A former chair of an influential parliamentary committee said it was “shocking” that the public spending watchdog had not established Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s income from subletting properties.
Margaret Hodge, who led the public accounts committee, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she was “very concerned” that the National Audit Office (NAO) was not able to find out how much money the former prince had made from letting properties.
She also raised concerns that a report by the NAO did not cover all of the crown estate properties.
Hodge made her comments after the NAO revealed Mountbatten-Windsor received private income from subletting three cottages on his Windsor Royal Lodge estate while paying a “peppercorn rent” to the crown estate.
The Labour peer, who was chair of the committee from 2010 to 2015, said: “We all want a royal family to be continued to be respected, valued and treasured. I want a royal family, but in a modern era that does require proper transparency and accountability. 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.
“The other thing that is worrying is that people like Beatrice and Eugenie and the Kents – Prince Michael of Kent and his wife – were also being subsidised in the way that they were living on the estate, they weren’t paying rent, and yet they’re not working royals. Now, is it appropriate for non-working royals to be subsidised by the taxpayer from a fund that belongs to the taxpayer?”
Hodge added: “The crown estates is our money, it’s taxpayers’ money, it’s not theirs, and whoever runs that has to always ensure the taxpayers’ interest.”
The 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 were revealed in the report, published on Friday, which will form the basis of the Commons public accounts committee’s inquiry into royal properties, after a public outcry when it emerged in October that Mountbatten-Windsor was paying a peppercorn rent on Royal Lodge, the Windsor mansion from which he was eventually evicted by the king.
A spokesperson for the crown estate said: “The crown estate welcomes the National Audit Office’s review, which confirms its leases with members of the royal family were agreed in line with independent, professional advice and open market valuations. We look forward to discussing the report further with the public accounts committee in due course.”
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “We are grateful to the National Audit Office for this report, which is 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.
“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.”
