On Thursday, Britain’s National Audit Office released a report about royal residences and how much it costs the British taxpayer to lavishly house all of these royals and royal-adjacents. There are several storylines, but one of the biggest and loudest is that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have never paid any kind of rent on their London homes. Since both women were in their early 20s, they’ve had London homes – Eugenie in Ivy Cottage (in the Kensington Palace complex) and Beatrice in a St. James’s Palace apartment. All of this time, and neither of them has paid a dime.
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie have been living in royal palaces for free with the King personally paying their rent for years – despite carrying out no royal duties. Princess Eugenie, 36, lives at Ivy Cottage in Kensington Palace and Princess Beatrice, 37, has an apartment in St James’s Palace.
A report by public spending watchdog the National Audit Office unearthed some of the cosy deals that working – and non-working – royals have benefited from when it comes to housing. The findings also revealed that both princesses also benefited from reduced rental rates from old market valuations. Neither of them are a working royal and neither receives funding through the Sovereign Grant, which is paid from Crown Estate profits.
Instead, their rent is covered entirely by Charles through the Privy Purse, funded by income from the Duchy of Lancaster.
Until this year, Eugenie’s rent was based on a 2018 valuation, while Beatrice’s was based on a 2020 valuation.
The Royalist had some additional details – Beatrice’s rent for her four-bedroom SJP apartment was apparently held at £20K a year, which was entirely paid for by the monarch via the Duchy of Lancaster. Same with Eugenie and Ivy Cottage, although those KP cottages are almost always “rent-free” – they’re given out as “grace-and-favor” homes to senior staff and minor royals. I don’t believe Prince Harry paid any rent on Nottingham Cottage either. It feels like Beatrice’s SJP apartment is more egregious, especially because that apartment is apparently quite spacious. While it’s a “scandal” that Beatrice and Eugenie were living rent-free – or that Charles was “paying” their meager rent himself – it’s also a huge scandal that there are so many empty royal apartments and cottages in London. Like… I don’t think most people actually care that Beatrice and Eugenie have homes on royal property, it’s that they’re not really paying for those homes.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- North America Rights Only – London, UK -20220329- Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey -PICTURED: Princess Beatrice, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Eugenie, Jack Brooksbank -PHOTO by: PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing Featuring: Princess Beatrice, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Eugenie, Jack Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 29 Mar 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com **North America Rights Only**
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- Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen, Service, Westminster Abbey, London, UK – 19 Sep 2022,Image: 724168922, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Tim Rooke/Shutterstock / Avalon
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- Princess Beatrice and Eugenie follow the funeral procession of Queen Elizabeth II as it makes its way along the Mall, London, UK on September 19, 2022,Image: 724183880, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: James Shaw / Avalon
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- 19/09/2022. London, United Kingdom. Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice at the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in London.,Image: 724204294, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Licenced to i-Images Picture Agency. All Rights Reserved. UK copyright law applies to all print & online publications. i-Images space rates apply to all images. Magazines contact agency for fees before use. Images Single use only then repro fees apply. Info@i-images.co Tel: 07860204379, Model Release: no, Credit line: Stephen Lock / i-Images / Avalon
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- USA Rights Only – Ascot, UK -20190618- Royal Ascot Day One Ascot Racecourse. -PICTURED: Princess Eugenie of York, Princess Beatrice of York -PHOTO by: Doug Peters/PA Images/INSTARimages.com -43600999.jpg This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Instar Images LLC for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Instar Images LLC reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded Featuring: Princess Eugenie of York, Princess Beatrice of York Where: Ascot, England, United Kingdom When: 18 Jun 2019 Credit: Doug Peters/PA Images/INSTARimages.com **USA Rights Only**
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- Platinum Jubilee Reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of London at Gulidhall Featuring: Princess Eugenie, Princess Beatrice Where: London, United Kingdom When: 03 Jun 2022 Credit: John Rainford/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UK**
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- North America Rights Only, London, England – 20220603- National Service of Thanksgiving On Day Two Of The Platinum Jubilee Celebrations -PICTURED: Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice -PHOTO by: PA Images/INSTARimages.com -67259481 Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing Featuring: Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 03 Jun 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com **North America Rights Only**
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- The Sovereign’s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, London Featuring: Princess Beatrice (left) and Princess Eugenie Where: London, United Kingdom When: 21 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Sarah, Duchess of York with her daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie during a visit to the Teenage Cancer Trust unit at University College Hospital, London Featuring: Princess Eugenie, Sarah, Duchess of York, Princess Beatrice Where: London, United Kingdom When: 23 Apr 2025 Credit: Aaron Chown/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
William doesn’t pay for KP 1A, which is 20 rooms. He has an income of $20m a year. They’re deflecting. IDGAF about the York princesses having free lodging because the only reason the media is talking about it is so that we don’t talk about William.
We can talk about multiple things, lol. the same report also included details about W&K’s Forest Lodge home.
