Prince Andrew’s rent at his palatial home, Royal Lodge, is a mere “one peppercorn (if demanded)” per year, it was revealed on Tuesday.
The medieval “consideration” dates from the days when landlords were required to demand some physical token to make a contract legally binding under English law.
The revelation will stoke growing outrage that Andrew is being quietly enabled to carry on living a life of unimaginable grandeur and privilege, after the king’s office said that Andrew can continue to live in the 30-room property that he shares with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, on his current terms.
Given that King Charles III continues to allow Andrew to host lavish shooting weekends for his chums at royal estates (as revealed by The Royalist), it increasingly seems that Andrew is getting to keep pretty much everything, despite saying he would no longer use his Duke of York title on Friday. Under a 1917 decree by George V, he remains “Prince Andrew.”
The new revelation about the specifics of Andrew’s arrangement at Royal Lodge emerged from lease documents obtained by The Times.
The lease shows that when Andrew acquired the 75-year tenancy of Royal Lodge in 2003, he paid £1 million ($1.2 million) for the privilege, and later spent £7.5 million ($9 million) restoring the 19th-century mansion, once beloved of the Queen mother.
In view of this investment, his official rent, as set out in the agreement, is “one peppercorn (if demanded)” per year.
For the past 22 years, therefore, the late Queen Elizabeth’s second son has lived for free in a 30-room, seven-bedroom residence, surrounded by six staff cottages, manicured lawns, and a private police post, without paying a penny to the Crown Estate. This vast public trust manages royal property on behalf of taxpayers.
The lease runs until 2078, the year of the prince’s 118th birthday, and is heritable by his family.
The lease makes clear that there is little financial impetus for Andrew to surrender the property early, as it contains a clause obliging the Crown Estate to compensate him £185,865 ($227,000) annually should he choose to vacate before 2028, but after that, he gets nothing.
The notional £8.5 million ($10 million) he sunk into the property works out to about £113,000 ($138,000) a year if he stays for the full 75-year term, a fraction of the market rate for the house.
The arrangement has provoked politicians to call for Andrew’s eviction. Robert Jenrick, a Conservative MP with ambitions to lead the party who is a former cabinet minister, said Britons were “sick” of the Duke of York and suggested that it was time he “made his own way in life.”
“The Crown Estate should not treat anyone differently,” Baroness Hodge, a veteran campaigner for public-sector accountability, told the Times. “This isn’t about the past, it’s about what’s right now. The public is footing the bill for a man to live in luxury.”
The king reportedly withdrew his brother’s £1 million ($1.2 million) annual allowance last year, but Andrew has managed to keep the estate running. His friends insist that he can shoulder the maintenance costs. But the optics of “peppercorns” in the wake of his public disgrace could hardly be worse.
The revelations come at a moment when Andrew’s legal and reputational nightmares threaten to upend royal business. Scotland Yard is examining claims that he once urged a protection officer to “dig up dirt” on Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused him of sexual abuse when she was a teenager.
What makes the “peppercorn” lease all the more combustible is that it undermines the king’s effort to cast the monarchy as lean, transparent, and in touch with modern sensibilities. Charles has spent the past year trying to coax his brother out of Royal Lodge and into Frogmore Cottage—the former home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in what has been dubbed “The siege of Royal Lodge.”
However, in briefings to the media on Friday, when Andrew announced he would no longer use his Duke of York title, the palace made clear they had given up the fight and Andrew was staying put.
Charles has shown a marked disinclination to strip Andrew of his “family days,” the enviable shooting privileges first gifted to him by his mother and father.
Hosting a day or two of some of the best shooting in the land is a powerful incentive for bloodsports enthusiasts to remain on friendly terms with Andrew because, according to the unwritten rules of society, shooting invitations are not supposed to be accepted unless they can be returned in kind.
The pheasant and partridge shooting season is soon due to start and runs until the end of January. The grouse season is already underway.
The decision by the king to allow Andrew to continue hosting shoots effectively guarantees him a splendid winter of shooting and socialising at some of England’s grandest houses.
And yes, the invites are still there.
In a statement issued through his brother’s office last week, Andrew struck a tone of defiance, saying: “In discussion with the king and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the royal family. I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first… I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
It has since emerged that Andrew retains the title Duke of York in law; he has just said he will not use it.
Constitutional historian Rafe Heydel-Mankoo, editor of Burke’s Peerage, said: “Prince Andrew has not been formally stripped of his titles. Legally, he remains HRH The Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh, KG, GCVO.” He added, “He has, however, agreed that he will not use or be known by any of these titles, styles and honours.”
Sarah Ferguson, who continues to share Royal Lodge and once again styles herself as “Duchess Sarah,” has now also dropped the formal title. Their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, have had their titles remain untouched by the latest defenestration.
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