A National Audit Office (NAO) report has revealed the property arrangements of several members of the royal family, including that King Charles pays the rent for Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who are non-working royals. The report also highlights that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received undisclosed private income from subletting cottages on his Royal Lodge estate while paying a peppercorn rent to the Crown Estate.
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie
The daughters of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who do not perform royal duties, live rent-free in occupied royal palaces. Rent on Beatrice's St James's Palace apartment is set at 68% of open market value, while rent on Eugenie's Ivy Cottage at Kensington Palace is set at 64%. King Charles pays both rents out of his private Duchy of Lancaster income, continuing an arrangement made by Queen Elizabeth II, which is kept under regular review. Rent is adjusted because the properties are behind security cordons requiring vetting. Both royals also have private properties: Beatrice owns a converted Cotswold farmhouse near Blenheim Palace, and Eugenie has a seaside property in Comporta, Portugal. Maintenance and operational costs of occupied royal palaces are met by public funds through the Sovereign Grant, but sources say the rent paid by Charles reimburses any publicly-funded expenditure, with no additional cost to the grant. Eugenie is said to have undertaken refurbishments at her own expense.
Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh
Edward and Sophie pay a peppercorn rent after signing a 150-year lease in 2007 for Bagshot Park in Surrey, with an upfront payment of £5 million to the Crown Estate. They also held a previous lease from 1998 to 2007, with a committed restoration spend of £1.38 million. They have a rent-free apartment at St James's Palace in return for performing royal duties. Under their Crown Estate lease, they are entitled to sublet on the Bagshot Park estate and generated private income by commercially letting out the stable complex until 2020. It is understood they invested significant capital to convert the stable block. Of two further units within the stables, one is used by a staff member and their family at a rate in line with household policy, while another is a storage facility previously used by the Royal Collection Trust but not currently in use.
Prince and Princess of Wales
William and Catherine pay £307,200 annual rent on Forest Lodge, a Crown Estate property in Windsor, on which they took out a 20-year lease last year with no upfront deposit because they are paying for all internal refurbishment costs. The Crown Estate funded repairs at the mansion, two of three cottages on the site, the barn, and the grounds, totalling £396,993, immediately before they moved in. The couple also have a lease on Staff Lodge 1 on the Windsor estate, with an annual rent of £19,800, occupied by a staff member. Additionally, they have a large rent-free apartment at Kensington Palace and Anmer Hall, a private mansion with reportedly 10 bedrooms on the King's Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
Prince and Princess Michael of Kent
The late Queen's cousin and his wife, Marie-Christine, both in their 80s, live in a Kensington Palace apartment with rent paid by Charles. There was a public outcry in 2002 when it emerged they paid a peppercorn rent of just £69 a week, despite not carrying out royal duties. MPs demanded they pay full rent, but the couple argued Queen Elizabeth II had given them the use of the palace as a wedding present. The Queen offered to pay a commercial rate of £120,000 a year on their behalf until they had to find the sum themselves after 2009. It appears that towards the end of the seven-year deal, the Queen agreed to continue private funding, and Charles has continued the arrangement. The current rent is unknown but has increased 34% between 2020 and 2026, and is 63% of a 2026 open market valuation, the NAO said.
Princess Alexandra and Marina Ogilvy
The late Queen's cousin Princess Alexandra, 89, lives in Thatched House Lodge in Richmond Park, leased to THL Trust. She pays an annual ground rent of £1,500, which varies, after a premium payment of £670,000 in 1995, following a previous lease in 1971. Her daughter Marina Ogilvy has an assured shorthold tenancy on a cottage on the Windsor estate, paying an annual rent of £17,436.
