live at a certain level’ while riding out multiple scandals from the comfort of their 30-room Grade II listed mansion, where they have lived since 2008 despite divorcing in 1996.
Prince Edward (right) is seen here with siblings Prince Andrew (right), Princess Anne (centre right) and the Duchess of Edinburgh in the Scottish capital in September 2022
Edward, now titled as the Duke of Edinburgh, lives at Bagshot Park (pictured) and has been paying a ‘market value’ for the property, records show
But it is understood they are now willing to go their separate ways if they are forced out of their Windsor Estate home amid fresh scrutiny over their links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Pressure has also mounted on King Charles to take action after Andrew’s leasehold agreement revealed he paid £1million to secure a 75-year lease in 2003 – and has since paid only ‘one peppercorn’ in rent per year, ‘if demanded’.
On Monday, it was said the prince has finally agreed to leave Royal Lodge but has demanded he and Fergie are given two separate royal homes in exchange.
Andrew is said to have requested Harry and Meghan’s former home, Frogmore Cottage, while Fergie is eyeing up nearby Adelaide Cottage ahead of the Prince and Princess of Wales’s departure next month.
And the Daily Mail revealed how Fergie has been dumped from ITV’s Loose Women and This Morning – weeks after being dropped by a series of charities.
Last week, The Mail on Sunday told how Andrew tried to involve the Metropolitan Police and one of Queen Elizabeth’s most senior aides in a campaign to smear Virginia Giuffre, who had accused him of assaulting her as a teenager.
An email exposed how Andrew asked his taxpayer-funded police bodyguard to investigate the ‘lying’ young woman.
The prince passed on details of her date of birth and social security number, presumably given to him by Epstein.
The now Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh are pictured here in Stafford in November 2020
The former Duke of York goes for a horse ride on the Windsor estate in December last year
Prince Andrew has lived at lavish 30-room property Royal Lodge in Windsor since 2003
He also claimed Virginia, who took her own life earlier this year, had criminal convictions, a claim which has not been backed up by any evidence or confirmed by police and has been strongly denied by her family.
An earlier email exposé proved that Andrew lied to Buckingham Palace and the British public when he claimed he had cut off all contact with his close friend in December 2010, following Epstein’s release from prison on child-sex charges.
Twelve weeks later, he emailed the sex offender financier to say they were ‘in this together’ and sickeningly expressed his wish to ‘play some more soon’.
Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, alleged she was forced to have sex three times with Andrew, which he vehemently denies, including when she was 17 and also during an orgy, after she was trafficked by Epstein.
Andrew paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with her in 2022, despite insisting he had never met her.
Prince Andrew has denied Ms Giuffre’s claims about him.
Claims emerged this week that the prince’s ‘peppercorn’ rent on the Crown Estate property in Windsor Great Park was concealed in a redacted version of his lease submitted to the Land Registry more than 20 years ago.
The Times reported the 2003 redacted version, compared with the full lease released this week, which read ‘”Rent” means’ rather than ‘”Rent” means one peppercorn (if demanded)’, and also ‘To pay the Rent’ rather than ‘To pay the Rent if demanded’.
The first and last pages of Andrew’s lease for Royal Lodge, released by the Crown Estate
A document shows the compensation payable to Prince Andrew on surrender of the lease
The newspaper said the decision not to reveal such details was legal.
But the move raises questions as to why how much Andrew was paying was seemingly hidden from the public.
The Public Accounts Committee has already confirmed it is writing to the Crown Estate and the Treasury asking for further information about the prince’s lease.
The King has long been said to have tried to encourage his younger brother, who lives in the home with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, to move out, but Andrew signed a watertight 75-year lease on the property in 2003.
His leasehold agreement revealed he paid £1million for the lease and that since then he paid ‘one peppercorn’ of rent ‘if demanded’ per year.
He was also required to pay a further £7.5million for refurbishments completed in 2005, according to a report by the National Audit Office.
The agreement also contains a clause that states the Crown Estate would have to pay Andrew around £558,000 if he gave up the lease.
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