Andrew received up to £2,000 a month from sub-letting Royal Lodge cottages, MPs report

What the committee found

The Public Accounts Committee report, published on 6 November 2026, found that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince, earned money from sub-letting cottages on the Royal Lodge estate in Windsor while paying a peppercorn rent himself. The BBC put the income at up to £2,000 a month, while The Independent said it was more than £2,000, so the two accounts differ on the exact figure. The three cottages were believed to be intended for staff and were let below market rate, with the proceeds going to him rather than to the owner, the Crown Estate. The Independent reported that one cottage went to a tenant who worked for the royal family and stayed there for most of the 22-year tenancy. The rent figures were described as reflecting a percentage of salary and below market rates.

The letter behind the figures

The monthly figures came in a letter from James Chalmers, Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the King, dated 7 September 2026 and sent to the committee. Chalmers said the information came from the household of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor and was shared in the interests of transparency. He also made clear that the former prince had agreed to the disclosure:

“This is with the agreement of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor”

The letter did not provide a total. Because sub-letting was intermittent and not every property was always let, the income over more than 20 years at Royal Lodge cannot be calculated from the information available. Chalmers also said he had not seen the underlying documentation or historical records.

Lease, departure and repair bill

Andrew took a 75-year lease on Royal Lodge in 2003 and paid about £7.5m towards renovation and other charges, which meant he did not have to pay rent. He left the property in February 2026 after revelations about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, and he has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. He now lives on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. When he surrendered the lease early, he was due about £302,000 in compensation, but a repair bill of £1.8m for dilapidations meant the Crown Estate was owed £1.5m. King Charles paid that sum on his brother's behalf, and in October 2026 it emerged that the King had made £1.5m available for the restoration work.

Recommendations and open questions

The cross-party committee wants a ban on sub-letting to become standard practice across Crown Estate properties, with sub-letting permitted only under a specific agreement with the landlord. Its recommendations do not completely rule out future sub-letting. The committee concluded that the Crown Estate did not identify specific lessons from the Royal Lodge lease, and it described the Estate as reluctant to say what it would do differently, because the lease was a product of its time. The inquiry also found that the Crown Estate's administration costs rose 129% between 2020-21 and 2025-26, while the chief executive's salary increased 106% over the same period. The committee asked for a plan setting out how that spending will be managed, and it called for the Royal Household to adopt a consistent rent policy after rents for Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were based on out-of-date open market valuations for several years. The future use of Royal Lodge has not been decided.

Administration costs129%

Chief executive salary106%

Administration costs

129 %

Chief executive salary

106 %

Data from the article text