The public accounts committee is to launch an inquiry into the crown estate and its leases on properties to members of the royal family after questions over the lease of Royal Lodge to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Publishing responses from the crown estate and the Treasury to detailed questions over the lease arrangements, the committee’s chair, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, said: “Having reflected on what we have received, the information provided clearly forms the basis for an inquiry.” He said this would take place in the new year.
In a report for the committee, the crown estate confirmed that Mountbatten-Windsor was unlikely to receive any compensation for giving up his 75-year Royal Lodge lease early because of repairs that will have to be carried out on the 30-room mansion in Windsor Great Park. In 2003 he paid a £1m premium plus £7.5m upfront for refurbishment and agreed to pay a “peppercorn rent (if demanded)”.
The crown estate also revealed details of Forest Lodge, the new home of the Prince and Princess of Wales. It said William and Catherine, who moved into the property during the October half-term, held a 20-year non-assignable lease on the property and were paying “open market rent”, but gave no further details. “Negotiations were conducted on an arm’s length basis to ensure appropriate market terms were agreed,” the crown estate said.
It also provided information on other homes including the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’s Bagshot Park and Thatched House Lodge, leased by Princess Alexandra, in London’s Richmond Park. The inquiry will examine the value for money to taxpayers.
The committee will consider what witnesses to call to give evidence once it has considered all the written submissions. In theory it could summon Mountbatten-Windsor to appear. But there is no precedent in modern times for a member of the royal family giving evidence in person to a parliamentary committee, and the committee does not have the power to force him to attend.
In its briefing to the committee, the crown estate – an independent commercial business and public corporation – said: “Our initial assessment is that while the extent of the end-of-tenancy dilapidations and repairs required are not out of keeping with a tenancy of this duration, they will mean in all likelihood that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor will not be owed any compensation for early surrender of the lease … once dilapidations are taken into account.”
Mountbatten-Windsor gave the minimum 12 months’ notice that he would surrender the lease on 30 October. If no end-of-tenancy repairs had been required, he would have been entitled to £488,342.21 for ending his tenancy on 30 October 2026.
The crown estate said that in determining the Royal Lodge lease, relevant factors considered were the property’s location within Windsor Great Park, its state of repair and the security requirements concerning the Royal Chapel, which lies within the grounds of the property and was regularly used by the royal family at the time.
Mountbatten-Windsor took out the lease on Royal Lodge and its eight cottages in 2003 after the death of the queen mother, who had lived there, and the property needed significant refurbishment.
The terms of the lease were independently reviewed and confirmed as “fair, reasonable and in line with market practice”, the crown estate said. It said a “peppercorn rent (if demanded) by way of ongoing rent is an approach consistent with market practice for long-leasehold residential properties where significant capital investment is made and/or a premium is paid in lieu of a market rent”.
Mountbatten-Windsor will move into a private property on the king’s estate at Sandringham in the new year.
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