Inside Andrew’s tense talks with Charles over rent-free Eugenie and Beatrice and ‘secret deal’
EXCLUSIVE: A new audit of royal residences has shed light on Beatrice and Eugenie’s subsidised living arrangements – and raised more questions about why Andrew left Royal Lodge
Andrew and King Charles pictured in September 2025(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
King Charles has been footing the bill for Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie to live in swanky apartments in royal palaces, and one royal expert believes the “outrageous” arrangement may have informed Andrew Mounbatten Windsor’s exit from Royal Lodge.
For months before he finally agreed to vacate the lavish mansion near Windsor Castle, Andrew had refused to budge. Some even dubbed it the “siege of Royal Lodge” as the two brothers battled over whether the disgraced former duke would remain in the 30-room property.
So in October, when it was announced that Andrew would be giving up Royal Lodge and formally stripped of his royal titles, there was much speculation about why he had finally agreed to surrender his long-term home, which he shared with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.
Now, a new report released by the National Audit Office about royal residences has revealed details about the Windsors’ living arrangements. And for one royal expert, it raises further questions about how Charles finally managed to persuade his brother to move to his current home of Marsh Farm, a modest property on the Sandringham Estate.
Both Andrew’s daughters, Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 36, boast apartments in central London royal palaces. Beatrice has a four-bedroom apartment in St James’ Palace and Eugenie has Ivy Cottage, a three bedroom home within the grounds of Kensington Palace – it is understood she has paid the costs for renovations on herself. Along with Princess Michael of Kent, they are the only non-working royal who benefit from this arrangement.
King Charles foots the bill for his nieces’ London homes(Image: PA)
The sisters don’t pay full market rent. Instead they are charged an adjusted rate – around 60 percent of market value. The report suggests this is due to the fact that the properties sit within a secure cordon, and few normal, even extremely wealthy people would pass security vetting to take them on. The figure Charles is forking out on their behalf for the properties could be £278,000 per year, the Independent has reported.
The rent charged for these properties was also based on historic valuations, until this year, making them even cheaper. Eugenie’s rent was 50% of the 2018 open market value from 2020 to 2021, and ranged from 55% in 2022 to 63% in 2025, while rent on Beatrice’s was 60% of the 2020 market value from 2020-2021 and ranged from 62% to 68% between 2022-2025, the NAO said.
However, it’s not actually the York sisters themselves coughing up, it’s their uncle, King Charles. It’s understood that this arrangement was set up under the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth, the sisters’ grandmother, but Charles has continued it.
Royal author and historian Andrew Lownie believes that Andrew is likely to have “struck a deal” with his brother to ensure the arrangement continued, and to see his daughters were “taken care of” amid his public disgrace. He believes that this could be part of the reason that Andrew finally cleared out of Royal Lodge.
Reacting to the staggering revelation that Charles pays for Eugenie and Beatrice’s rent, Lownie tells the Mirror: “It is extraordinary. The King will say, ‘well, I can house my family as I wish.’ But I think he just has to be aware of the optics of using this money, which there’s a big debate about whether this money belongs to the exchequer or to the family itself. But when they’re not doing anything, why do they have these perks? Other non-working royals don’t have them.”
Beatrice has an apartment in St James’ Palace and Eugenie a cottage within Kensington Palace (Image: Getty Images)
Legally, “Andrew didn’t need to leave Royal Lodge,” Lownie explains, “He’d dug his heels in for several months before.” The author, who penned the explosive biography Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, suggests that perhaps there “was some game changer” during their talks, claiming that this could have included provision for the York sisters. “Perhaps some deal was done, ‘take care of my daughters, and I’ll fall on my sword.'”
At the time that Andrew left Royal Lodge, the Mirror reported that talks between the King and his errant younger brother had become tense over the thorny issue of Andrew’s decadent living arrangements and continued holding of royal titles. A royal source told us that the King had become “weary and furious” and that during a 10-minute phone conversation, made it clear that the situation could no longer be borne.
A royal source said at the time” “After close consultation with his family, and in particular Prince William, the King summoned Andrew to tell him to do the right thing. He was told it was beyond comprehension for him to continue to enjoy the privileges of his position.”
The new royal audit report also shows that that Andrew sublet three properties on the Royal Lodge estate, but it is not known how much money he earned through this arrangement. He only paid a “peppercorn” rent for the long repair lease he held on the property.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with King Charles and Prince William(Image: Getty Images)
Charles is said to be paying for his nieces through the privy purse, which mostly is derived from the Duchy of Lancaster, which he holds “in right of the crown”. This means it is his only through his role as sovereign, not his private property as an individual, which has created fierce debate about whether or not it is truly private wealth at all.
This is just the latest scrutiny the sisters have faced in recent months, after their names appeared repeatedly in the Epstein Files. With their parents fall from grace, relations between the once close York family are claimed to be strained, with Eugenie, who is expecting another child with her husband Jack Brooksbanks, alleged not to have told Andrew herself about the news of her pregnancy.
Both sisters have careers of their own: Beatrice is the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at the software firm Afiniti, and Eugenie, is a a director at Mayfair art gallery, Hauser and Wirth. They also own their own properties, Beatrice boasting a £3.5 million home in the Cotswolds with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi – a property developer – and Eugenie owns a luxurious coastal villa in an affluent Portugal neighbourhood, reported to be worth around £3.6 million.
Eugenie stepped away from her role as patron for the charity Anti Slavery International in March amid the fallout from the Epstein files. Another charity, the Anti Slavery Collective – which she cofounded to help victims of human trafficking – is now facing a “regulatory compliance case” by the watchdog Charity Commission, over its spending.
Yesterday, Andrew was spotted driving out of his Sandringham home with a large bruise on one side of his face in shocking new photos.
In early May, the disgraced royal was reportedly approached by a man wearing a balaclava and allegedly wielding a weapon, who came within yards of the former prince.
Alex Jenkinson, 39, allegedly caused alarm or distress to the royal, who reportedly fled to his car along with his security team during the incident, which took place while he was out walking his dogs near his home at Marsh Farm, on the Sandringham Estate.
A palace spokesperson said about the NAO report, “We are grateful to the National Audit Office for this report, which is in line with The Royal Household’s commitment to transparency. We hope that the findings will help correct, clarify or contextualise a number of points regarding Royal properties. As the report notes, arrangements for properties managed by the Royal Household vary based on a number of factors to ensure residences are filled appropriately, depending on their location, tenants and purpose.”
The Crown Estate said, “The Crown Estate welcomes the National Audit Office’s review which confirms its leases with members of the Royal Family were agreed in line with independent, professional advice and open market valuations. We look forward to discussing the report further with the Public Accounts Committee in due course.”