Yes, *we* can talk about multiple things and *we* do. That doesn’t change the fact that the British press is using the Yorks to distract from William. I’m tired of them winning the PR game. If we don’t call it out, it will never change.
True, but as Kaiser points out in the other post, the media IS talking about the Wales in this instance. So that’s something at least.
I just think sometimes we say “this is just a distraction from the Wales” and it overlooks or ignores other problems or issues. Like for me, I think the press should absolutely be talking about Beatrice having an apt in SJP for 20k a year.
BUT they should also be talking about the crown estate paying 400k in renovations for Forest Lodge and things along those lines and all the other shadiness from the Wales. I wish the press would cover all of the issues.
“I don’t think most people actually care that Beatrice and Eugenie have homes on royal property, it’s that they’re not really paying for those homes.”
What they pay or do not pay in rent is not up to Beatrice and Eugenie. It was decided by QEII and is continued with KCIII what rent amount would be paid.
Why should they pay anything lol 😆 they don’t have the UK 🇬🇧 media harassing them about their finances and lifestyle 😳
With that being said THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS THAT THE YORKS ARE GRIFTERS ANYWAY 🤣🤣🤣
The press focussing on the Yorks only – the sisters and the father – is a distraction from the real, and big latest Royal Family housing scandal.
That is, that for decades upon decades, QEII misused her position to bleed the grace and favour system and the taxpayers dry, by offering many of her family members, family friends, favourable staff (current and retired ones), favourable leases (a.i. peppercorn leases) or free-rent, to live off/on royal/state properties, which were also maintained for free by the taxpayers.
Charles is just continuing the practise; I mean, except for the arrangement that the queen offered to the only royal family members who were paying market rate for the lease of five former servant quarters they’d made home. He didn’t have it in his hart to honour the lease arrangement for Prince Harry on Frogmore Cottage; the minute QEII died, he publicly evicted his own son and his mixed-race family, as his next action (of a total of five: strip him of: military tittles, patronages, royal security, funding), to punish him for leaving the UK as a working royal, for telling his truth about his, his wife and kids treatment by the RF and the Royal Institution, on the Oprah interview, in his memoir Spare, and in the Netflix docuseries.
Charles, when the time comes to face your maker, you will have a lot to explain about how/why you mistreated Harry all his life, but especially since he married his biracial wife.
And they don’t work for the Royal Family? They go to Ascot, it’s not work, but Kate & Billy go to Ascot, it’s work? They go to Easter services, it’s private, Kate & Billy go to Easter services, it’s work? They go to Trooping, it’s not work, but Billy & Katiekins go, it’s work? And so on. What a crock of 💩
Spitting facts, beaniebean
Preach, @Beanie!
One of the main issues is that it is difficult to find ‘suitable people’ to live and rent these ‘grace and favour’ properties which are in close proximity to senior royals.
They can find them, as they found people like the westons to lease belvedere. Wasn’t there a story a few years ago that michael douglas was renting a townhouse at SJP?
Eh, so Charles pays their rent, I can’t get upset at that if that’s what he wants to do…. Stupid that he demoted them to non-working though. You’d think if he’s paying for them he’d want them to show up at events and fill in some of the gaps left by his own offspring.
Jennie Bond made the point that if the Duchy of Lancaster were returned to the public then it would be taxpayers, not KFC, who would be paying B&E’s rents. I think that point puts into context the greedy entitlement of the Windsors.
I don’t think it’s stupidity to exclude Beatrice and Eugenie from the ranks of working royals. Both sisters received regular money transfers from Andrew and his moneymen David Rowland’s offshore bank accounts. ALL through their adulthood. It was the ill gottens gains from investing through insider info as trade envoy and pitch@palace. Now we know what funded the York sisters’ excessive lifestyle.
I fully agree with your comment, in two years the sisters are going to have their own scandals.
Absolutely agree. Both Fergie and Andy have grifted shamelessly from their contacts, Andrew’s job as “trade envoy,” etc; the daughters were raised to think that way. It doesn’t surprise me to learn that they live rent free.
The duchy of Lancaster doesn’t belong to charles, it belongs to the taxpayers.
Correct. The yearly NET profits of duchy of Lancaster are “given” to the monarch as financial support.
Hang on. Charles was paying Beatrice and Eugene’s rent for years, but he told Harry he had no money for Meghan? WTH?
It’s being paid by the monarch. When Charles made that statement to Harry, Elizabeth was paying the rent for the Yorks.
KFC, as PoW, was receiving an income from the Duchy of Cornwall. The Duchy was bringing in about 20 million pounds per year for him. Of course with that level of income there was no way he could spend even a penny on M.
@Sure, I’m only correcting the timeline, not defending Charles in regards to Meghan.
