Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince AndrewHe made money subletting cottages at his royal residence, where he lived rent-free for two decades, according to a report on the royal family’s properties released Friday by Britain’s Public Expenditure Watchdog.
The National Audit Office report said the former prince earned income from the rental of three cottages on the Royal Lodge estate, “with the income payable to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor”, his home near Windsor Castle.
“These properties have been vacant since April 2026,” it said.
It was also said that his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, live in rent-controlled houses owned by the crown and paid for by their uncle, King Charles III.
Rents for Eugenie’s cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace in London and Beatrice’s house at St. James’s Palace, also in London, are set at a proportion of market value, which can vary significantly Audit says. In both cases the rents are paid from the Privy Purse, the king’s private funds.
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The princesses are not considered “working” royals with public duties, and both have other jobs.
Eugenie is director of the London branch of the international art gallery Hauser & Wirth. Beatrice is Vice President of Partnerships and Strategy at the US software and data analysis company Afiniti.
A lease for Royal Lodge signed in 2003 shows that Mountbatten-Windsor paid only a small fee, the so-called “peppercorn rent,” for the property, which included a 30-room mansion and eight cottages, three of which he was allowed to sublet.
The report reveals that 11 royals are being given free accommodation on palace properties in exchange for their public duties, including King Charles and Queen Camilla, Prince William and his wife Catherine, and the king’s youngest brother, Prince Edward, and his wife Sophie.
William and Catherine also own a family home near Windsor, for which they pay 307,200 pounds (about C$571,000) a year, The Associated Press reported.
A police officer walks past the gate of the Royal Lodge in Windsor on February 19, 2026, after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested by British police on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali
The amount the former prince earned from the rental properties was not disclosed in the report, an omission that Margaret Hodge, a Labor member of the House of Lords, said was a cause for concern.
“It is shocking that the National Audit Office was unable to determine how much money Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor secured from the properties he rented out,” she said.
The review was carried out at the request of lawmakers after Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal titles and forced to vacate his home after revelations emerged about his alleged links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mountbatten-Windsor moved to the Sandringham estate, a royal residence in the east of England, earlier this year.
He was arrested and interrogated was convicted by police in February over allegations of misconduct in public office.
While Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing related to his ties to Epstein and has not been charged, concerns about his ties to the disgraced financier have plagued the royal family for more than a decade.
Buckingham Palace said the auditor general’s report was “consistent with the Royal Household’s commitment to transparency. We hope the findings will help to correct, clarify or contextualize a number of points relating to royal property.”
— with files from The Associated Press
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