Princess Alexandra and her brother, the Duke of Kent, both served as working royals for decades, and they both appear in King Charles III’s coronation photographs in May 2023. Their brother, Prince Michael of Kent, had a career in business, but he and his wife, Princess Michael of Kent, have long lived in Kensington Palace apartments rented from the Royal Household for a discount on market rent. Of the three siblings, Alexandra has spent the largest portion of her life doing work directly for the crown.
Already a working royal, Alexandra married businessman and courtier Sir Angus Ogilvy in 1963. After their marriage, they bought a sublease on Thatched Lodge House, in Richmond Park, from its previous leaseholder. In 1971, they became the official leaseholders by signing a new 70-year lease agreement with the Crown Estate. According to the 2026 NAO report, they paid 410 British pounds a month until 1995. Then, she renegotiated her lease on Thatched Lodge House, turning it into a 150-year agreement she can pass on to one of her children. This is in addition to the St. James Palace apartment she was given in exchange for her work in support of the queen.
Of course, this comes with strings attached. As an employee of the Crown, Alexandra was limited in the private money she could earn. Nevertheless, the Ogilvys were able to live well in Thatched House Lodge. A 2005 NAO report disclosed that Alexandra and Angus Ogilvy, who died in 2004, had put a significant amount of their own money into preserving and upgrading the estate. If they hadn’t, it would have come out of the accounts of the Crown Estate, so ultimately, the cheap rent still put the estate out ahead. The 2026 report notes Mountbatten-Windsor’s lease had similar provisions. When he moved into Royal Lodge in 2003, he agreed to spend a minimum of 7.5 million British pounds on renovations. He didn’t own the house, but he had quite a bit of sweat equity in it, which helps explain why the professional administrators of the Crown Estate might have been loath to evict Andrew until the king stepped in.
To an American observer, this recent NAO report makes living in a Crown Estate property seem like getting an extremely low-interest loan to finance renovations of a historic property. This makes the privileges of being a British royal seem more stark. In exchange for the public scrutiny, you get a life of relative luxury in a historic property, but you don’t get to work privately or guarantee you can pass that wealth to your children. As Prince Harry and Meghan Markle learned in 2023, when King Charles III evicted them from their Crown Estate home, you serve and live at the pleasure of the monarch. In that light, the extended royal family’s distance from official Crown service and property makes more sense. Who wants your great-uncle to be your landlord?
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.vanityfair.com ’
