Andrew Mountbatten Windsor is called out for using his royal privileges to find leeway’s for his daughters.
The former Prince, who is father to Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, is accused of getting a property under their name and topping up with a peppercorn rent strategy.
Royal writer Kit Roberts writes for Express: “Andrew, who was formally stripped of his title as Prince and the Duke of York, had taken advantage of a rental agreement on royal properties. This included his own residence at Royal Lodge, actually less a lodge than a multi-million pound mansion. His agreement on the property saw Andrew paying what's called a 'peppercorn rent'.
“This is a legal term for a symbolic 'payment' of a 'peppercorn', ie something of low value, to establish that someone is effectively getting something for free, or very little,” he noted.
Robers continued: “That meant that while Andrew was responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the 30-room Royal Lodge, he didn't have to pay rent. And now it has emerged that the disgraced former prince had a similar agreement on a residence which was occupied by his daughters.”
“This meant that the annual rent that Andrew paid for the apartment was less than the monthly rent if it had been let out on the open market. Andrew's daughters lived in the property for some 14 years, meaning that the privileged arrangement may have cost the royal coffers some £3.1 million in lost rental income over that period,” he noted.
