Vanity Fair recently published an interesting article about “the saga of royal rents and monarchs-as-landlords.” There’s some interesting history about various king’s mistresses and the various grand apartments or estates they were given. There’s also some interesting stuff about more modern royal real estate drama and how King Charles is going to make some big changes, especially with the grace-and-favor homes and apartments given to distant relations. Of course, they mention how he evicted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from Frogmore Cottage, still one of the most rotten moves from Charles. Especially given that, as this article makes abundantly clear, most of the Windsors are living in homes they didn’t pay for whatsoever. Some highlights (mostly quotes from Tom Quinn, author of Kensington Palace: An Intimate Memoir and Scandals of the Royal Palaces):
All of the royals rebuild & refurbish their gifted real estate: “There has also always been an insane habit of each new royal resident insisting that their palace or house has to be completely refurbished, even rebuilt, before they can bring themselves to move in,” Quinn explains. “When Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon moved into their Kensington Palace apartment vast amounts of Georgian fittings were destroyed—Margaret insisted—according to one of her staff—that she had absolutely no intention of using a lavatory that had ever been used by anyone else!”
Grace-and-favor homes: The near constant hassles over royal real estate have become increasingly fraught in recent decades with the press exposing the unfairness of “grace-and-favor residences” given to family members, loyal friends, and servants at the discretion of the monarch. “In the 1970s, there were more than 200 grace and favor apartments and houses––dozens at Hampton Court Palace and at Balmoral, at Sandringham, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace and Clarence House,” Quinn points out. Things came to a head in the 1990s when it was revealed that Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, who are non-working royals, were paying very little to live in Kensington Palace.
What happened to the Kents: To quell the furor, Queen Elizabeth II decided to raise the couple’s rent. “The Duke and Duchess of Kent found they suddenly had to go from paying a peppercorn rent for their grace and favor apartment at Kensington to paying market rent. From paying around £69 a week for their five bedroomed apartment they were forced to pay around £60,000 a year,” Quinn writes. “Fair enough perhaps given at the time—the 1990s—the duke was only 49th in line to the throne.”
Charles won’t be as generous as his mother: According to Quinn, there are still more than 100 grace-and-favor residences controlled by King Charles III, but apparently, he won’t be as generous as his mother. “Charles has every intention of curbing the wild expenditure on royal houses that typified earlier generations of royals and a member of staff told me he is determined to reduce further the number of grace and favor apartments,” Quinn claims.
Charles’s ultimate goal: As his ultimatums to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Prince Andrew attest, the king believes the family squabbles over royal property are out of control and bad for both public relations and the bottom line. There have also been reports that the king will eventually ask more royal family members to pay up or vacate their homes, and in turn, will rent them to people outside the family at market rates. He wants members of the royal family to stop behaving with such an air of entitlement, especially when it comes to housing. One aide told me that even Charles can’t understand why each new generation has to strip out everything in their apartments before they are prepared to move in—whether at Kensington or Windsor—and start again from scratch at great expense.”
William & Kate: “William and Kate are as guilty as anyone else when it comes to this sort of thing,” Quinn says. “Their Kensington apartment was virtually rebuilt when they moved in and now includes an underground bunker.” (Outlets report the apartment includes a panic room and escape tunnel.)
Caretaker royals: “Charles is also keen to emphasize that each generation of royals is, as it were, merely a caretaker when it comes to housing—they are there to keep the houses and palaces in good order for the next generation and for the public,” Quinn explains.
While Kensington Palace Apartment 1 really did need a big overhaul – they had to remove asbestos – Quinn is correct in that William and Kate were so excessive with how much money they spent renovating and refurbishing not only KP Apt. 1, but Anmer Hall as well. Kate ripped up Anmer, which had already recently been renovated. I remember how she tore out a perfectly lovely kitchen. What was also crazy about the KP reno was that the PR around the whole thing was that the money was worth it because KP would be their permanent home and they would be based in London. Instead, they quickly moved to Anmer for years, and then they moved to Windsor, where they’re looking to push Prince Andrew out of Royal Lodge. You know Kate can’t wait to spend millions renovating Royal Lodge too.
The Frogmore Cottage eviction makes even less sense when you consider how many royals and royal-adjacents are paying next to nothing for their palatial estates and lavish apartments. The Sussexes literally paid back the cost of renovating that dilapidated shack AND they paid for the lease. And Charles’s big scheme is to evict the Sussexes and “give” Frogmore to Andrew free of charge. Anyway, I can’t wait to see how many enemies Charles makes when he starts evicting all of his relatives, all while giving William and Kate their sixth, seventh and eighth homes.