It’s true that the Queen as the monarch at the time started paying for them, but he and his supporters are justifying him continuing what the Queen did as honoring her wishes, yet the Queen also wished for the Sussexes to continue having FC as their UK home AND for them to keep their security. So not only did he go against the Queen’s wishes of Camilla being referred to as queen consort and not Queen, but he also evicted the Sussexes from FC and still hasn’t done anything to get their security back. He pays for Andrew’s security but can’t pay for his “darling boy”, Meghan and “ the grandchildren he so desperately wants a relationship with”. They are evil people who I hope get the life they want for Harry and his family.
Is this the same Charles who told Harry that Meghan would have to go back to work?
he told harry he couldn’t even afford to feed meghan; that he couldn’t increase harry’s food allowance.
I wish that THESE were some of the many messages the BM is somehow receiving from the dead Queen, @Nerd
Taken in context, this is a nothing burger. They are the late Queen’s grandchildren. Their uncle is King and as a result of his inheritance and position has a huge fortune and a bunch of property. So what if they are living on the family dime? If they are “non working” Royals, it’s because that’s how the King wants it. It’s not like William works very hard or effectively for his multiple huge houses.
I agree with the others. This feels like deflection.
It is not the “family dime.” It is income from public properties (the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall) owned by taxpayers and managed by the Crown Estate. The BRF is only supposed to have use of the income. They do not own the underlying assets – the public does
I believe the monarch owns the lands of the Duchy of Lancaster and that goes back to like the 1300s or something. So if that is what KC3 wants to spend his money on why are the York sister’s being dragged? One can argue that KC3 should pay more taxes or that the rents should mirror other properties of the same size and style. But if he wants to pay for various family member’s housing, that’s his business, no?
KC3 is a evil 💩 for evicting H&M from Frogmore Cottage.
I bet Peggy is behind this picking at the York daughters.
I think the whole BRF would like people to not snoop around too much in their properties or finances. If investigators keep poking around into AMW and Epstein, all kinds of interesting info might come to light and maybe that will be the end of the monarchy.
I get it. I only meant that as members of this family, they have as much right to a piece of the pie as the rest of them. William is sitting on several giant piles of house as well as a mountain of cash simply because he was born first. And as far as I can see he barely works for it. I don’t agree with the system in principle, but it is what it is. Unless (until?) it is dismantled, the York princesses shouldn’t be singled out like this. It doesn’t seem fair.
Per Wikipedia:
The estate has its origins in the lands held by the medieval Dukes of Lancaster, which came under the direct control of the monarch when Henry Bolingbroke, the then-duke of Lancaster, ascended the throne, as Henry IV, in 1399.His first act as Henry IV was to declare that the Lancastrian inheritance be held separately from the other possessions of the Crown and should descend to male heirs. In 1461, King Edward IV confirmed that the Duchy would be inherited by the monarch, but held separately from the Crown Estate, the other assets which belong to the monarch.
In 1830, the Whigs argued that revenues from the two duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall should go to the public, but to secure King William IV’s support for the Reform Act 1832 they eventually approved the civil list and left the duchies in possession of the royal family
As of the financial year ending 31 March 2022, the estate was valued at £652.8 million (approximately £741 million in 2025[5]). The net income of the duchy is paid to the reigning sovereign and amounts to about £24 million per year (approximately £27.2 million in 2025).
For more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Lancaster
Hard agree. W&K have 4/5 homes (that we know of) and they want to hang these two out to dry because their uncle (and grandmother before) cover their costs for one address out of private funds?
Yes, clearly there are bigger questions about how that wealth came to be, etc. However, if we accept monarchy and a monarch’s private wealth – as opposed to the sovereign grant – then surely this is something of nothing?
Pretty sure QE would not be happy that two of her blood granddaughters were hung out to dry while Carole Middleton’s daughter gets a ton of palaces to choose from.
The issue isn’t that the king pays their rent – so what, the rent is being paid regardless of the source – the issue is the amount of rent. 20k a YEAR for a 4 BEDROOM apartment in St. James Palace?!?!!?!? that’s less than 2k a month for rent in one of the priciest cities in the world for a four bedroom apartment. and why does Beatrice need a 4 bedroom apartment anyway? Now she has kids but when she started living there she didnt – and by that point, everyone knew she wasnt going to be a working royal.
but they shoved harry into Nott cott and were surprised when he asked for something else when Meghan was pregnant.
But also – who owns SJP? Where does that rent go? the website says its part of the Royal Collection Trust, so do they get the money, or another entity/ Basically who is being cheated out of money bc the York girls pay significantly below market rent?
I’m surprised that so many on here are just like “meh, this is a nothing burger.” All of these things are part of the larger grift that this family does. Each thing – Beatrice paying a reduced rent – may not be a big deal on its own, but it adds up to a wealthy family staying wealthy by taking advantage of a lack of transparency.
I’m surprised too, @Becks1 – I would have thought this report would have provoked outrage.
And to your question, “who is being cheated out of money…” the safe bet as always with the BRF is the UK taxpayer.
