Documents seen by the BBC indicate that the annual
\nrent on the property had risen to just under \u00a313,000.<\/a><\/p>\nThe cottage, believed to have been used primarily for staff
\naccommodation, forms part of the portfolio managed by the Crown
\nEstate, an independent commercial body responsible for managing
\npublic royal assets on behalf of the Treasury. The estate is
\nrequired to secure value for money for taxpayers rather than
\nserving as a private royal landlord.<\/p>\n
Andrew originally took on the lease in 1998, paying around
\n\u00a33,500 a year, with the rent rising over time in line with
\ninflation and later reviews. The most recent adjustment last year
\nincreased the charge to approximately \u00a312,922 annually.<\/p>\n
The tenancy was due to continue until 2027, but the former royal
\nhas now requested early termination. The Crown Estate has indicated
\nthat the decision followed a Freedom of Information request
\nsubmitted by the BBC, after which the request to end the lease was
\nformally made.<\/p>\n
The move comes weeks after Andrew vacated Royal Lodge, Windsor,
\nwhere he had lived for nearly two decades under a controversial
\nrental arrangement sometimes described in media reporting as
\n\u201cpeppercorn rent\u201d. His departure followed the stripping of his
\nremaining public titles amid scrutiny over his association with
\nconvicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, allegations which Andrew
\nhas consistently denied wrongdoing in relation to.<\/p>\n
Since leaving Windsor, he has relocated to Sandringham Estate,
\nwhere he is staying at Wood Farm while renovation work continues on
\nMarsh Farm, a home understood to be part of longer-term private
\naccommodation arrangements.<\/p>\n
The Crown Estate emphasises that the day-to-day occupancy of
\nproperties such as East Lodge is treated as a private matter,
\nseparate from the commercial lease itself. Previous records suggest
\nthe cottage may have housed employees associated with Andrew\u2019s
\nhousehold rather than serving as his primary residence.<\/p>\n
Andrew first acquired the East Lodge tenancy in February 1998
\nwhen it formed part of arrangements linked to the former royal\u2019s
\nearlier residence at Sunninghill Park, which had been sold in 2007
\namid controversy after being purchased by a foreign buyer for
\nseveral million pounds above the asking price.<\/p>\n
The early termination of the lease adds another step to the
\nrestructuring of Andrew\u2019s living and financial arrangements during
\na period of sustained public and political pressure surrounding his
\npast links to Epstein and continuing scrutiny of royal property
\nusage.<\/p>\n
The former prince was approached for comment.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source royalcentral.co.uk \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has moved to relinquish the lease on a second royal property, further simplifying his residential arrangements following the upheaval that has surrounded his housing in recent years. The former Duke of York has asked to terminate his tenancy of East Lodge, a Grade II-listed thatched cottage located near Sunninghill Park, about five miles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2289349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2312430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/From-today-Andrew-Mountbatten-Windsor-is-eligible-for-a-free-bus.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2312430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2312431,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312430\/revisions\/2312431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2289349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2312430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2312430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2312430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}