Last week, a British parliamentary committee announced a thorough investigation into the Crown Estate, looking specifically at the royals who have peppercorn rent or extremely cheap leases on grand properties. The Windsors and their bootlicking royalist reporters have not stopped crying about it since the announcement. It’s true that the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor fiasco was really the start of all of this – various British politicians saw an opening because of Andrew’s Royal Lodge lease and Andrew’s grand lifestyle. King Charles believed that by kicking Andrew out of RL and taking away Andrew’s titles, all of those politicians would simply move on to something else because Charles cauterized the PR bleed. It has not worked out that way. Instead of cauterizing the bleed, politicians smell blood in the royal water. Which brings me to a recent Richard Kay column in the Daily Mail. Kay became an establishment guy at some point, happily arguing that the royals actually need all of their castles and palaces! But there are some interesting pieces of insider gossip in this piece. Some highlights:

Growing discomfort: Inside the grounds of Windsor Great Park where several senior members of the Royal Family have their homes, there is growing discomfort that the arrangements for their velvet-lined lives are about to come under intense scrutiny. The reason, of course, stems from the public outrage at the disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor paying only a peppercorn rent to live in 30-room Royal Lodge. Aides had hoped that the summary action of the King in forcing his brother to quit the lavish property, as well as stripping him of his princely honorific and other titles, would cauterise what was fast becoming a royal crisis. Instead, the Andrew problem is now being perceived as the extreme manifestation of a wider culture of excess and questionable royal entitlement.

The Edinburghs & Bagshot Park: “Questions are also being asked about why they need such a huge property, built for Queen Victoria’s son the Duke of Connaught, set in 51 acres and which for many decades housed the Royal Army Chaplains Department.

The real issue: But the real issue is why these questions are now being raised. Many believe the answer lies in the decision to strip Andrew of his title of prince. Removing the dukedom of York he received on his wedding day was understandable, they argue, but depriving him of his birthright and the title he has on his passport, is another matter. Some figures close to the Royal Family believe it has undermined the principal of hereditary monarchy. As one former adviser to King Charles told me: ‘Seeing what the King can do with a swish of his famously ill-functioning pen has emboldened critics who would like to shake up the whole royal system. They sense vulnerability.’…There is a feeling in royal circles that a move designed to appease public opinion, may yet turn out to be an own goal.

The royals are so salty: For the royals, however, the Royal Lodge saga is much more discombobulating. For it has highlighted just how many properties are at the family’s disposal across the country. When Charles became King three years ago, there was speculation about whether he would crack down on his relatives living in grand addresses for free or just paying modest or peppercorn rent. At the very least it was thought some of the extensive portfolio might be mothballed. That has not happened. Instead, the scandal over Andrew has triggered a full-scale housing crisis for the royals.

Pandora’s Box: The danger for the monarchy now is that in allowing the situation to rumble on for so long and then acting – albeit decisively – as he did, the King has opened a Pandora’s box that will have Left-wing MPs licking their lips as they pore over royal affairs.

[From The Daily Mail]

Kay also had a lengthy discussion about Princess Alexandra, who is 88 years old and in poor health. She has two leases on two royal properties, and King Charles is very worried that the mean republicans will harass her about her homes! Obviously, the Windsors are desperately trying to make it sound like politicians are attacking an 88-year-old woman in poor health, and they’re using Alexandra to hide their own bonkers royal leases. Don’t let them – no one is trying to kick Alexandra out of her home. But all of the rest of this is great. The poor Windsors are terrified of anything resembling mild public scrutiny! They blame Charles for punishing his human-trafficker brother! Charles has opened Pandora’s Box by allowing the world to know that royals get cheap leases!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.