British MPs will investigate the royal family’s property portfolio, after revelations that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor \u2014 Queen Elizabeth II’s second son \u2014 had not paid rent for two decades sparked outrage.<\/p>\n
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday, local time, announced it would launch an inquiry in the new year into The Crown Estate, a private company, which among many interests holds several residential leases with members of the royal family.<\/p>\n
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, a brother to King Charles III, was stripped of his royal titles this year, amid fresh accusations relating to his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n
He is also being kicked out of the 30-room mansion he’s lived in since 2003, Royal Lodge.<\/p>\n
British media have since savaged the fact Mr Mountbatten-Windsor had been living in the property almost rent-free, although he did pay \u00a38.5 million ($20.8 million at the time) up-front for renovations.<\/p>\n
‘Basis for an inquiry’\u00a0<\/p>\n
PAC chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown wrote to the Crown Estate seeking further information about the lease arrangements for Royal Lodge in October.<\/p>\n
The organisation replied in November.<\/p>\n
“Having reflected on what we have received, the information provided clearly forms the beginnings of a basis for an inquiry,” Sir Geoffrey said in a statement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Crown Estate is one of the largest holders of property in the UK.<\/p>\n
While it is technically owned by the monarch, it is an independent business, and its profits are passed to the UK’s Treasury.<\/p>\n
The Treasury in turn pays the monarch an annual Sovereign Grant \u2014 money which allows them to perform official duties.<\/p>\n
The Crown Estate handles multiple leases for members of the royal family, including Prince William and Princess Catherine, who reside in the eight-bedroom Forest Lodge, in Windsor.<\/p>\n
The company’s response to Sir Geoffrey’s letter has been made public and revealed that not everyone’s deal was as generous as Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s.<\/p>\n
Prince Edward, another of the King’s brothers, signed a 50-year lease in 1998 to live at Bagshot Park, a 120-room property near Windsor, for an initially annual price of \u00a390,000, which has since been renegotiated.<\/p>\n
Princess Alexandra, a first cousin to the late Queen Elizabeth II, signed a 70-year lease in 1971 for a large property in Richmond Park, named Thatched House Lodge, which included an annual rent of \u00a3410 for the first 35 years and \u00a3700 for the second 35.<\/p>\n
Sexual assault\u00a0support lines:1800 Respect National Helpline<\/a>: 1800 737 732Lifeline<\/a> (24-hour crisis line): 131 114Full Stop Australia<\/a>: 1800 385 578Bravehearts<\/a>: counselling and support for survivors of child sexual abuse: 1800\u00a0272\u00a0831Child Wise<\/a>: counselling provider: 1800\u00a0991\u00a0099<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, a former prince, has been described as a close friend of Epstein’s between 1999 and 2008.<\/p>\n Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in Western Australia earlier this year, had alleged she was trafficked by Epstein to Mr Mountbatten-Windsor as a teenager, and that the then-Duke of York had sexually abused her.<\/p>\n He denies any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n He stepped back from royal duties in 2019 amid a deluge of public pressure, after a disastrous interview with the BBC’s Newsnight program, in which he maintained his innocence in the face of those allegations.<\/p>\n Last month, Ms Giuffre’s posthumously released memoir went on sale.<\/p>\n In it, she alleged Mr Mountbatten-Windsor “believed having sex with me was his birthright”.<\/p>\n She claimed she met the former prince on multiple occasions, including at an orgy on Epstein’s private island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British MPs will investigate the royal family’s property portfolio, after revelations that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor \u2014 Queen Elizabeth II’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[149661,64,63,182274,134,182275,19674,182276],"class_list":["post-324101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-andrew-mountbatten-windsor","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-crown-estate","tag-entertainment","tag-former-prince-andrew","tag-inquiry","tag-jeffery-epstein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}