The brother of King Charles III sublet three cottages until this past April within the Royal Lodge estate located on the Windsor royal grounds near London, where he resided from 2003 until this year.
This disclosure has reignited urgent demands for transparency regarding the British royal family’s finances. The disgraced former Prince Andrew sublet cottages for years within the royal property where he himself lived rent-free, according to a report published on Friday, June 5.
The findings by the National Audit Office (NAO), the UK’s spending watchdog, will serve as the foundation for an upcoming parliamentary inquiry into royal properties, which was initially announced last December. The opacity surrounding the use of these estates—and royal finances as a whole—has fueled intense debate for years, a controversy that has only deepened following the downfall of the former prince.
The report published on Friday exposes highly embarrassing arrangements for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his titles in 2025 following fresh revelations concerning his ties to convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The document reveals that the King’s brother sublet three cottages until last April on the Royal Lodge estate at Windsor. The generated income was “paid directly to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor,” a practice technically permitted under his lease agreement and also utilized by his brother, Edward. However, the spending watchdog explicitly noted, “we do not know what level of rent was being charged.”
To occupy the main 30-room mansion, which he shared with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, Andrew originally paid a £1 million premium and committed to spending £7.5 million (€8.6 million) on renovations. In return, he secured a 75-year lease with a token rent, “which is in reality zero,” the report highlights.
According to British media outlets, the cottages were sublet to staff members for sums intended to cover ongoing maintenance and occupancy expenses.
Margaret Hodge, the former chair of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, branded the report’s revelations “shocking.” She expressed deep concern that the NAO was blocked from obtaining the exact rental figures pocketed by the King’s brother. Hodge also emphasized that the report remains incomplete regarding the full portfolio of properties managed by the Crown Estate—the independent body overseeing the monarchy’s vast land and property empire, which operates separately from both the government and the royal family.
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, whose party has long campaigned for rigorous accountability in royal finances, slammed the arrangement as “outrageous,” stating it demonstrates “an absolute contempt for the taxpayer.”
Furthermore, the report discloses that Andrew’s daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie—neither of whom are working royals—have lived in London palaces for years. Their rent is covered personally by the King, who maintained a financial arrangement originally set up by the late Queen Elizabeth II. Conversely, the heir to the throne, Prince William, pays an annual rent of £300,000 (around €347,000) to live at the Forest Lodge estate in Windsor, where he relocated with his family last year.