Andrew sublet three cottages while paying ‘peppercorn rent’ to crown estate

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, seen leaving his Marsh Farm residence in Norfolk on 4 June with an unexplained red mark on his cheek. Photograph: Bav Media View image in fullscreen Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, seen leaving his Marsh Farm residence in Norfolk on 4 June with an unexplained red mark on his cheek. Photograph: Bav Media Andrew sublet three cottages while paying ‘peppercorn rent’ to crown estate Report into royal property affairs reveals disgraced ex-prince generated private income from Windsor Royal Lodge Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received private income from subletting three cottages on his Windsor Royal Lodge estate while paying a “peppercorn rent” to the crown estate, a report into royal property arrangements has revealed. The National Audit Office (NAO) review also shows that King Charles pays an “adjusted” rent from his private Duchy of Lancaster income, below open market value, for his disgraced brother’s non-working royal daughters, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, to live in royal palaces. Meanwhile, the Prince and Princess of Wales’s Forest Lodge home in Windsor underwent £400,000 repairs carried out by the crown estate before the couple moved in with their three young children last year. William and Catherine took out a 20-year lease in July on the Grade II-listed Georgian house, with gardens, paddock, a barn and three cottages set within 7.4 hectares, and pay £307,200 rent a year, reviewed every five years, the NAO said. They paid no upfront premium, and are responsible for internal refurbishments and alterations. Details of the properties are revealed in the report, published on Friday, which will form the basis of the Commons public accounts committee’s inquiry into royal properties after the public outcry when it emerged in October Mountbatten-Windsor was paying a peppercorn rent on Royal Lodge , the Windsor mansion from which he was eventually evicted by Charles . The NAO found rent and lease arrangements for the royals differed depending on why the accommodation was required and whether the property was managed by the crown estate – a self-funding public corporation managing assets on behalf of the crown – or the royal household. For those managed by the royal household, “adjusted rent” was typically 60% of the open market valuation because the properties are within a secure cordoned area requiring tenants to have security vetting. The rent for Beatrice’s St James’s Palace apartment is 68% of market value, while Eugenie’s Kensington Palace cottage is 64%. Eugenie’s rent was 50% of the 2018 open market value from 2020 to 2021, and ranged from 55% in 2022 to 63% in 2025, while Beatrice’s was 60% of the 2020 market value from 2020-2021 and ranged from 62% to 68% between 2022 and 2025, the NAO said. Charles also pays rent for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent’s Kensington Palace apartment, although there was no record of valuation of that lease prior to 2026 Mountbatten-Windsor, now evicted to Marsh Farm on the Sandringham E