Key facts
- The Public Accounts Committee said Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received up to £2,000 per month for sub-letting three cottages at Royal Lodge.
- The committee said it could not establish the total sub-letting income because not all the properties were always rented out.
- The Crown Estate told MPs it had no oversight of the amounts charged and that sub-letting was allowed under the lease.
- MPs recommended that future Crown Estate leases ban sub-letting unless specifically agreed with the landlord.
- The report said a £1.8m dilapidations repair bill offset a payment of about £300,000 due for early surrender of the lease.
- The committee said Crown Estate administration costs rose 129% since 2020-21 and chief executive Dan Labbad's pay package was worth £2.3m in 2025-26.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received up to £2,000 per month for sub-letting three cottages at Royal Lodge, his former home, while paying no rent himself, according to a Public Accounts Committee report on the Crown Estate published on November 6, 2026.
The committee said Mountbatten-Windsor did not always rent out all the properties, so it could not establish the total income over more than 20 years. The sub-letting income went to Mountbatten-Windsor rather than to his landlord, the Crown Estate. The Crown Estate told MPs it had no oversight of how much he charged and that sub-letting was permitted under his lease.
Mountbatten-Windsor took on a 75-year lease for Royal Lodge in 2003 and paid about £7.5 million toward renovation and other charges, which meant he did not have to pay rent. MPs recommended that future Crown Estate leases prohibit sub-letting unless specifically agreed with the landlord.
The report also set out what followed his departure from Royal Lodge. A payment of about £300,000 was due to him for early surrender of the lease, but dilapidations in the state of the building produced a repair bill of £1.8 million.
The committee raised concerns about rent charged to non-working royals given accommodation in three royal properties, which it believed housed Mountbatten-Windsor's daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. A National Audit Office report earlier in the year revealed that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie pay nothing themselves for their accommodation at St James's Palace and Kensington Palace respectively, with the King paying their rent to the Royal Household from his private income. MPs questioned whether rents were based on up-to-date valuations and recommended a more consistent approach.
The committee criticized the Crown Estate for concentrating too much of its urban property portfolio in London and southeast England and called for a wider regional spread. It said administration costs had risen 129% since 2020-21 and that chief executive Dan Labbad's salary had risen 106% over that period, with his pay package worth £2.3 million in 2025-26.