When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex bought their Montecito mansion, the British papers had so many meltdowns. Meltdowns over the size and beauty of the property, meltdowns over Harry and Meghan’s money, meltdowns over… the number of bathrooms. I still don’t know how many bathrooms there are in Casa de Sussex, because every time the papers write about it, the number increases. The Sussexes have anywhere between six and 900 bathrooms, and each flush of their American toilets is a slap in the face of the dead queen! Well, I bring this up because the hysteria over Montecito bathrooms made me realize that British newspapers and British people are sort of obsessed with plumbing, and who has what kind of plumbing and how many bathrooms are in any given house. Which makes this story so, so British (derogatory). Not only is Prince Andrew living in Royal Lodge rent-free, he also gets free water! He is only contractually obligated to pay his water bills from “time to time.” What kind of backwards-ass lease agreement is this?
Freeloading Prince Andrew has paid his water rates only occasionally at his rent-free mansion — while bills for the rest of Britain have rocketed by hundreds of pounds. Details of his extraordinary 75-year cut-price lease for Royal Lodge sparked fury yesterday after they revealed he is required to pay towards maintenance only.
The revelations sparked calls for Andrew, 65, to be kicked out of his 30-room mansion in Windsor, where he continues to live despite relinquishing his Duke of York title in disgrace last week.
He is likely to have avoided thousands in water bills since moving in back in 2003, while Brits struggle to pay theirs. Water at Royal Lodge is supplied by Affinity Water, costing around £375 a year, with sewerage from Thames Water around £368. That means the yearly bill would be around £743, but is likely to be higher as the property is metered.
However, according to documents seen by The Sun, Andrew was only required to pay his water bills “from time to time”.
Meanwhile, the average British household has seen bills rise by 168 per cent since 2001.
In January, a £123 average hike was announced, with the regulator acknowledging “the challenge that some customers are facing with increasing financial pressures”.Andrew has also paid no rent for more than 20 years.
I’ll admit that I’ve idly wondered about utility bills on royal properties before. When Harry lived in Nottingham Cottage, I feel certain that he did not pay any water bills or electric/gas bills. That was Kensington Palace, and I would imagine no one pays any kind of utility bills at KP, right? But on the Windsor estate, with all of those little mini-estates, surely people get individual utility bills? The Sun says that there is a meter at Royal Lodge. So… the water company reads the meter, sends Andrew a bill, and he just… doesn’t pay it. And the water company just shrugs and no one ever turns off his water? Crazy world.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Queen Victoria Memorial, London, UK. 6 May 2023. Prince Andrew returns to Buckingham Palace in a car along The Mall, after leaving the Coronation Service in Westminster Abbey.,Image: 774237297, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: MALCOLM PARK/Avalon/Avalon
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- WINDSOR, ENGLAND – MAY 07: Prince Andrew, Duke of York during the Coronation Concert on May 07, 2023 in Windsor, England. The Windsor Castle Concert is part of the celebrations of the Coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the other Commonwealth realms that took place at Westminster Abbey yesterday. High-profile performers will entertain members of the royal family and 20,000 guests including 10,000 members of the public.,Image: 774495370, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Leon Neal / Avalon
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- WINDSOR, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 27: Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York attend the Thanksgiving Service for King Constantine of the Hellenes at St George’s Chapel on February 27, 2024 in Windsor, England. Constantine II, Head of the Royal House of Greece, reigned as the last King of the Hellenes from 6 March 1964 to 1 June 1973, and died in Athens at the age of 82.,Image: 851391450, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
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- Prince Andrew the Duke of York attends a thanksgiving service for the life of King Constantine of the Hellenes at St George’s Chapel, in Windsor Castle, Berkshire. Picture date: Tuesday February 27, 2024. PA Photo. Constantine II, who died on January 10, 2023 was the last King of Greece, reigning from 1964 to 1974. See PA story ROYAL Constantine. Photo credit should read: Jonathan,Image: 851430269, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jonathan Brady / Avalon
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- Prince Andrew looks round as he leaves after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, Sunday, April 20, 2025.,Image: 990282267, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Pool, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kirsty Wigglesworth/Avalon
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- Prince Andrew arriving for the Requiem Mass service for the Duchess of Kent, at Westminster Cathedral, central London. Picture date: Tuesday September 16, 2025. This is the first Catholic funeral service held for a member of the royal family in modern British history. Katharine, the wife of the late Queen’s cousin the Duke of Kent, converted to Catholicism in 1994.,Image: 1037851240, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jordan Pettitt/Avalon
Why doesn’t someone actually DO SOMETHING!? Prosecute, question or investigate him FFS. His rental lease is airtight and parliament isn’t really going to vote to remove titles (because it’s a slippery slope for other ill behaved aristos). This is all useless click bait unless they look at him criminally (or send him to the FBI in the US for questioning) I’d love to see Andrew hauled out of Windsor in handcuffs. That would satisfy the public’s thirst for accountability. Even if he’s not punished ; a photo of an arrest would be the appropriate level of world wide shame.
