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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Nicole Wootton-Cane

Andrew charged rent on Royal Lodge cottages, audit finds

  • A National Audit Office (NAO) report revealed that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor privately sublet three cottages on the Royal Lodge estate for over two decades, generating personal income despite paying only a "peppercorn rent" for the main mansion.
  • The arrangement was permitted under his leasing agreement with The Crown Estate , with the NAO probe prompted by controversy over his lease and revelations of minimal rent payments since 2003.
  • Labour MP Rachael Maskell and former Liberal Democrat minister Norman Baker condemned the arrangements as exploitative and outrageous, arguing that any subletting income should have gone to The Crown Estate.
  • The report also detailed that the Prince and Princess of Wales pay £307,200 annually for their Forest Lodge home, while Edward and Sophie, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, similarly sublet properties on the Bagshot Park estate.
  • The findings of the NAO report will now be presented to MPs on the public accounts committee as part of a wider inquiry into royal property arrangements.

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