Overview
- The Crown Estate informed Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee that the Prince and Princess of Wales hold a 20-year, non-assignable lease for Forest Lodge commencing 5 July 2025 at open-market rent.
- Officials said the deal was negotiated at arm’s length, with independent valuations by Hamptons and Savills and the couple advised by Knight Frank under a common law tenancy with standard repairing obligations.
- William, Kate and their three children moved into the Grade II-listed, eight-bedroom house in late October or early November, and it serves as their primary private residence.
- A roughly 150-acre exclusion cordon backed by legislation that criminalizes trespass in the buffer has closed access points and produced a temporary one-mile diversion to The Christmas Tree Shop, with locals reporting cones and plain-clothes security in the car park.
- Campaign group Republic has called the changes an “abuse of power” and cited media claims that nearby families were relocated, as scrutiny intensifies with Prince Andrew preparing to vacate Royal Lodge in the New Year.