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Understatement I think.
So when Charles boots people out of their Grace and favor homes and starts renting them out at market value to anyone, who gets that rental money? Does it all just go back to the Royal Fam anyway?
And if so, how is that a good thing or useful thing for the people? If the Royals earn more money through real estate, do they get less tax payer money or something?
I’m just not understanding how any of this amounts to something other than the royals grifting, whether it’s from getting to own a bunch of homes or to rent them out as a side hustle? What am I missing here?
💯, @DK
Charles gets more money.
Technically that means the crown more broadly as he is just the representative of the institution that theoretically works for the country 24/7 but we all know that’s nonsense and he’s a greedy man who loves holding all the purse strings and getting his hands on as much money as possible.
Wait….now I’ve seen the other article from today, about Charles raising the rents on everyone in the Duchy of Lancaster.
Was this article just to pave the way for that? A demand that her charge market value, and now we see he is?! Otherwise why on earth would the press be celebrating, let alone pushing for, Charles to charge normal people “market value” for rent, when they know that just harms commoners and lines his pockets more?!
The money goes to the fund that pays for the maintenance of the royal palaces. Why it costs that much to maintain them I dont know…
So it doesn’t go to the royals. But when the royals don’t or didn’t pay rent, the royals were costing the country a lot for maintenance of their homes.
Wow drip drip drip. Stories about the excessive properties. I doubt Can’t will be the one renovating if Peg gets royal lodge. She already has been placed at Adelaide house. Peg will be doing that because he will be the one living there. Of course they will say the will both be there but they aren’t living together now.
@ Susan Collins, please, Chaz is renovating BP now as we speak. Also, RL is a massive dump due to the extensive mold and lack of upkeep over the last 30 years. The Kent’s certainly should have been paying market rent given that Michael was an attaché to Russia as well as other nefarious people/companies.
Keen actually had them move the tennis court over 3’ at AH as it was blocking their view from the GD kitchen 😳. An entire court to be moved a MERE 3’ must have cost millions upon the other renovations she did to the kitchen as well was 2 times, IIRC.
The ONLY property that was earning money for the Crown was FC!! But instead of being a decent father, Chaz booted them out before their lease was up and the 4 million dollars have not been reimbursed.
Charles can suck it!! He isn’t exactly squeaky clean either. 🙄
And speaking of Peg, get a load of THIS article too!!!
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/13/business/prince-william-1-billion-inheritance/index.html
@bothsidesnow. Nope Chuckles is not clean. Yes BP’s renovation started when the queen was still alive. Yes Andrews property has not been doing up keep hence the mold. I’m just fascinated with the stories that are coming out with not the most positive spin for the royals. The little digs in the stories are interesting. I’m hoping for more drips and drabs coming out.
BP needs extensive renovations because the Queen did not put the money needed to maintain and now the repairs are more extensive than otherwise. Charles is to blame for all the other decisions, but the BP situation is her fault.
They really should give BP to the govt since most don’t want to live there anyway. They could restrict a few areas for work offices and then keep the rest open all year for tourists and make a profit.
After he pulled security from Harry, his wife and toddler grandchild, I’m sure Harry was done playing with them; there is nothing worse they could do to him. So, I am sure when he betrayed his mother (not for the first or last time) and kicked her favorite grandchild out of FC and the lease she gifted them, Harry said ‘fine, repay me what I’m owed and you can keep it’. I wouldnt be surprised if that was part of the deal for showing up for the shiny hat flop. And if this was not the way it went, I’m just picturing that scene from ‘the color purple’, you know the one, ‘until you do right by me….’.
@susanCollins, yep, drip drip sums up Charlie and bullyam to a T, a couple of money hungry drips. Charlie knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing, THAT’S why he allowed the rage monster and his lazy ass wife to drive out the only decent, hard working couple in the family. I hope Charlie realises just what he has done and is doing, because his legacy is greed, vanity and gutless
I don’t know what Katie Nicholl and others think they’re doing but exposing Charles as a huge land and property owner only serves to convince people that the Royal Family should not be funding by the Government.
Exactly. Charles and William are raking it in as landlords. With the possible exception of security, they shouldn’t be funded at all.
Cost of security is secret, i think? But it was conveniently left out of this article.
