Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor sublet cottages on Royal Lodge estate while he paid peppercorn rent, report says

London — 

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor sublet and generated an income from three cottages on his estate in Windsor, England, an independent report into the British royal family’s property arrangements revealed on Friday.

Mountbatten-Windsor — known as Prince Andrew until his brother King Charles III stripped him of his titles over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — lived at the Royal Lodge in Windsor for more than 20 years.

The report, by public-spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO), couldn’t establish how much income Mountbatten-Windsor generated from subletting the cottages.

He himself paid just £1 million ($1.3 million) upfront for a 75-year lease in 2003` and a peppercorn rent — a symbolic, negligible amount — to live at the 30-room mansion and surrounding estate.

He also paid £7.5 million ($10 million) to renovate the lodge, a sum that the report said reduced the upfront payment.

Such a financially favorable arrangement came under renewed scrutiny last fall in the weeks after Mountbatten-Windsor’s close relationship with Epstein was once again highlighted when the US Department of Justice released the documents it held relating to the late sex offender.

Mountbatten-Windsor is currently being investigated by British police over possible misconduct in public office while he was a trade envoy in the 2000s. Police said last month they could also look into allegations of sexual misconduct as part of these investigations.

Reports detailing the finances of the royal family’s properties are rare – this one is the first to be released in 20 years.

Buckingham Palace is “grateful” for the report, a spokesperson told celebrity.land, which is “in line with The Royal Household’s commitment to transparency.”

Mountbatten-Windsor could also be entitled to a compensation payment of just over £300,000 ($400,000) since he had to move out of the Royal Lodge early, the report said. However, a palace source said it is unlikely this sum will be paid due to the potential cost of repair works needing to be carried out at the property.

The report also revealed that Mountbatten-Windsor’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who are not working royals, live at royal palaces with their rents paid by King Charles, using his private income. A similar arrangement exists for Prince Michael of Kent, the late Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, and his wife.

These three properties are typically rented at 60% of their open market value since they are located within a secure cordoned area, restricting who can live there, the report said. However, that policy is “not always strictly followed,” the report added, and until 2026 the rent for Beatrice and Eugenie had been set using open market valuations from 2020 and 2018, respectively.

Another 145 properties belonging to the Royal Household are rented out to staff, who pay 16.7% of their salary toward accommodation costs. A further 32 are rented on the open market, and a handful of others have their own arrangements for former-long term employees. In total, these properties generated £3.6 million ($4.8 million) in income last year.