Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is giving up another royal property
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is having to give up another one of his royal properties.
The former prince is ending his lease on East Lodge in Berkshire, despite paying only £13,000 a year for it.
Homes in the same area are rented for up to £7,500 a month.
The Grade II thatched cottage was thought to be for staff, with Andrew living in it only briefly between 1998 and 2004.
He then moved into Royal Lodge, before he was told to leave last year following allegations emerging from the Epstein files.
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It is believed Andrew himself requested to drop the lease, following a Freedom of Information request made by the BBC.
The Crown Estate said: ‘We have received a request for us to consider an early termination of the lease.’
(Picture: Crown Estate)
The lease was due to end in July 2027.
Andrew’s new home in Wood Farm in Sandringham and Royal Lodge in Windsor, where he lived up until a few weeks ago, were all searched by police following his arrest.
He was taken into custody in Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
All royal properties are set to be scrutinised later this year on the Public Accounts Committee.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said this will ‘aid transparency’ and is ‘part of its overall mission to secure value for money for the taxpayer’.
In October it was revealed Andrew had not paid rent on Royal Lodge, which a 30-room Grade II mansion, for 22 years.
A copy of the disgraced royal’s lease shows that he paid ‘one peppercorn (if demanded)’ of rent per year since 2003.
Peppercorn rent is a symbolic or very small rent payment.
MPs are also calling for a new law to strip Andrew from the line of succession.
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