I’m
Not saying you’ll ever solve homelessness. I think bullyum did. Now he’s a massive landlord. He has the power but chooses to do fu all
Talk to us about how King ‘Slimmed Down Monarchy’ is receiving thirty nine (39) MILLION more pounds a year from the Sovereign Grant starting in 2025. That’s a 45% (I think; I’m very bad at math) increase in pay. Talk to us about how these Grade A Prime Jerks hide their revenue streams and their assets. Talk to us about how the idea that any of them, including Andrew, are actually ‘broke’ is nonsense and an insult to every single British taxpayer.
@ A, let’s also talk about that their inheritances are NON taxable as well!!! Who is able to do that in the UK, besides the BRF????
RIGHT?! I, too, would give my life in ‘service’ [ribbon-cutting and showing up to sports games] if it left me obscenely wealthy and protected that wealth for all my descendants. What sacrifice! What an unbelievable bargain for Britain!
And all the income from the Duchies, C3 chooses to pay an undisclosed amount of tax. It’s a con.
It’s only non taxable monarch to monarch which is why the do the inheritance that way.
Lol “air of entitlement” about housing in others from a man with 12/13 homes 😂
When the head of the family is “divinely anointed,” entitlement tends to follow.
When will the British people put an end to this grift? How do they not see the financial abuse this non-deserving, non-elected family has heaped on the taxpayers? Is the extravagantly wealthy RF so special and sacred to their subjects that the public will allow them to continue to amass huge sums off the backs of the people? How does throwing huge sums of money at billionaires benefit their nation?
Make it make sense.
I keep asking this same question, Beverley! God knows we have our share of problems and abuses on this side of the pond, but, at least, we are not funneling billions in public money to a family with great wealth and privilege who do absolutely nothing in return. Abolish the monarchy, ffs!
@brassyrebel, you know I’m a Brit and I can tell you that the “abolish the monarchy” movement is growing. And I can wait for it to be fully main stream. Mind you, it does seem that a few of the papers are moving away from their adoration of all things monarchy, even in one of the papers today, some real shade was thrown at keen and clueless. They were laughing at a programme last night that had the title “Kate our new Diana” the backlash was BIG with one reporter saying, “how? Just because they both played the piano in public”. Then went onto say, accompanied by a Wimbledon picture saying “yes here we have William and Kate with their photo props, oh sorry children”. I thought it was a brilliant take down 😂😂
@Beverley
I used to ask myself these very same questions in a: ‘for-how-long-will-they-keep-these-inbreds-on-pedestals’ kind of way. Especially in light of how much “feet of clay” its been revealed that the royals have, in the wake of the treatment of M and their mixed-race kids.
Even just a few months ago I remain puzzled at the depth of self-abegnation of the brits, vis-a-vis their run amok shidtmedia, their worthless royals and their useless politicians (to put it mildly).
But then, just this past week, someone on twitter (a born-and-raised Brit) made the observation that to be born and raised under the british system of social stratification, with its strict hierarchical structure, is not something that only happens external to the individual, but it is insidiously imbedded into the british psyche.
This why Meghan, not only a foreigner, but a woman, with black blood, being parachuted into the highest echelon of their society, was not to be borne! M was and remains, an existential threat in the average british mind. And this primitive reaction to M doesnt only occur in the psyche of brits with below-average intelligence, but every single one of them, even some of those who see their society clearly for what it is and have removed themselves from it, migrating to (mostly) America, in order to self-actualize.
The best explanation of this is by R. S. Locke in her article: “Will the House of Windsor Turn into a House of Cards? – What happens to British society when the class structure that underpins it is challenged?”
This article is soooo good, its been quoted all over the internet. Read it here:
tinyurl[DOT]com/52v5uv3m
Agree on all of this, Kingston. My English husband has tried to explain how rigid the British class system is, and how deference is ingrained in the English psyche.
He says all of the time that if he met up with Charles somewhere, he’d probably bow — and be mortified by it, because intellectually, he knows that Charles is just an ordinary man.
The English, technically, are not just citizens — they are subjects. So they don’t question the riches of the royals. It’s tragic.
That is one of my biggest takeaways from this whole thing Kingston. A lot of British people love their class system and the people they consider to be their “betters” the way a lot of Americans love money and people who have a lot of it. Both toxic ways of thinking but good grief at least there is a chance, however infinitesimal, that you might be able to make money. You have zero control over your ancestry and it’s a complete luck of the draw.
