Overview
- The committee wrote to the Crown Estate and the Treasury seeking the rationale for the lease terms and whether they deliver value for money, requesting responses by 28 November.
- Andrew’s 2003, 75-year Royal Lodge lease shows a £1 million upfront premium and a rent of only “one peppercorn (if demanded)” thereafter.
- The lease required the prince to fund major refurbishments and includes a clause that would pay him roughly £558,000 if he surrenders the lease.
- National Audit Office material indicates Prince Edward paid market rent for Bagshot Park until at least 2007, but redactions to his 2007 renewal leave his current rent undisclosed.
- The Crown Estate released an unredacted copy of Andrew’s lease while withholding Edward’s full terms, and reporting that Andrew hosted Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Harvey Weinstein at Royal Lodge in 2006 has heightened pressure as relocation talks are reported to be ongoing.