The Crown Estate’s chief executive told MPs on Monday that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s Royal Lodge lease arrangement delivered “best value” at the time it was agreed more than two decades ago.
Dan Labbad appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to answer questions about the former duke’s accommodation, which allowed him to sublet three cottages while paying nominal rent.
The hearing formed part of the committee’s wider inquiry into Crown Estate management and governance.
Mr Labbad defended the 2003 arrangement, telling MPs: “Those potential income streams were taken into account in determining what best value was at the time.”
He maintained that subletting was “reasonably common” in the property sector for long leasehold agreements.
According to the lease terms, Mr Mountbatten-Windsor paid £1million for the lease itself and was subsequently charged “one peppercorn” of rent annually “if demanded”.
The agreement also obligated him to spend £7.5million on refurbishments, which were finished in 2005.
Mr Labbad explained to the committee: “In the case of Royal Lodge, the £7.5million in refurbishment costs, we were able to then take that money that we would otherwise have to spend, and invest in other things.”
Royal Lodge | Source: REUTERS
An independent valuation was conducted as part of the governance process when Mr Mountbatten-Windsor assumed the lease, with potential subletting revenue factored into the assessment.
“The governance process that led to the arrangements at Royal Lodge in 2003 was such that a whole range of things were looked at the premium, the refurbishment needs that would have otherwise been a Crown Estate cost, and a whole host of other elements,” Mr Labbad stated.
When asked how much Mr Mountbatten-Windsor earned from subletting the cottages, Mr Labbad said he did not possess that information, noting it was a matter for the former duke as the tenant.
However, James Chalmers, the King’s keeper of the privy purse and treasurer, indicated the royal household could obtain the figures.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor | Source: PA
Mr Chalmers told MPs: “What I can say is the role we played with the NAO report, which we can play here, was we gathered the information from the other households, and I believe if the request were made for that information, we could provide it to the National Audit Office and therefore to the committee… We can get it.”
PAC chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown suggested the household could supply the amount confidentially to the National Audit Office (NAO) if they preferred not to disclose it publicly.
The subletting arrangement came to light following a NAO investigation published last month, which revealed Mr Mountbatten-Windsor had received an undisclosed private income from the three cottages for more than 20 years.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor was compelled to leave Royal Lodge amid public anger over his rental terms and has since relocated to Marsh Farm on the King’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
The late Queen’s second son was stripped of his titles due to his connections to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice | Source: PA
The NAO probe also uncovered that the King covers accommodation costs for Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, despite neither of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s daughters carrying out official royal duties.
The NAO found that for several years, the adjusted rents paid by Beatrice and Eugenie were calculated using outdated market valuations, with Eugenie’s Ivy Cottage rent at Kensington Palace based on a 2018 assessment and Beatrice’s St James’s Palace apartment on a 2020 figure until this year.
Mr Chalmers explained the household needed to exercise extreme caution regarding who resided in “very sensitive” Palace locations, with 216 of the 255 household properties situated behind security cordons.
“What’s the supply of people with the right security clearance that we would feel comfortable?” he asked, adding the household wanted to achieve “the best value for money we can for the taxpayer”.
He indicated valuations might be conducted every five or six years, as annual assessments would not represent good value.
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aol.com ’