I totally agree with your read on the situation @Kingston, and as an American, I find it shocking how deeply class is built-in to the British psyche. It’s truly inconceivable. I literally cannot imagine feeling respect for someone just because of their station. I am well aware that many billionaires and government officials and celebrities are truly horrible people, worthy of no deference whatsoever. There is no one in this country who is above scorn, imo. Respect must be earned by words and deeds. Harry and Meghan have earned it a thousand times over. But the Windsor grifters? Uh-uh.
I think you’re spot on @Kingston! I remember a scene from a fictional historic series many years ago. An american man asked a british solicitor why the brits didn’t do as the frenche and got rid of the aristocracy. The british man said something along the line of” we don’t want to get rid of them, we want to join them”. I think that’s also ingrained in the british.The monarch doesn’t give out titles the way they used to, but you can be mad sir and dame. That’s a dangeling carrot for people like Beckham and dame Judy Dench.
I think another factor us indifference. People have enough with their own lives, making ends meet, especially in these days. And then there’s the ongoing soap opera the rota is providing them with their trash articles.
KP has a panic room????
For her to hide from him?
No. For him to hide from her, I think you’ll find.
And possibly an escape tunnel. Tells me the Wales know exactly how shady and grifty they themselves really are and have an escape route ready for any potential uprisings.
OMG! The picture of Kate on the phone! HAHAHAHA!! The posing is so over the top. “Look at me! I’m a businesswoman!” Do you think she asked to push some of the buttons?
And the books lined up in front of her are novels.
Not to mention that chair she is sitting in is in no way an office chair. Few hours of actual work at that desk in that chair and she would be limping from sciatica.
Well, she is Top CEO, you know…
Those pictures of Kate and William each posing with papers and pens and printers, pretending to look so very busy and important, will never not be hilarious! 😀
The Sussexes left Kensington Palace and moved to Windsor to get away from William and Kate. Then last year William and Kate also moved to Windsor. I’m wondering if the reason Charles evicted the Sussexes from Frogmore was because of that, just to avoid more of the daily conflict and fighting in his own backyard.
That’s a nice thought but Charles doesn’t live in Windsor and it was leaked to the press that the eviction was done because Harry went ahead with the book. Harry was told to move out of Frogmore the day after the book came out.
@Lucky Charm. No Chuckles evicted him to be a nasty SOB and he couldn’t control them anymore. This was his last thing he could punish them with.
Right @Susan Collins! It’s really telling that they mention the Sussexes and “family squabbles over royal properties” in the same sentence. They’re not the ones squabbeling over royal property, it’s Chuck, Andrew and Willnot. He had family paying market rent, but he prefere to loose the income because of pettiness.
Harry and meghan were set to move in to an apartment in KP but the renovations would have taken too long and meghan was pregnant and ready to give birth in a few months. So the queen offered them frogmore cottage which was already under going reno’s and would be done in time. All of this is in Spare. So stick with that.
@Chloe, I don’t remember the apartment in KP. I thought, Harry said to the Queen, their cottage was small for their family now since they were having a baby and they needed a new place. Before he asked for it, it seemed to me there was nothing prepared for them.
They’d had a lovely home in the Cotswolds that the press ruined for them.
That top faux working photo just makes me laugh. If you really podcast, or really recorded yourself on the regular for eventual airing, you wouldn’t set up your equipment so that you had to hunch over the coffee table to read it. Bring the script up to your face so that you can sit up straight!
Not only that each person gets their own mike.
I can’t believe my girl Meghan was living in that shack before they moved to Frogmore cottage. Whew. She was head of heels for that Prince of hers.
She still is head over heels for Harry. And she’s given up a LOT to stay with him. I keep thinking about the H&M documentary, and Abigail Breslin talking about the wonderful life Meghan had — service, travel, acting, fun with friends, relative privacy — that she gave up to be with Harry. Even Harry mentions in Spare that Meghan’s friends asked her when the press onslaught started: “Is he really worth it?” I stan H&M every day, but there’s a little voice in the back of my head that whispers every so often, “Harry, you better be worth it.”
@KAISER, don’t know if you caught it, as there is so much bumph coming out of the Palace but there was a REALLY good article about Andrew in the daily mirror today. I won’t say any more but it’s a good catch
@Mary Pester — is that the one about the timeline of Andrew’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell?
@booboocita, it’s Abigail Spencer.