I think Charles and scoot would be nervous about what Andrew would have to say about them if he is arrested.
Edward and Anne have huge “privately owned” estates; who pays for the utilities, the maintenance, the staffing? William is going to rue the day he threw Royal Lodge into this mix because people are slowly starting to ask the right questions.
Edward and Sophie have the huge Bagshot Park estate, 120 rooms and with other buildings they rent out for income which is theirs, and a new 150 year lease. I love looking at aerial views of Bagshot because it’s so immensely gorgeous. They can apparently make a go of it by monetizing their unused buildings. If they can do it why is so difficult for Andrew to keep his estate in order?
I don’t believe their property management company makes enough to cover the maintenance of a 120-room, 100+-year-old home. A roof leak would cost $100K to repair. The number of staff needed to keep it cobweb-free would cost at least $200K a year.
This is why the monarchy’s costs keep going up, and the financial books remain under lock and key. The taxpayers, via the sovereign grant, are funding all of this. What happens when William takes over? He’s petty. Andrew should have given him Royal Lodge.
So Liz gave her youngest child the best and most spectacular property as a gift?
Well. She didn’t give him love or attention or affection. She gave him a beautiful estate with staggering prohibitive bills.
I hope she was smart enough to leave a trust for its upkeep and staff and utilities and groceries because William isn’t going to give them a dime to live on.
The Royal women are going to need to start having clothing swaps as Charles and William slowly strangle them all financially.
The property is owned by the Crown Estate, which is really the people. The monarch owns it legally, but the beneficial owners are the public. This is an important distinction. E&S should not be allowed to rent out buildings for their own gain, unless they are paying market rent, which I don’t believe.
Peggs brags about how he will end homelessness while getting more mansions for himself
Water supply is a really hot topic over here as not only have bills skyrocketed but the water companies are all drowning in debt (that coincidentally is pretty much equal to the amount they have paid out in dividends since they were privatised) while regularly pumping sewage into our rivers and lakes and generally not doing much about leaks. It’s a huge scandal that’s been running for some time since people noticed how bad water quality is getting and stated to look more closely at the water companies.
Now they’re getting approval to put up bills to fund some of the repairs and maintenance they should have been doing all along when they paid that money to shareholders instead.
Thank you so much for the clarification and context. What a mess. That’s so sad. And seems to be the playbook when things become privatized.
Why provide a stable well maintained non profit infrastructure across the nation when a few individuals could be making vast sums off of the suffering of others?
Sure let’s talk about his lack of rent paying and not paying his water bills because that is so much more important than him actually being heavily involved with a know human trafficker!!! Where was all this outrage back a few years before the scandal of him and his trafficker friends. Suddenly this is a big problem.
Everything you said. Deflecting is so much easier than addressing the elephant in the room.
