In saying that Prince Andrew would not use his name or honours, Buckingham Palace was hoping to shift the highlight clear of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, and the accusations of sexual abuse he has confronted (and denied).
The media had been inspired to focal point as an alternative on King Charles’s consult with to the Vatican, and the royal circle of relatives’s excellent works. However this technique has failed. Revelations about Prince Andrew’s residing preparations and budget have whetted the urge for food for extra.
One such revelation is his royal place of abode. Andrew has a 75-year rent from the crown property on Royal Hotel, a big area in Windsor Nice Park. The Instances printed the rent, revealing that he paid £1 million for it plus no less than £7.5 million in refurbishments. In go back for this very massive prematurely value, Andrew can pay an annual hire of “one peppercorn (if demanded)”.
The crown property is a statutory company working below the Crown Property Act 1961 (as amended in 2025), which manages an enormous belongings portfolio together with Regent Side road in London and lots of the foreshore across the coast, producing a large source of revenue from wind farms.
Its internet income benefit – which in 2023-24 amounted to £1.1 billion – is paid to the Treasury. The federal government makes use of 12% of the income to fund the sovereign grant, which gives monetary enhance for the monarchy.
Since 2019, when he ceased to be a running royal, Prince Andrew not receives any public investment from the sovereign grant. Mysteries about his assets of source of revenue is also exhausting for the palace to dispel with out being extra clear concerning the royal budget extra normally.
One specific house of pastime is the Duchy of Lancaster, which final yr equipped King Charles with £27 million of his source of revenue. The palace website online states that that is “a portfolio of land, property and assets held in trust for the sovereign. Its main purpose is to provide an independent source of income, and is used mainly to pay for official expenditure not met by the Sovereign Grant (primarily to meet expenses incurred by other members of the Royal Family).”
Previous to the sovereign grant, the monarchy used to be funded in the course of the civil listing. This used to be an annual amount of money voted by way of parliament, which integrated the annuities gained by way of different individuals of the royal circle of relatives.
Because the Sovereign Grant Act 2011, the ones annuities are not printed. The Duchy of Lancaster’s annual file and accounts provides a variety of element concerning the Duchy’s source of revenue, however none about its expenditure.
The Liberal Democrat chief Sir Ed Davey MP has known as for a choose committee inquiry to “properly scrutinise” the crown property, and Baroness (Margaret) Hodge, former chair of the general public accounts committee, has known as for better transparency concerning the royal budget.
What subsequent for Andrew?
The 9 commissioners who organize the crown property’s holdings are belongings mavens who function independently of presidency and the crown. They can’t merely terminate Prince Andrew’s rent, however there’s mounting power on him to relinquish the rent voluntarily.
In the case of his closing titles, each the palace and UK executive might be determined to near the tale down and transfer on. The federal government took the road that it used to be all a question for the king and the palace.
Sir Alan Campbell, chief of the Area of Commons, mentioned: “The question of [Andrew’s] titles is primarily a question for His Majesty. I know there has been speculation about legislation, but the palace has been clear it recognises that there are other matters this House needs to be getting on with, and we are guided in this by the palace.”
In observe, the palace can be guided by way of the federal government, which might be prepared to steer clear of law if in any respect conceivable. In need of law, there’s little extra the palace can do.
The king may factor letters patent mentioning that Prince Andrew is not His Royal Highness. He may additionally give an enterprise that Andrew would by no means be known as upon to function a counsellor of state, deputising for the monarch in his absence.
If public anger remained unabated, and law used to be deemed unavoidable, a brief invoice might be ready to strip Andrew of his peerage titles and take away him as a counsellor of state. It might be handed rather briefly: the Counsellors of State Act 2022, which added Princess Anne and Prince Edward to the listing of possible counsellors of state, went via all its Commons phases in one day.
The budget are trickier. The Commons public accounts committee might grasp a unmarried proof consultation simply on Andrew’s budget, or release a much wider inquiry.
It can be exhausting to steer clear of the latter. Having made public the rent on Royal Hotel, the crown property might to find it tricky to refuse to divulge the rentals on different houses occupied by way of the royal circle of relatives, or different details about its budget.
If parliament makes a decision to release a much wider inquiry, the bills to different individuals of the royal circle of relatives funded by way of the Duchy of Lancaster can be an evident position to begin.
