The disgraced former prince Andrew earned a private income from subletting cottages while paying a symbolic “peppercorn rent” for a mansion for over two decades, the UK government auditor revealed Friday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n King Charles III’s disgraced brother, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, until recently lived in the Royal Lodge on the royal family’s Windsor estate near London.<\/p>\n While living virtually rent free in a 30-room house, Andrew pocketed proceeds from subletting three cottages on its large grounds, a report on royal property income by the National Audit Office revealed, amid debate over the family’s opaque property arrangements.<\/p>\n The National Audit Office said “three cottages on the Royal Lodge estate were … sublet”, with “income generated from subletting payable to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor”.<\/p>\n “We do not know what rent was charged,” the National Audit Office said.<\/p>\n The cottages have been vacant since April, it said.<\/p>\n Andrew’s daughters Beatrice and Eugenie have apartments at royal palaces with rent paid from the privy purse — King Charles’s private income — despite not being working royals, the report also revealed.<\/p>\n This comes as parliament’s Public Accounts Committee is set to launch an inquiry this year into royal properties.<\/p>\n Andrew, the second son of the late Queen Elizabeth II was briefly arrested in February amid new revelations stemming from his ties to the late billionaire US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n Police searched the Royal Lodge in February as part of the probe into his suspected misconduct in public office.<\/p>\n Andrew has since moved to the king’s private Sandringham estate in eastern England.<\/p>\n He paid a \u00a31 mn “premium” to lease the Royal Lodge, agreeing to spend \u00a37.5 mn on improvements to secure a 75-year-lease on a peppercorn rent.<\/p>\n The lease allowed Andrew to claim compensation for ending it early.<\/p>\n By moving out this year, he could claim over \u00a3300,000 but is expected to receive nothing because of needed repairs, according to the Crown Estate.<\/p>\n This self-funding public corporation that manages royal properties is supposed to follow finance ministry guidelines on effective use of public funds.<\/p>\n Charles has been undertaking an overhaul of the royal family’s finances since his mother’s death in 2022.<\/p>\n His heir, Prince William, the Prince of Wales, pays over \u00a3300,000 annual rent for a house in Windsor, Forest Lodge, the Audit Office said.<\/p>\n
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