Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has given up his lease on another Crown Estate property amid growing scrutiny over the disgraced royal’s finances.
Mountbatten-Windsor will end his lease on East Lodge, a Grade II listed cottage located about five miles from Windsor, for which he pays an annual rent of nearly £13,000, according to the BBC.
This comes after Mountbatten-Windsor was forced to move out of Royal Lodge, his 30-room mansion in Windsor, due to his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Mountbatten-Windsor had only been required make a nominal payment of a “peppercorn” to rent out the Grade-II listed property, according to the Crown Estate.
Revelations about the arrangement added to growing public backlash over the favourable leases offered to members of the Royal Family, prompting MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to launch an inquiry into property deals made between royals and the Crown Estate.
Among properties set to come under scrutiny are the two households relinquished by Mountbatten-Windsor, alongside at least two more Grade II-listed mansions, respectively rented out by Prince Edward – King Charles’s youngest brother – and the Prince and Princess of Wales.
East Lodge is about five miles from Andrew’s previous home at Royal Lodge (Photo: Google)Andrew’s discounted leases
The BBC reported that Mountbatten-Windsor initially rented out East Lodge – a one-storey 19th-century thatched cottage near his former residence at Sunninghill Park in Berkshire – in February 1998 for £3,500, paid to the Crown Estate.
The agreement included a provision for the rent to rise with inflation. When the tenancy was renewed in 2020, Mounbatten-Windsor was required to pay £8,047, with the amount rising to £12,922 by August 2025.
The cottage is located in an upmarket area between Windsor and Ascot, with rental prices for two-bedroom homes in the same postcode reaching as high as £84,000 per year.
People walk outside the entrance to the Royal Lodge after Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office (Photo: Isabel Infantes/Reuters)The Crown Estate said it received a request for “an early termination of the lease” for the royal property just weeks after Mountbatten-Windsor left Royal Lodge, a secluded 19th-century mansion nestled in 98 acres of private land in Windsor.
Crown Estate documents indicate that Mountbatten-Windsor’s 75-year lease required him to pay a £1m premium alongside peppercorn rent “if demanded” after he committed to making refurbishments worth £7.5m to the sprawling 30-room mansion.
After being forced out of Royal Lodge, Mountbatten-Windsor moved into Wood Farm Cottage on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
The brick and sandstone farmhouse on the edge of the Norfolk village of Wolferton is located just two miles from Sandringham House, Charles’s £60m private residence.
Mountbatten-Windsor will later move into his permanent residence, Marsh Farm, next door, once refurbishment work there is completed.
Charles is expected to foot the bill for his brother to live in the mossy-roofed rural domain, which is owned by the King via the Sandringham estate.
The secluded property is believed to have five bedrooms, two reception rooms and a kitchen.
Marsh Farm on the Sandringham estate. The property is believed to have five bedrooms, two reception rooms and a kitchen (Photo: Martin Pope/Getty)Prince Edward’s Bagshot Park deal
Charles’s youngest brother, Prince Edward, also pays peppercorn rent for Bagshot Park, his Grade II listed mansion in Windsor Great Park, which has some 120 rooms.
In 2007, the Duke of Edinburgh secured a 150-year lease by paying a £5m premium, according to the Crown Estate.
The Times reported that there are no conditions on the further sale of Edward’s lease, beyond the new tenant being able to afford the property’s maintenance. That leaves open the possibility that Edward could profit from the sale of the 51-acre property.
Mountbatten-Windsor horse riding in Windsor Great Park, near to Royal Lodge, in February, before his move to Norfolk (Photo: Toby Melville/Reuters)Kate and William’s ‘open market rent’
The Prince and Princess of Wales also rent Forest Lodge, a Grade II-listed mansion dating back to the 1770s in Windsor Great Park, from the Crown Estate.
But unlike the King’s brothers, Kate and William have agreed to a 20-year lease “at an open market rent”, Crown Estate documents show, without specifying what that rent amounts to.
The Georgian mansion has eight bedrooms, a ballroom, a tennis court, and several cottages for security and staff.
However, William and Kate’s “official residence” is the four-storey, 20-room Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace.
In contrast to Mountbatten-Windsor, Kate and William also benefit from a “grace and favour” property arrangement.
Your next read
square MEDIABBC plans for end of the licence fee as we know it
square IMMIGRATIONMigrants in limbo over UK citizenship – as all laws permanently under review
square RAILWAYS ExclusiveNew HS2 farce as final stretch of £100bn line will end in a field
square REFUGEESFive major changes to UK migration laws – and how they will work
Tam-Na-Ghar, the royals’ home on the Balmoral estate, was gifted to William by his great-grandmother, the Queen Mother, in 2002. According to The Express, the property is located near Charles’s Balmoral home, Birkhall, and has three bedrooms.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s daughter, Princess Eugenie, and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, have also benefited from a grace-and-favour arrangement.
Beyond their £4m villa in Portugal, the couple spend their time at Ivy Cottage, a three-bedroom property on the grounds of Kensington Palace.
Hence then, the article about the royal homes with cut price rent from 120 room mansion to kensington cottage was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The royal homes with cut-price rent – from 120-room mansion to Kensington cottage )
Also on site :