The former Prince Andrew made money by subletting three cottages on the estate where he lived rent-free for two decades, according to a report on the royal family’s properties released on Friday (June 5, 2026) by the U.K. public spending watchdog.

It also disclosed that his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, live in rent-controlled palace properties paid for by their uncle, King Charles III.

The National Audit Office report said Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received income from renting out the cottages on the Royal Lodge estate, his home near Windsor Castle for more than 20 years.

A lease for Royal Lodge signed in 2003 shows he paid only a nominal fee known as a “peppercorn rent” for the property, which included a 30-room mansion and eight cottages, three of which he was allowed to sublet.

The amount of income was not included in the report, an omission that Margaret Hodge, a Labour member of the House of Lords and former head of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, said was concerning.

“It’s shocking that the National Audit Office was not able to establish how much money Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor secured from the properties he let,” she said.

The audit office review was carried out at the request of lawmakers after Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal titles and evicted from Royal Lodge by his brother, the king, following revelations about his friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor moved earlier this year to the king’s Sandringham Estate in eastern England.

In February, the former prince, 66, was arrested and questioned by police about allegations of misconduct in public office. Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, and has not been charged.

The audit office report shows that 11 working royals receive free housing within palaces in return for their official duties. They include the king and Queen Camilla, Prince William and his wife Catherine, and the king’s youngest brother, Prince Edward, and his wife Sophie.

Mr. William and Ms. Kate also have a family home near Windsor, for which they pay rent of 307,200 pounds (about $4,13,000) a year.

The rents on Eugenie’s cottage in Kensington Palace and Beatrice’s apartment in St James’s Palace are set at a portion of open-market value that has ranged in recent years between 50% and 68%. Both rents are paid out of the Privy Purse, the monarch’s private funds.

The pair are not considered “working” royals who carry out public duties, and both have outside jobs.

Buckingham Palace said the audit office report “is in line with the royal household’s commitment to transparency. We hope that the findings will help correct, clarify or contextualize a number of points regarding royal properties.” Critics of the monarchy cited the findings as evidence the royal family does not pay its way.

“It shows an absolute total contempt for the taxpayer, not only that Andrew was able to have a peppercorn rent for a gigantic property, but then to make potentially millions on the side from subletting properties,” said former Liberal Democrat lawmaker Norman Baker, a longtime critic of royal finances.

Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has featured in millions of pages of documents about Epstein released by the U.S. Department of Justice in January, showing how the wealthy financier used an international web of rich, powerful friends to gain influence and sexually exploit young women and girls.

British police are looking into claims that Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor sent confidential trade information to the disgraced financier when he served as U.K. trade envoy from 2001 to 2011.

Detectives say they may broaden their investigation to include allegations of sexual misconduct and have appealed for witnesses to come forward.

Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor has rarely been seen in public since he moved to the Sandringham Estate, about 100 miles (160 km) north of London. He was photographed on Thursday (June 4, 2026) in a car with a large bruise on his face.

The Times of London said, without citing sources, that the bruise was the result of a “nonserious medical condition”.

Published – June 05, 2026 04:54 pm IST

The British government on Friday (February 20, 2026) mulled passing a law to remove former prince Andrew from the line of succession, as police stepped up investigations into his conduct, quizzing the disgraced royal’s former protection officers.

Amid a torrent of often tawdry revelations from the files of late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, King Charles III has already stripped his younger brother of all his titles and ousted him from his home in Windsor.

But the son of the late Queen Elizabeth II remains eighth in line to the British throne after Princess Lilibet, the daughter of his nephew, Prince Harry.

The government would consider introducing legislation to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession once the police investigation is over, sources told AFP.

The former prince was arrested on Thursday (February 19, 2026) at his new home on the king’s remote Sandringham estate in eastern Norfok on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Public outrage has grown over past months amid a daily drip of information about Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s cosy ties to Epstein, and his apparent sharing of confidential information when he was a UK trade envoy from 2001 to 2011.

A YouGov poll conducted after Thursday’s (February 19, 2026) arrest — an unprecedented act against the royal family in the modern era — showed 82% believed he should be removed from his place in line to the throne.

Police on Friday (February 20, 2026) conducted a second day of searches at his former home, the 30-bedroom Royal Lodge in Windsor. These are expected to continue through the weekend.

London’s Metropolitan police force said it was seeking information from officers “close” to Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor about “anything” they “saw or heard during that period of service that may be relevant to our ongoing reviews”.

It was also separately working with U.S. authorities to “assess” allegations that multiple flights linked to Epstein helped traffic girls and women in and out of London airports.

At least nine British police forces have confirmed they are looking into claims — many related to Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor — stemming from the latest batch of some three million Epstein files released by the U.S. government last month.

Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor — who was marking his 66th birthday when arrested — was nowhere to be seen on Friday (February 20, 2026) after 11 hours in police custody.

Deeply unpopular

Britain’s newspapers splashed on front pages a photograph of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor, looking haggard and wild-eyed as he left a Norfolk police station in a car late Thursday (February 19, 2026).

Mr. Charles issued a rare, personally signed statement insisting “the law must take its course” and sought to carry out business as usual.

But royal commentators highlighted that the first arrest of a senior royal in centuries signalled a moment of peril for the monarchy.

“I think the great challenge for the monarchy in the coming weeks, months, possibly longer, is the various unknowns in this particular crisis moment,” said royal expert Ed Owens.

Any charges against Andrew or a trial could be a long time coming, as the investigations proceed.

And the road towards stripping the former prince from the line of succession would also take time, as an act of parliament is needed.

“Before the line of succession could be changed, it would require all 14 countries, where King Charles is also their head of state, as well as the UK, to change the law of succession,” said constitutional expert Robert Hazell, from University College London.

Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor is now deeply unpopular with Britons.

“I’m really pleased that nobody’s above the law,” said Jo Mortimer, 64, in the Norfolk town of Aylsham where the former prince was held in custody.

Commercially sensitive

In a November 2010 email from the U.S. documents, seen by AFP, Mountbatten-Windsor appeared to share with the U.S. financier reports on his visit to several Asian countries, among other communications about investment possibilities.

Epstein had already been convicted in the United States in 2008 of child prostitution.

Official guidance is thought to stipulate that trade envoys have a duty of confidentiality over sensitive commercial or political information related to their official visits.

The ex-prince has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

But one of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Giuffre, last year recounted in shocking detail in her posthumous memoir claims that she had been trafficked three times to have sex with Andrew, twice when she was 17.

The ex-prince settled a U.S. civil lawsuit in 2022 brought by Giuffre, while not admitting liability.

Published – February 21, 2026 01:59 am IST

Britain’s Prince Andrew speaks with King Charles.
| Photo Credit: Reuters