The arrangement means he has only ever paid a token – or peppercorn – annual rent on Royal Lodge, and even that might not be required under his deal with the Crown Estate, a lease document seen by BBC News confirms.
In effect, those payments – which totalled more than £8m and were detailed in a National Audit Office report – meant he was buying himself out of future rent obligations for the duration of the lease, based on paying in advance a notional rent of £260,000 per year.
Last week, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called on the PAC to launch an inquiry and ask Prince Andrew to give evidence about his lease of Royal Lodge.
While there is nothing preventing a House of Commons committee from inviting Prince Andrew to do this, an appearance in such a setting by a member of the Royal Family would be unprecedented. It is unclear whether the committee would be able to compel him to do so.
The government has so far refused to give MPs time to debate Prince Andrew’s titles or taxpayer-funded home.
There have been reports that Prince Andrew is willing to leave Royal Lodge but wants other royal properties for himself and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.
Buckingham Palace has not commented on whether Prince Andrew might move out of his home – or where he might go.
In a separate development, it emerged this week that Prince Andrew hosted Jeffrey Epstein at Royal Lodge as part of his daughter Beatrice’s birthday celebrations in 2006 – two months after a US arrest warrant had been issued for Epstein for the sexual assault of a minor. Andrew did not respond to a request for comment.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.bbc.co.uk ’
