Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrewmade money by subletting houses in his royal residence, where he lived rent-free for two decades, according to a report on the royal family’s holdings released by the UK’s public spending watchdog on Friday.
The National Audit Office report said the former prince had received income from renting out three cottages on the Royal Lodge estate, “with income designed to pay Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor”, his home near Windsor Castle.
“These properties have been vacant since April 2026,” he added.
He also said his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, live in rent-controlled homes owned by the Crown and paid for by their uncle, King Charles III.
Rents at Eugenie’s villa in the grounds of Kensington Palace in London and Beatrice’s home in St. James’s Palace, also in London, are set at a fraction of the open market value, which can vary significantly, says the audit. In both cases, rents are paid from the privy purse, the King’s private funds.
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The princesses are not considered “working” queens with public duties and both work other jobs.
Eugenie is director of the London branch of international art gallery Hauser & Wirth. Beatrice is vice president of partnerships and strategy at US software and data analytics firm Afiniti.
A lease for Royal Lodge, signed in 2003, shows that Mountbatten-Windsor paid only a nominal fee, known as “peppercorn rent”, for the property, which included a 30-room mansion and eight cottages, three of which he was allowed to sublet.
The report shows that 11 royals are given free accommodation in palace properties in exchange for their public duties, including King Charles and Queen Camilla, Prince William and his wife Catherine, and the king’s younger brother Prince Edward and his wife Sophie.
William and Catherine also have a family home near Windsor, for which they pay 307,200 pounds (about $571,000 CAD) a year, the Associated Press reported.
A police officer walks past the gates of the Royal Lodge in Windsor on February 19, 2026, following the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor by British police on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali
The amount the former prince made from rental properties was not disclosed in the report, an omission noted by Margaret Hodge, a Labor member of the House of Lords, as cause for concern.
“It is shocking that the National Audit Office was unable to determine how much money Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor provided from the estates he left,” she said.
The audit was carried out at the request of lawmakers after Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal titles and forced to vacate his home amid revelations about his alleged links to the late convicted sex offender. Jeffrey Epstein.
Mountbatten-Windsor moved earlier this year to the Sandringham estate, a royal residence in eastern England.
He was arrested and interrogated by the police in February regarding allegations of misconduct in public office.
While Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any wrongdoing regarding his ties to Epstein and has not been charged, concerns about his ties to the disgraced financier have dogged the royal family for more than a decade.
Buckingham Palace said the audit office’s report “is in line with the Royal Family’s commitment to transparency. We hope the findings will help correct, clarify or contextualize a number of issues relating to royal properties.”
— with files from The Associated Press
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