How Much Do The Royals Pay As Rent? Here Are 5 Surprising Details From New Report

A new National Audit Office (NAO) report has revealed the financial arrangements of several royal family members, including which of them pays rent and how much. And the findings were no less than shocking, considering that several royals paying peppercorn rents is the least surprising thing in the report. Many of the accommodation costs are footed by the King, while other members of the royal family sublet their properties for an unknown amount, generating private income.

A shocking eleven royals receive free housing within palaces in return for their official duties, including King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince Edward and Duchess Sophie. The latter have also been paying peppercorn rent on Bagshot Park in Surrey, as per reports. They had signed a long 150-year lease in 2007 with a payment of around $6.6 million USD. They have been renting out the property to generate private income, as they sublet a stable to a third party in 2020. The Duke of Edinburgh’s company, Eclipse Nominees Limited, is listed as the leaseholder. Earlier, they held a lease from 1998 to 2007, and committed to spending around $1.8 million USD on restoration. 

Despite not being working royals, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent have reportedly never paid rent. The monarch continues to pay for their grand Apartment 10, which is currently at 63% of open market value. This revelation is even more hurtful as questions had been raised in 2002 itself, over the measly $92 USD rent on their house. A commercial rent of approximately $160K USD per year was paid on their behalf by Queen Elizabeth. At the time, it was mentioned that the pair would have to pay their own rent from 2009, but that never happened. 

In a pleasant surprise, Prince William and Kate Middleton were found to be paying around $411K USD per year, on their “forever home”, Forest Lodge. As per reports, the couple has signed a “short-term 20-year lease” on the property with quarterly rent payments of about $104K USD, every three months. While the Prince and Princess of Wales are avoiding peppercorn rent accusations by paying for all of their own internal refurbishment costs, the Crown Estate did shell out approximately $531K USD for structural repairs. The repairs were made at the mansion, two of three cottages, the barns, and the grounds before the family moved in. 

In line with non-working royals enjoying unprecedented privileges, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie’s accommodations in palaces are taken care of by the King. The rents are also placed on out-of-date valuations, partly because royal household properties require tenants with security clearances. Beatrice still retains an apartment at St. James's Palace, while Eugenie has rented Ivy Cottage. Both sisters are expected to pay only a percentage of the rent, that is reportedly somewhere between 50% to 68% of the open market rent since 2020. However, the actual rent to the royal household is paid by Charles, out of his Privy Purse, made up of the Duchy of Lancaster income and other private funds. 

Before moving to Marsh Farm, disgraced royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor resided in the 30-room mansion, Royal Lodge, for two decades, while paying peppercorn rent. Over those years, he had subletted three cottages from the estate. “Three cottages on the Royal Lodge estate were also sublet with income generated from subletting payable to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor,” the report suggested. The exact income generated from subletting the cottages was private, but royal insiders have claimed that there was no real profit coming in from that. The rate apparently only covered maintenance and running costs. The subletting ended in April this year. It is also widely reported that Mountbatten-Windsor won’t receive the compensation he is due for giving up the lease, which, depending on the condition of the property and the date of surrender, would be in six figures.