National Audit Office Report Details Royal Household Housing and Rental Arrangements for Family Members

The National Audit Office published a report on royal properties that shows working royals receive free housing in official residences as part of their duties. The report states that 11 working royals, including the King, Queen Camilla, Prince William, Catherine, Prince Edward and Sophie, are provided housing within palaces.

According to the report, Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor lived rent-free at Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle for more than 20 years under a 2003 lease that required only a peppercorn rent for the 30-room mansion and its eight cottages. The audit found he was permitted to sublet three of the cottages and received income from those arrangements, though the report did not specify the amount.

Buckingham Palace said the report “is in line with the royal household’s commitment to transparency.” The National Audit Office review was carried out at the request of MPs.

The report shows that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie live in rent-controlled properties in palaces paid for by King Charles. Rents on Princess Eugenie’s cottage in Kensington Palace and Princess Beatrice’s apartment in St James’s Palace were set at 50 to 68 percent of open-market value in recent years.

Both rents are paid out of the Privy Purse. Neither is considered a working royal and both have outside jobs.

Prince William and Catherine pay £307,200 per year in rent for a family home near Windsor and Prince William paid £42,000 in stamp duty for that home.

Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor moved earlier in 2026 to a property on the King’s Sandringham Estate in eastern England.