🎯. Unless these rolling tidbits about Andrew’s lease are a gambit to push for investigations into (a) his finances and where his money comes from, and/or (b) the management of ALL Crown Estate properties, nobody GAF about an annual water bill that looks cheap compared to what we pay in the US for a much, much smaller house.
Andrew knowingly consorted with a known trafficker. As his email to Epstein saying “we’re in it together” clearly demonstrates. Investigate THAT.
We have heard of toilets with 10 gallon flushes in the US, which is far more water than necessary to clear the pan. If this is true then that would explain the large water bills.
Yep. investigate. And also make him pay his water bill, jeez. All the royal households and leases need to be investigated with a fine-tooth comb. But apparently, the government can’t do anything that would offend a royal so the rot continues.
More than Andrew’s utility bills, I’d like to know how much Willy pays every year in “voluntary taxes.
I don’t get why any of this is such a shock to anyone. He was the son of the Queen, of course they’re not paying for water, electricity, rent, etc. That is part of the lottery they won when they were born. I’m not saying it’s a good thing but it is not a surprise. 🤷🏻♀️
I’m beginning to wonder if these convenient leaks about Andrew’s housing situation are coming from BP? It would give confrontation-avoidant Charles an easy out, he could say “see Andrew, the people and Parliament are insisting that you move, it’s not my fault.”
this really hits home for me — literally — as ThamesWater has been trying — so far without success — to construct a sewage pumping station within walking distance of my house, in a wildlife reserve, that is lovely local green space, where I walk my skittish rescue dog, and if we are subjected to earth movers and massive drills and bellowing workmen — no offence to honest workmen, they do a better day’s work than any of the Royals — my dog will literally start to bibber and shake in fear, without exaggeration. And — that’s before you count the sewage pumping into the Thames. It’s a demented scheme, it has elicited local disbelief and outrage. And yet — they have tried to push it through by claiming that it will generate 6 or 16 million litres of “fresh” water a day. Guess how many litres of potable water they lose across the UK — every day — thanks to leaks in their antiquated infrastructure? 60 million. Credit to Private Eye for unearthing this statistic. Basically, they’re bent on destroying a resplendent natural habitat — one of the few in London — to save 1/10 of the water they lose, every day, by failing to do basic maintenance on their infrastructure.
Oh my god. I’m so sorry. Why on earth doesn’t the government pay to repair the damaged system? Get the private sector out. Do what’s right for the people.
This is one deflection from Pedo Pal Prince Andrew (3P Andy) that should backfire hard on the rest of the left behind royals. I’m betting it will come out that utilities (up to a certain amount) are covered by the Sovereign Grant. In other words, all of them pay little to nothing for utilities.
I expect that’s right.
I would love to see every royal person’s living costs, line item by line item.
Well, the next scandal was just published by the BBC a few hours ago. It may explain how he financed his lifestyle.
According to that article, Andrew was paid “tens of thousands of pounds” by a British businessman linked to a wealth management company which ripped off pension savers.
It looks like everything is crashing down. Eugenie received 10,000 pounds and another 15,000 pounds as a gift.
Uh oh. The walls are caving in. News at 10:00.
I don’t know how Beatrice and Eugenie will come out unscathed by this. They were all in their parents’ corruption. Will they continue to show up with the royals? Will they maintain their status? Where do they live in the UK? Did the Queen give them a house each?
Whoa.
No wonder Charles and William don’t fix the hovels they rent to their tenants. This is the family way.
Only £375 a year for water and he doesn’t even pay that? Doesn’t he have to water that massive garden? I live in California so I realize water is expensive here but still that seems extremely low.
We have rain.
Yes, my mother was from the UK so I’ve spent a lot of time there. It’s not a tropical island there are dry periods. Anyway, water is very expensive here.
He doesn’t sweat…so that probably cuts down on his showers.
It’s safe to say no member of that family (work or not)pay utility bills. Hell they got FREE FUEL and groceries. The best medical coverage unbelievable.