A former minister described Prince Edward’s rental scheme as “outrageous”, telling The Sun that Crown Estate revenues should flow directly into public coffers.
Norman Baker, a former Liberal Democrat home affairs minister, said: “Any money raised from those stables should only be going to one place: the Crown Estate. Crown Estate profits go directly to the Treasury, so it is the taxpayer who is losing out here.”
Of the deal that pays the royal couple annually, he added that it was a “very stable income” on top of the couple “paying virtually nothing for Bagshot Park”.
“It’s an outrage that they pay a peppercorn rent as it is, and now Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex are free to rake in £130,000 for a stable block as part of the deal,” he added, saying that the public accounts committee should delve further into the issue.
He urged MPs to “honour [their] part of the investigation and take into account leases and see which are unnecessary and unjustified when ordinary people are struggling to pay bills.”
Anger over peppercorn rents
It is understood that Prince Edward’s peppercorn rent is consistent with standard market practice for long-leasehold residential properties where “significant” capital investment is made or a premium is paid in lieu of market rent.
The committee’s announcement of a financial inquiry into how Crown Estate properties are managed came in the wake of a public outcry after it emerged that, for more than 20 years, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had paid only a peppercorn rent on Royal Lodge.
The revelation had followed “serious and disturbing” allegations made about Prince Edward’s older brother and his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
MPs then demanded an explanation of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s living arrangements after the King forced his brother to give up his lease on the Windsor mansion as well as stripping him of all his remaining titles.
Meanwhile, the public accounts committee inquiry is expected to be launched in June after the National Audit Office updates its review of the Crown Estate. MPs on the committee have not ruled out calling in members of the Royal family to give evidence.
Buckingham Palace was contacted for comment.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.telegraph.co.uk ’
