LONDON — A newly released report from the United Kingdom’s public spending oversight body has pulled back the curtain on questionable property arrangements within Britain’s royal family, shining a light on undisclosed subletting income earned by former Prince Andrew and subsidized housing for his daughters covered by King Charles III.
The National Audit Office (NAO) published its long-awaited audit of royal family property holdings Friday, uncovering that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor generated private income by subletting three standalone cottages on the grounds of Royal Lodge, his former residence near Windsor Castle. For more than two decades, Andrew occupied the sprawling 30-room mansion and eight on-site cottages without paying regular market rent; a 2003 lease agreement locked him into only a nominal “peppercorn rent” arrangement, which granted him explicit permission to sublet three of the properties.
Notably, the NAO report did not disclose the total amount of income Andrew earned from these sublets — an omission that has sparked sharp criticism from parliamentary figures. Margaret Hodge, a Labour Party member of the House of Lords and former chair of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, called the lack of clarity deeply troubling. “It’s shocking that the National Audit Office was not able to establish how much money Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor secured from the properties he let,” Hodge stated.
The independent audit was launched at the formal request of British lawmakers following a cascade of controversy surrounding Andrew’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which ultimately led to the former prince being stripped of all honorary royal titles and evicted from Royal Lodge by his brother, King Charles III. Andrew relocated to a smaller property on the king’s Sandringham Estate in eastern England earlier this year. The 66-year-old was arrested and questioned by police in February over allegations of misconduct in public office, though he has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing and no formal charges have been filed against him to date.
Beyond Andrew’s arrangements, the report also detailed housing arrangements for other members of the royal family, confirming that 11 working royals receive free palace accommodation in exchange for carrying out official public duties. This group includes King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Prince William, Princess Catherine, Prince Edward and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh. Unlike working royals, Prince William and Princess Catherine pay an annual rent of £307,200 (approximately $413,000) for their private family home near Windsor.
The report also confirmed that Andrew’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie — who are not classified as working royals and hold private sector employment — currently occupy heavily subsidized royal properties, with their rent covered entirely by the Privy Purse, King Charles III’s personal financial fund. Eugenie’s cottage at Kensington Palace and Beatrice’s apartment at St. James’s Palace are subject to rent caps that set their annual payments at just 50% to 68% of full open-market value in recent years.
Buckingham Palace defended the release of the report, framing it as a reflection of the royal household’s commitment to greater public transparency. A spokesperson noted, “this report is in line with the royal household’s commitment to transparency. We hope that the findings will help correct, clarify or contextualize a number of points regarding royal properties.”
But critics of the monarchy have seized on the report’s findings as evidence that the royal institution fails to contribute fairly to public finances, with arrangements that prioritize royal privilege at the expense of British taxpayers. Norman Baker, a former Liberal Democrat lawmaker and longstanding critic of royal financial practices, called the arrangements a blatant display of disregard for the public. “It shows an absolute total contempt for the taxpayer, not only that Andrew was able to have a peppercorn rent for a gigantic property, but then to make potentially millions on the side from subletting properties,” Baker said.
Andrew’s connection to Epstein remains under active investigation by British law enforcement. In January, the U.S. Department of Justice released millions of pages of court documents tied to the Epstein case, which detailed how the disgraced financier leveraged his network of wealthy and powerful friends, including Andrew, to build influence while sexually exploiting underage girls and young women. British detectives are currently investigating claims that Andrew shared confidential trade information with Epstein during his tenure as the U.K.’s trade envoy from 2001 to 2011, and authorities have confirmed they are considering expanding the probe to include allegations of sexual misconduct, issuing a renewed public call for witnesses to come forward.
Andrew has largely stayed out of the public eye since relocating to Sandringham, approximately 160 kilometers north of London. He was photographed in a private car Thursday, with a large visible bruise on his face. The Times of London, citing anonymous sources, reported that the bruise stemmed from a nonserious medical condition.