Who is being cheated out of money because the BRF arbitrarily decided to define heli and private jet travel among “senior royal residences” to be an expense, and therefore taken off the top of their “private” income from Royal Duchies? The UK taxpayer.
Who is being cheated out of money because William arbitrarily decides how much tax he will pay on his Duchy income (and Charles, to be fair…and QEII before him for Lancaster; William is just the least transparent about it. The Times or the Telegraph, I forget which, reporting what tax William was “likely” to have paid, not what he actually paid? Please). The UK taxpayer again is the one cheated out of money.
Who is being cheated out of money for the (estimate by Republic UK, IIRC) north of 300 million pound YEARLY security bill for the royals, regardless of threat assessment (as we found out thanks to Harry)? The UK taxpayer.
And on and on it goes…
Agreed – you wouldn’t get even a bog standard 4-bed flat in that postcode for less than £8,000 per month. For something of the standard of a St James Palace apartment, you’d easily be paying £21,000-32,000 per MONTH. It’s ludicrous. And it goes without saying that what Charles is paying for those apartments is just chicken feed.
“Who is being cheated out of money because William arbitrarily decides how much tax he will pay on his Duchy income (and Charles, to be fair…and QEII before him for Lancaster). William is just the least transparent about it.”
Before Chucky married Diana, he returned or “gave” 40% of the NET profits of the Duchy of Cornwall to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office. After he married Diana, because he said he need more money to support a family, Chucky returned or “gave” 25% of the NET profits of the Duchy of Cornwall to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office.
Although I am with @Becks1 and @LadyEsther on this, that it is a big deal in that it is yet another way the BRF grifts off taxpayers, if we take what @MaisiesMom says as standard – that this is NBD bc they are the grandchildren of the former monarch, so even as non-working royals the current monarch should/is fine to foot the bill for their palace housing, then that should apply broadly…
…Yet the son (+DIL) and grandchildren of the current monarch were kicked out of their royal accommodations because they wanted to work for the Firm only half-time and were forced to be non-working by the now-monarch.
So we should also be outraged by the hypocrisy: while Charles kicked his own son out of royal property – property that Harry had been given as a wedding gift and had paid for the renovations on himself – for being non-working royals, ***all while paying for his non-working nieces to stay in royal housing***
That is a separate scandal but an equally infuriating one.
@DK Exactly right!
As a mother, it’s so outrageous and infuriating. My god, they ran him out after bludgeoning Meghan on the media every single day. William just could not tolerate the competition having those two charismatic people working half in.
Charles hates his youngest son, treated him dismally way before Harry met Meghan. I have zero respect for a man who’s so old and hates his son so much. Please Harry, do not call this man. No contact is better.
Helpful links in the press release including a summary and the full report. FYI, the “Privy Purse” is a name for the Duchy of Lancaster income, against which the monarch charges expenses. This is separate from the Sovereign Grant again, to which, various “working royals” charge expenses.
https://www.nao.org.uk/press-releases/royal-family-property-arrangements-vary-according-to-requirements-and-provider/
A lot of fancy names to fool the serfs. Ends up all being publicly funded. Yes, the taxpayers.
Two separate issues. Seems both sisters pay rent, albeit not market. The fact that the king pays instead of themselves is not our business. Also was true with QE2 paying. It is similar to any trust fund babies, except instead of a trust, the monarch provides the cash. The sovereign left everything to the next sovereign assuming he would be the money source for the rest of the family and therefore avoid estate taxes. Also, both sisters used to share the SJP apartment until they married. The sovereign did the same thing for the Kent’s,Glousters, and other relatives. When she agreed to pay the rent for them, it was widely covered in the media. No secret here, so give the York sisters a break here.
I don’t have a problem with the York princesses living in homes paid by the King. I imagine that this is something that their father might have negotiated for leaving his home despite having a lease and keeping his mouth shut for whatever he knows.
THIS. Andrew knows stuff. Charles was friends with a lot of pedophiles.
The shocking thing is that he wouldn’t do the same for his SON!
It is the business of the British taxpayer when their rent is funded by the profits from the Duchy of Lancaster, the capital assets of which are owned by the public. The royals have been grifting off the public for centuries with this outrageous legislative largesse. It can and ought to be repealed.
It is a round-robin scheme to fool the public, which has been reported on. But in the end, it’s the public paying for every inch of their lives. They don’t contribute enough to justify it. Luckily, Republic is demanding accountability.
Eh. Unless there’s a bunch of people that are vying to live in St James’s Palace that can afford market rent, or on the grounds of Kensington Palace, this just seems like a look squirrel moment.
This is one of the perks of being the monarch, or related to the monarch. They have tons of property and you get to stay there for free. Unless they plan to make all of Kensington Palace open to the public, or all of St. James Palace available for rent, feels like this story is to make them look bad while ignoring the significantly different largesse that other royals, who are ” working” get.
