Andrew was sub-letting Royal Lodge cottages, NAO report reveals (original) (raw)

The watchdog report into royal residences shows that Princess Eugenie has a property in Kensington Palace and Princess Beatrice in St James's Palace.

They do not pay any rent for this central London accommodation, instead it is paid by the "privy purse", which is the monarch's personal money, to the Royal Household.

Both of the palaces are maintained by public funding, through the Sovereign Grant.

Norman Baker, former Home Office minister and critic of royal finances, said it was "outrageous to subsidise luxury accommodation" in this way and that the public was "being taken for a ride".

He said such arrangements should no longer be sustainable and that "deference is wearing thin indeed".

A Palace source said that the rent paid on these properties for non-working royals would cover any publicly funded expenditure, so there would be no extra cost to the taxpayer.

The report does not specify how much rent is paid on the princesses' palace property, but the level is meant to be 60% of the open market rate.

Although there are no suggestions of anything unlawful, the optics of such an arrangement are likely to be uncomfortable for the Palace, which has indicated such deals remain under review.

When so many young people are facing high rents or struggling to get on the property ladder, the prospect of non-working royals receiving subsidised accommodation will raise the prospect of accusations of entitlement.

The report also reveals that the Crown Estate paid for repairs worth almost £400,000 before the Prince and Princess of Wales moved into their Windsor home at Forest Lodge.

Princess Michael of Kent, another non-working royal, also has a property in Kensington Palace which is paid for by the privy purse.

Eleven working royals have accommodation in the palaceswithout charge in exchange for their official duties.

These are the:

The report found 21 other royal post-holders, including 17 military knights, have accommodation without charge in the occupied palaces.

The NAO report does not make any judgements on value for money or draw any conclusions, but it is intended to provide information for MPs on the public accounts committee.

"Our role is to set out the facts - and that's why this is an investigation that sets out the processes and the arrangements both from the Crown Estate and the Royal Household," said NAO director Lee Summerfield.

A Palace spokesman said it was "grateful" for the report which was "in line with the Royal Household's commitment to transparency".

"We hope that the findings will help correct, clarify or contextualise a number of points regarding royal properties," the spokesman added.

"As the report notes, arrangements for properties managed by the Royal Household vary based on a number of factors to ensure residences are filled appropriately, depending on their location, tenants and purpose," he said.