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

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 . …