They have actually rented out apartments in St James Palace to the public – at £20,000 per month (and this was back in 2015). Obviously I imagine they’d be carefully vetted, and they’d have to be super rich, but there’s plenty of those sort of people in London.
I have to play devil’s advocate here, because, I mean, really, what did the average tabloid reader imagine those vast empty palaces were *for* if not for housing members of the monarch’s family and staff? I’d be willing to bet this is a jealous staffer who was underpaid for decades and had his eye on that apartment. I mean. The whole thing reeks of petty point scoring.
The crown estate is a separate issue in contrast to the royal residences. But realistically, members of the royal family were *expected* to live in royal residences, that’s kind of the point.
As Norman Baker has resplendently chronicled, the Crown Estate is highly problematic and I think they’re heading off that story with these limited hangouts scapegoating minor royals, as they would label them.
There actually is a huge difference between the Sovereign Grant — which is 25% of the revenue accruing to the Crown Estate IIRC — and the erstwhile Civil List.
The Civil List was 100% transparent. It was money in exchange for public duties. You could read exactly how much each member of the “working” royal family was paid by Parliament. And the stipends had to be renewed each year. And Parliament held the purse strings.
The Sovereign Grant is a lump sum. It goes directly to Charles III. He funds his family as he sees fit. So the definition of a “working” royal eligible for funding is whatever Charles says it is. He can cut off anyone like Harry. Equally, he can give that money to Camilla’s kids, for whom he has already established trusts.
The sum itself is not subject to annual or even once-a-decade renegotiation. It is remitted in perpetuity as a fixed proportion of Crown Estate revenues to the monarch, regardless of how much or how little he or she “works.”
I think William has grasped this and that is why he is exhibiting all the signs of DGAF. Like, fire me, I dare ya.
The Civil List provided less money, but a lot more transparency and accountability than the Sovereign Grant.
And that’s *before* you get into the weeds, like the fact that George Osborne, the Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer who negotiated this sweetheart deal, inked the paper whilst gutting funding for local councils and gleefully imposing “austerity” on the taxpayer so he could bail out the banks. It’s genuinely the stuff of revolution.
It is insane to me that the amount is never negotiated? Even when the number of “working royals” drops by five people over the past decade alone?
If this was a normal job that William was inheriting, some drudgery, I’d understand his attitude. But with all of the resources in the world at his disposal, and he chooses to…go to pubs, apparently. He could go anywhere, meet anyone, learn about anything, do so much good for the UK…it’s just such a waste.
But this is how primogeniture is supposed to work! The eldest inherits it all and is then supposed to support the family. Everything is a conspiracy if you don’t know how things actually work.
It looks like what needs to happen is to look at the royal residences and consolidate in line with the smaller number of family members. How much space is actually needed and figure out what to do with the rest. And be sure to consider that there will be William’s three kids to be housed.
But the British Royal Family isn’t like any other aristocratic family in the UK – they’re supposed to be superior. Everything for them is bespoke, tailor-made and (often) non-transparent. To your points:
1) Male primogeniture was eliminated, at the time it was said for Charlotte to make her equal with her brothers unlike Anne, via Letters Patent from QEII. So primogeniture as a concept is only applicable to the BRF when they say it is, how they say it is, etc. Not so for the rest of the UK aristocracy where it works “as it is supposed to work”, hence the only legal rights belong to male heirs unless there is something specific in the title or estate that says otherwise. See: the lawsuits filed by female members of the UK aristocracy trying to overturn male primogeniture. It doesn’t apply to the BRF
2) It is not seeing a “conspiracy” or having ignorance of “how things work” to point out that the monarch of the BRF having complete discretion over properties, how much rent is charged and who gets to live there is wrong, because it cheats the UK taxpayer out of income they would otherwise have to….heat homes? Eat regularly? Have a place to live that doesn’t have mold or other dangerous conditions?
3) IMO it’s long past the point for cosmetic changes like consolidating residences and squeezing some efficiencies here and there, or making sure that the UK taxpayer pays for William’s children regardless of whether or not they become “working royals” but that’s for the UK taxpayer to say. Because they’re paying for it!
Agree. Sure would be nice to decide how much rent I’m going to pay. Be even nicer to have a rich uncle do that for me (actually, no, that would feel weird).
Harry as a senior royal lived at humble Nott Cottage where Oprah said “No one will believe it” and non-working royal Beatrice has a 4 bedroom apartment comped for her at St James Palace? Ugh, this family.
This family is the worst, it’s like the family from HELL 😡
Whenever you think they couldn’t possibly go lower, they manage to!
I hope neither Beatrice nor Eugenie have complained to cousin Harry how mean the media has been to them, while living for free because of his father, while his father doesn’t even want to meet his grandchildren.