I think they took sick pleasure out of mistreating Harry and when Meghan came on the scene it was double the fun! Harry, had no idea how to financially survive without begging and then Meghan said F this and showed him the way! I think it is funny that the king and heir have been reduced to glorified slumlords! Imagine the power kings use to have and look at the clowns now! LOL
It tells you a lot about Chuck as a father. QEII bought properties and built houses for the alleged sex offender and Anne. She made sure those two would have homes they owned outright. And even when the alleged sex offender messed that up, QEII got him a luxury rental with a lease he could pass down to his children. No clue what happened with Edward not getting a property to own, but considering the title silliness he created, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he turned down an offer of a smaller home to own in favor of that oversized Bagshot Park. But again, he got a great lease. Meanwhile Harry was living in a comparatively tiny cottage where he could barely stand up straight. You mean to tell me Chuck with his fifty-eleven properties couldn’t pull strings to make sure his younger son had something nice?
Charles and philip always wanted to get rid of the peripheral windsors. I think Charles wants to be surrounded by more interesting people. However, I can’t help but feel William and his renov’s have moved the evictions up. It’s distasteful how much money w&k spend while being lazy. William seems to be preparing for a life that doesn’t included being king.
Previously I blamed kate for these cost but I think it maybe William leading. William is scared of people so the panic room and tunnel sounds like him. They just let greedy Kate take full blame.
I can’t imagine he would behind the kitchen renovations. I doubt he would care.
Saying that Charles doesnt want drama around housing in the same sentence as you’re talking about him evicting his son who paid for his renovations is so bizarre. Even more bizarre is them then talking about unnecessary renovations when Frogmore Cottage was literally unlivable for a family. It had not been in use for residential housing for years and was divided into servant quarters, no family could’ve moved in there without doing renovations which once again even the Sovereign Grant has confirmed multiple times that Harry paid for.
They really need to keep H&M out of this mess; they paid to renovate a house that was “gifted” to them by the queen, signed leases, were evicted but made no attempts to fight the eviction or complain about it: they just moved on and shouldn’t be allowed to move on and not get constantly dragged into these articles
How does an entire nation of millions of people put UP with this??? Isn’t there any ability to vote on whether to keep funding them at all?
Nope.
I’m mostly just surprised they pointed out W&K’s housing situation. That’s something that the press almost always covers up (although the RRs were really ticked about AC.)
and in general it really is insane that the man with multiple castles is worried that “lesser” family members and staff will have a sense of entitlement about housing. It just seems to me he wants more money from rents.
I thought it was Prince and Princess Michael who had to start paying actual rent because they are not official “working royals.” In fact, I thought I read that the Queen was paying their rent out of the Sovereign Grant for a while. The Duke and Duchess of Kent are “working royals” as are the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Charles is such a petty, greedy, mean little relative. Meanwhile, he himself has twelve residences, is it?
Sorry but is that a FAX machine in front of PW? I don’t think I’ve seen one of those since 2010. And I last saw those squiggly phone land lines at my parents’ house back in the 80s. If they were really doing such busy important work surely they would want to spend some of their vast resources on modern technology?
And I’m not sure but it looks as though Kate’s notebook/folder is blank.
What bugs me about this photo of Kate is that she’s suddenly a lefty.
Kate is such a serious “business” person she has an end table behind a sofa as her “work desk” with novels decorating the front of it and blank paper everywhere else.
@JADED, yep lovey, that’s the one
Anonymous tell alls should start the minute the rent is raised or eviction notices are handed out.The royal cousins will be looking for $$$,to pay rent with.
W&K didn’t refurbish Apartment 1 because that was the Gloucesters. W&K were offered three spaces, including the Gloucesters space and they refused them all. The demanded to tour 1A which was office and storage space for Historic Royal Palaces. Then W&K demanded to have 1A, after QEII had sworn no one would live in it in her lifetime because in her mind it still belonged to her sister Margaret. W&K pitched many many fits and got what they wanted.
They didn’t have to abate asbestos, that’s another lie along with derangers saying there was no running water, etc. Everything was in working order. Kate ripped out what was left of historic interiors and had multiple walls torn down. Because those walls were torn down, asbestos was found and disturbed during the process. That then required asbestos abatement, but only because Kate completely destroyed the historic footprint.
Asbestos is tricky. If you leave it alone, it leaves you alone and you do not have to remediate it. If you disturb it, it disturbs you and you have to do asbestos abatement. If Keen hadn’t been so Keen to waste 8 million in taxpayer funds in turning an historic building into her purple-walled idea of an historic building? No asbestos abatement would have been required.
Neither William nor Harry was the late Queen’s favourite grandchild. This was reputed to have been Peter Philips who she always placed beside her at family functions.