Andrew surrenders another Crown Estate property after Epstein files shame

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, while living at Wood Farms, decided to cut another link with the Crown Estate property early by ending the lease of East Lodge.

Annually, he has been paying £13,000 rent for the cottage which was near to his former home at Sunninghill Park in Berkshire, from where he moved to Royal Lodge in 2004.

The royal property, according to the BBC, is used to accommodate staff, as it was five miles from Windsor, and may come under scrutiny by MPs over questions over Andrew's finances.

Andrew's finances under scrutiny 

A formal inquiry is set to begin later this year in the Public Accounts Committee, whose chairman, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, said the investigations of royal leases will "aid transparency in public-interest information, as part of its overall mission to secure value for money for the taxpayer".

Another reason for Andrew ending the lease is perhaps a Freedom of Information request filed by the BBC to get the details of the property.

"Since then… we have received a request for us to consider an early termination of the lease," the Crown Estate said.

In addition, links with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein also, it seems, moved the ex-prince to sort his complex financial arrangements.

It is worth noting that Andrew took on the tenancy of East Lodge in 1998, and it is set to end in July 2027.