Well, I’d love to have that low of rent for an apartment in London. So what happens now? Will the sisters get the boot? Or will the rent get raised? If it’s raised to market-rent, they likely can’t afford it. So then who’s going to move in and pay market-rent? Who would be allowed into those spaces as a renter? Curious to see what if anything happens. Maybe they want the sisters out so those spaces can belong to the Wales kids one day bc there has to be a plan for that right? And if that was the case, they’re keeping that rent low.
I’m thinking for Wales kids – one will get Anmer, one will get Forest Lodge and one will Royal Lodge. Or one will get Adelaide. George may get Clarence House for his london residence.
(I dont believe for one hot minute that W&K will stay at Forest Lodge when he’s king.)
As for SJP – I think the public can rent there if they pass a security check and can pay the rent. For some reason I think Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones have an apartment there. I bet they don’t pay 20k a year though.
Except I agree that the Wales kids will get those homes but also that they’ll get a London space as well😂 so why not these? There’s KP but….someone might be using that fairly often. Granted, there’s so many spaces available really.
“(I don’t believe for one hot minute that W&K will stay at Forest Lodge when he’s king.)”
Peggington won’t but Wiggington might.
All I can think about this is the difference treatment between the Yorks sisters and Harry and Meghan. Yes, Harry didn’t pay rent for Nottingham Cottage but he was made to pay rent for Frogmore Cottage and then he was evicted.
And pressured by the press to repay the renovations.
This. And Harry and Meghan were “working royals” and they weren’t even getting these sweetheart deals that the non-working York sisters have. How does that make sense considering all that is said about being a “working royal.” Not saying I agree with these sweetheart deals at all but just to the hypocrisy.
This is the big takeaway that the British media is ignoring. Harry and Meghan should have, at the very, had the same arrangement as Eugiene and Beatrice, Frogmore House is no different then the properties they aren’t paying rent for. Actually H&M as working royals should have a free residence just like all the other “working” royals
And a place in London too at KP or St. James.
Since Diana died Harry has had no one in his corner looking out for him and he has travelled so much for the institution 😳 Andrew is a dreadful human but he always seems to be looking out for his daughters 💰They could never treat the York sisters the way they treat Harry because Andrew is a ticking time bomb 😡
And the Queen looked out for her children and all of her grandchildren but the heir’s. She expected Charles to support his own children with the massive fortune he’s been receiving since he was 3 years old and became heir to the throne.
@Swaz, I can’t believe that 1) you actually made a decent point about Andrew, and 2) I’m even more surprised that I agree with you! Andrew is a POS in almost every possible way a human being can be, but he did always make sure to look out for his daughters’ and their futures. Charles, on the other hand, evicted his own son from the only property Harry & Meghan had in the UK. (They’re both sh!t fathers, but at least Andrew appears to care about his children a lot more than Chuck does.)
It is heartbreaking. His mother was the only person who would have protected him. William lost his mother too but as the heir he would always be pampered by Charles and taken care of. No one took care of Harry. Anne was not a good aunt. The other uncles didn’t care. Liz was too busy with her work. I don’t think even Phillip, busy with his long time lover, cared for Harry. The Spencers were not local. No one else felt sorry for him. If my nephew lost his mother at 12, I would do anything for him as an aunt.
The Spencers were actively prevented from caring for the boys by Charles. His Spencer aunts wanted to take both boys for two weeks in the summer 1998. Charles didn’t allow it. And from Spare we know he didn’t care himself but sent them to the van cutsems.
The Spencers had to sneak in and wait until the boys could decide for themselves. Diana’s mother’s diary was published after her death and she had no good words for Charles.
If the monarch can afford to pay the rents of his nearest and dearest then maybe he should be asked to pay for his own security. Why should taxpayers fund someone so wealthy that they can afford to pay their relatives’ rents.
I have no issue with Charles paying Beatrice and Eugenie’s rent. If that’s what he wants to do, that’s what he wants to do. I think QEII also paid their rent as well. What I don’t understand is why did Harry and Meghan have to pay rent on Frogmore Cottage when everyone else didn’t pay a single dime? They were always treated differently from the moment they got engaged.
I know William and Kate pay rent on Forest Lodge, that’s been announced to the public as it’s considered their main residence now. But prior to that, I think they paid absolutely nothing for Adelaide Cottage, their apartment in Kensington Palace, the house in Norfolk etc. And I think they still don’t pay rent on all their other properties since they don’t own them.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens when William becomes king and if he’ll continue to foot the bill for his cousins. My guess is, given his position on Prince Andrew, probably not.
I think Andrew demanded and connived to get Beatrice’s and Eugenie’s royal digs, he’s always been that way about his daughters. But no one gamed the system for Harry, his mother is dead, his father resents *anyone* stealing his long overdue spotlight and his brother has very f*ed up notions that Harry needs to be subservient and loveless.
Will gets the ‘divine right of kings’ and Harry is quite wrongly a bit of an orphan given how amoral Charles, Camilla, and Will are. It’s not unique in royal history, power is corrupting.
