{"id":2446960,"date":"2026-06-05T20:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T20:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2446960"},"modified":"2026-06-05T20:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T20:59:07","slug":"calls-for-inquiry-into-all-royal-finances-after-andrew-subletting-revelations-andrew-mountbatten-windsor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/calls-for-inquiry-into-all-royal-finances-after-andrew-subletting-revelations-andrew-mountbatten-windsor\/","title":{"rendered":"Calls for inquiry into all royal finances after Andrew subletting revelations | Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Campaigners have called for radical reform and a public inquiry into all royal finances after revelations that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received an undisclosed private income<\/a> from subletting three cottages on his Royal Lodge estate while paying a \u201cpeppercorn rent\u201d.<\/p>\n

A report from the public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO), found the rental income went to the former Duke of York, but said: \u201cWe do not know what rent was charged.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was published on Friday as part of a public accounts committee inquiry<\/a> set up after a public outcry over revelations that the former prince was paying a peppercorn rent (a small token payment) <\/strong><\/em>on the Royal Lodge estate in Windsor before he was evicted to Marsh Farm in Norfolk by the king.<\/p>\n

The anti-monarchy campaign group Republic and the former Liberal Democrat minister Norman Baker said they would be pressing the public accounts committee for a full investigation.<\/p>\n

Republic called the subletting a \u201cflagrant abuse of public property\u201d and said that while serious concerns remained about the former duke\u2019s use of publicly owned property, the whole family was \u201cbenefiting from a multimillion-pound public housing scheme\u201d.<\/p>\n

The report also revealed that Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s daughters, the princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, who do not perform royal duties, live in royal palaces with their rent paid privately by King Charles, and adjusted, or discounted, owing to tenants having to be security vetted.<\/p>\n

Graham Smith, the chief executive of Republic, said: \u201cThe crown estate and royal palace property portfolio is state property. It should all be used for the benefit of the public, not the private enrichment of the royals.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cMPs need to seize this moment to push for radical reform, including removing all royals but the monarch from publicly owned accommodation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker called for an investigation into \u201call royal finances, not just Andrew\u2019s\u201d, adding: \u201cI am happy to open this can of worms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margaret Hodge, who previously led the public accounts committee, told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme she was \u201cvery concerned\u201d that the NAO was not able to find out how much money the former prince had made from letting properties<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>The entrance gates near the Royal Lodge, the former home of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in Windsor, Berkshire. <\/span> Photograph: Mathilde Grandjean\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two organisations, the crown estate and the royal household, provide properties to members of the royal family.<\/p>\n

The crown estate, a \u00a315 bn portfolio of land and property, is held by the monarch \u201cin right of the crown\u201d but is not their private property. It runs as an independent business with profits paid directly to the Treasury.<\/p>\n

A proportion its profits, known as the sovereign grant, is handed to the royal family to support their official duties in exchange for the monarch\u2019s surrender of the revenue from the crown estate and is to be reviewed this year. The crown estate is required to achieve the best price when letting or selling properties, including those let to members of the royal family.<\/p>\n

Mountbatten-Windsor was entitled to rent out the cottages under his long lease for which he paid a \u00a31m premium and \u00a37.5m in renovations in 2003, and a peppercorn rent thereafter.<\/p>\n

Subletting provisions are a feature of certain long-lease structures granted by the crown estate but are not automatic, and are explicitly documented in each lease agreement. Most of the crown estate\u2019s residential properties are on long leases, the NAO said.<\/p>\n

Sources suggested Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s subletting did not generate profit, and rent was set at a rate to cover only maintenance and running costs for staff living there. But no further details have been made public.<\/p>\n

Baker said the former prince could have been getting \u00a330,000 a year for each of the three cottages before surrendering the lease.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if that figure is wrong, they have to come forward and say what he got. So I challenge him to come forward and tell us what he got,\u201d added Baker, the author of Royal Mint, National Debt: The Shocking Truth About the Royal\u2019s Finances<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s not just Andrew. It\u2019s the whole gamut. We have Edward leasing out his stable block. Then there is William and the duchy of Cornwall,\u201d he said, referring to recent reports<\/a> that the duchy, which provides the future king\u2019s private income, is poised to make millions charging the Ministry of Justice for leasing the abandoned Dartmoor prison.<\/p>\n

Dr Craig Prescott, a specialist in UK constitutional law at Royal Holloway, University of London, said from a property law perspective it was perfectly normal to get a lease on an estate and then sublet different parts of it. However, when it came to royalty, perception was key.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe perception is of people living in massive palaces or properties, and the concern is that they\u2019re getting a very good deal or, worse, making money from it,\u201d Prescott said.<\/p>\n

The fact it was a crown estate property led to \u201cmore scrutiny\u201d because its profits go to the Treasury, he said, adding that Mountbatten-Windsor had paid \u00a37.5m upfront at the start of his lease.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Official residences include Kensington Palace in London.<\/span> Photograph: imageBROKER.com\/Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The royal household manages and maintains the land and buildings in the occupied royal palaces estate through the sovereign grant. The occupied palaces are not owned by the monarch, but held \u201cin the right of the crown\u201d in trust for the nation, and include official residences such as Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, St James\u2019s Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace.<\/p>\n

The royal household generates rental income to help support the monarch in official duties by charging for residential properties within the occupied royal palaces estate, which amounted to \u00a33.6m in 2024-25. As of May 2026, the royal household had 255 properties available for use within the occupied palaces.<\/p>\n

Before 2011, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport was accountable to parliament for their upkeep, and delegated responsibility to the royal household in return for an annual grant.<\/p>\n

Under David Cameron, the Sovereign Grant Act removed the responsibility of the secretary of state so that in future the properties would be maintained by the monarch out of the grant.<\/p>\n

Prescott said: \u201cThe problem is essentially of perception here. That all this is so complicated and difficult to explain and understand; what is public and what is private is really quite a complex question at times. The reality is hidden behind all this complexity and that doesn\u2019t help for public understanding.\u201d<\/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 www.theguardian.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Campaigners have called for radical reform and a public inquiry into all royal finances after revelations that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received an undisclosed private income from subletting three cottages on his Royal Lodge estate while paying a \u201cpeppercorn rent\u201d. A report from the public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO), found the rental income went […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2446961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":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-2446960","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\/06\/Calls-for-inquiry-into-all-royal-finances-after-Andrew-subletting.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446960","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=2446960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2446962,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446960\/revisions\/2446962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2446961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2446960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2446960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2446960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}