Given that Charles came to the East Coast and didn’t care to fly the Sussexes here to meet them, and won’t give him and his wife and kids armed security while in the UK, Harry really is an orphan.
The racism that they deny was a much bigger deal than they want us to believe. From all of them. Their faces at the wedding showed it.
None of this is their own money. Lancaster does not belong to Charles, Cornwall does not belong to william.
AFAIK, the MP Baker (author: And, what do you do?), has been making requests regarding royal properties. The apartment in St. James Palace has been rented for £1.600 per month.
He is looking into further properties and also mentioned Bagshot. It would be interesting if he would check out Anne’s pad. He did mention in his book that it was bought mit taxpayer’s money.
H & M paid market rent for Frogmore Cottage and were evicted.
The British seems to have collective amnesia about this.
Ah, Bagshot! Have you seen the extent of that that property. It’s massive. With loads of outbuildings and stables etcetera. Enough buildings to house 50 people. Sophiesta does some overseas visits which should be done by the heir but I suspect that is to get away from her boring lilac marriage. Edward looks haggard and thin and those baggy outdated suits!!
Maybe unpopular opinion- the monarch and his or her immediate family (i.e. currently Harry/ Meg, George/ Charlotte/ Louis) are implicitly part of the ‘bargain’ struck with the British public. Maybe that stretches to siblings like Anne and Edward (Andrew I do not even have the breath for) Now do they need 10+ homes for that? Debatable. But once you get past that, use your trust funds to buy a nice cottage or (gasp!) get a job.
None of it makes real sense to me. Anne owns Gatcombe Park as a wedding present. Andrew was given Sunninghill as a wedding present but sold it. Elizabeth purchased those. Edward has the lease on Bagshot Park but doesn’t own it.
William and Kate were given Anmer Hall as a wedding present. But do they own it? It’s on the Sandringham Estate. Harry and Meghan were “given” Frogmore Cottage, but apparently they didn’t own it.
Andrew leased Royal Lodge but was booted out, possibly in a shady manner. Beatrice and Eugenie had a rent-free apartment in St James’s; Eugenie moved out to Frogmore Cottage, which she supposedly sublet from H&M, who knows what rent if any, and then to Ivy Cottage where she doesn’t pay rent either.
@Harriet, I hope that someone more knowledgeable than I am can answer this, because I have a lot of the same questions. I find BRF finances to be so difficult to understand that it feels impenetrable (which is by design by them, I’m sure).
I can’t answer these questions, but I am quite sure, it’s I tented to confuse the public. And to the confused comes the millions bots with its their private property, it’s theirs, and they bring so much more in than they take.
They weren’t living rent free. Elizabeth, then Charles, paid their rent and paid far less than market price. This is case study 1 in how generational wealth works and this is why so many people can never catch up financially and own their own homes. The system needs dramatically revamped to benefit everyone and not just the 1% who currently benefit from it. Willy stealing 150 acres of public lands for his latest forever home after the extravagant renovations of KP should be much bigger stories. The Adelaide debacle (and probable breakdown of his marriage behind that nonsense move) should have been bigger stories. His failure to launch and corrupt relationship with the enabling rota are bigger stories. His free travel/free vacations and who is financing both (and why) are much, much, much bigger scandals. The York sisters get the huge perk of living rent free in extravagance, but they are also being used as human shields to conceal much bigger scandals involving Baltimort. Every tabloid smear makes them targets for cr@zies and makes them need the publicly funded security that would be available on royal properties. The whole system is just rotten to the core.
@TN, ITA with every word
The problem is that there is a huge disparity between what they would earn on the labour market, and what they would have to pay to keep up the lifestyle to which they’ve been accustomed. That is the problem with royalty, as you cycle through generations. How do you manage decline? I mean. Andrew was the spare, until he wasn’t. They feature that moment in The Crown, when Charles gleefully informs Andrew that, since William has been born, Andrew is now only “fringe… positively fringe.” And it’s true. They tried the same playbook with Harry, after William had kids, but the problem was, William wasn’t working, as Charles was, so Harry retained the status of a lead and not a supporting player. All of this heartache is self-inflicted. Structurally, but also, individually.
I’m sure that all of them would earn big bucks on the labor market in joke rich-heir jobs like Beatrice and Eugenie, and possibly Jack too, have.
I’ve met Mike Meldman and he is a shrewd, shrewd guy. No way in hell he hired Jack because Jack is such a seasoned businessman. He wanted the HRH living in his resort.
No idea if Edo is any good. I haven’t seen anything he’s designed. Interior design at the higher echelons is like anything else; there are a few brilliant people and some hangers-on that rich people, who don’t know and don’t care about good design, want to brag about who decorated their house. Or boat, or plane etc.
Well, the Sussexes live rent-free in the heads of the rota and the left-behinds, so there’s that.
☠️☠️
This is a gigantic Pandora’s box they opened when foundering for any excuse to treat Meghan and Harry badly. The whole concept of a “working” vs “non-working” royal they made up over Meghan and Harry. (Before that the language was “undertake official duties” or just simply an explanation of whether the person received money from the civil list or sovereign grant. The process accelerated with Andrew but began with the Sussexes. And now the gravy train is starting to slow down, and the light is coming in, and the person left standing will be William and then George, but what will happen to Charlotte and Louis? You reap whag you sow, William.
There are so many billions of pounds washing around that family, Charlotte and Louis will be more than set for life.
Charles and Willy are so greedy they couldn’t even make sure Harry EVER had a home as nice as the York sisters and he was 3rd in line for decades. The ultra wealthy do not care if anyone else is okay or taken care of as long as they are ultra rich. Both would peace out, run with a laundered fortune secured in tax havens and leave the rest of the extended family to face the angry masses without hesitation. Willy is already treating Louis like the Spare in the media. Anyone who could turn on his brother the way Baldimort has turned on Harry is capable of anything, including treating his own children the same way.
Eugenie had a larger, nicer cottage than Harry’s Nott Cottage in Kensington Palace. This was before she was married and had children. That is why he filmed with Ed Sheeran at her place because his cottage was too small and ugly.
If there were 3 in Diana’s marriage, then there was a huge boulder blocking Charles from bonding with his own sons. He has zero fatherly empathy, yet wants to be seen as a loving father and grandfather. Charles had to be reminded to include Prince George future heir to the crown, in his coronation service. Meanwhile, all of Camilla’s grandsons were front and centre.
In many decades of life, I’ve seen men who remarry and don’t care about the kids they had with the first wife much. Especially if second wife is younger and gives him a new generation of children. This is something men do but not women: ignore their kids from a first marriage. Also, some of these new wives want to separate their new spouse from his kids..marking territory and making sure his money is spent on her, and not on his kids from another woman.
I have no doubt Camilla had a part in making Charles be less there for his kids. That article a few years ago saying Chuck was close to Camilla’s grandkids when I rarely see him with William’s kids (unless it’s a formal outing like Trooping). Now imagine Harry’s kids. He has zero interest in knowing them or spending any time with them. Charles wins the title of worst grandfather in my view.
My goodness, how they craft the narrative they want to! It’s not just the king, Charles, paying their rent, it was The Queen (the real one) paying their rent if they’ve been there since their 20s. And I saw the big DF headline last night, crying about how B&E are non-working royals blah blah blah, all with an accompanying photo of them in a carriage at Ascot. Well, if Katiekins gets to go to Ascot & call it work (as does Charles, Camilla, Anne, Andrew back in the day, The Queen, Prince Philip, etc.), so do Beatrice & Eugenie.
EXACTLY!
This is EXACTLY why it was so astonishingly (and overtly) racist when the hue and cry clanged up for Harry to pay for Frogmore Cottage Reno’s when they had been planned for decades.
Monarchy is an outdated concept that has outlived its usefulness. U.K. Republic please. But frankly the minutiae of their housing arrangements is of no interest. At least they haven’t knocked down a big chunk of Buck House to build a feckin’ ballroom.
You’re right! They’ve only fleeced taxpayers of money that could be spent on public services like the NHS, public housing, early years programs, environmental schemes, etc.
And have been fleecing for decades, centuries.
There is money for those things if there is the political will. It’s not an either/or. I repeat, I don’t care about the minutiae.
Can we stop picking on these two women? If Charles wants to pay their rent, so be it. They have princess titles. That’s how it works in the RF.
Maybe when he does the same for his SON, a PRINCE, I’ll stop picking.
Gotta agree with khaveman on the York girls. That Charles was never as diligent about Harry’s housing as that slimeball Andrew was about his daughters, isn’t Beatrice or Eugenie’s fault. All grandkids (with or without titles) got quality digs — Harry is the outlier since his dad ejected him from Queen’s “gift” (more of an extended sublet) Frogmore Cottage. That’s not the fault of Beatrice & Eugenie. At times it’s seemed as if Eugenie and her husband got some BRF/KP heat for befriending Harry & Meghan as a couple – for renting Frogmore Cottage for a stint. Her family’s move to Portugal was a good career move for Jack, but also got them out of Dodge.
Given that most common people can’t afford to live in London the fact that those people are living there rent-free or almost rent-free is insane. Also they are definitely throwing the York sisters under the bus there.
I’m not sure who – outside of royal family or favor – rents any of these places at fair market value.
I wonder if the places would just sit empty if they were kicked out. – see Frogmore
Ditto. To that we are not racist family. They othered Harry and Meghan from the get go.
Hang em all and turn all these properties into low income housing. Buckingham palace can be an air b n b and Kensington palace can be renamed the Princess Diana memorial escape rooms
You seem to be advocating mass murder. Doesn’t seem very appropriate even tongue in cheek.