Pressure continues to grow on Prince Andrew as the controversy surrounding him and his Royal Lodge home shows no sign of abating.
The King’s brother is facing increasing calls to vacate the 30-room mansion amid the continuing furore over his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and the publication of the posthumous memoirs by his sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre.
Claims emerged that the prince’s “peppercorn” rent on the Crown Estate property in Windsor Great Park was concealed in a redacted version of his lease submitted to the Land Registry more than 20 years ago.
Andrew has dominated the headlines over the last week (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
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The Times reported the 2003 redacted version, compared with the full lease released this week, read “’Rent’ means” rather than “’Rent’ means one peppercorn (if demanded)”, and also “To pay the Rent” rather than “To pay the Rent if demanded”.
The newspaper said the decision not to reveal such details was legal.
But the move raises questions as to why how much Andrew was paying was seemingly hidden from the public.
The Public Accounts Committee has already confirmed it is writing to the Crown Estate and the Treasury asking for further information about the prince’s lease.
Broadcast crews and photographers meanwhile gathered outside the gates of Royal Lodge on Thursday evening amid speculation there could be further developments in the long-running controversy surrounding the late Queen’s second son.
Andrew lives at Royal Lodge with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson (Chris Jackson/PA)
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Friends of the prince reportedly told The Telegraph that Andrew believes the King is trying to force him out of the mansion because he wants it as a base for the Queen in Windsor should she outlive him.
Buckingham Palace strongly denied this was the King’s plan. The prince’s representatives were approached for comment.
Andrew relinquished use of his Duke of York title and remaining honours last Friday in a bid to to prevent distracting from the work of the monarch and the royal family, but he remains a prince, living in the grand Royal Lodge, and the scandal continues to dominate the headlines.
The King carried out a historic visit to the Vatican on Thursday where he became the first monarch since the Reformation to pray alongside the Pope in a public service.
Royal aides will have been hoping the focus would remain on the monarch’s symbolic moment of religious unity instead of Andrew.
Royal aides were hoping the Andrew controversy would not distract from the King’s visit to see the Pope (Aaron Chown/PA)
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The King has long been said to have tried to encourage his younger brother, who lives in the home with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, to move out, but Andrew signed a watertight 75-year lease on the property in 2003.
His leasehold agreement, seen by the PA news agency, revealed he paid £1 million for the lease and that since then he paid “one peppercorn” of rent “if demanded” per year.
He was also required to pay a further £7.5 million for refurbishments completed in 2005, according to a report by the National Audit Office.
The agreement also contains a clause that states the Crown Estate would have to pay Andrew around £558,000 if he gave up the lease.
Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, alleged she was forced to have sex three times with Andrew, which he vehemently denies, including when she was 17 and also during an orgy, after she was trafficked by Epstein.
Andrew paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with her in 2022, despite insisting he had never met her.
Copies of Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre (James Manning/PA)
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Andrew’s announcement last week came after he consulted with the King and the Prince of Wales when it emerged he had emailed Epstein in 2011 saying “we’re in this together”, three months after he claimed he had broken all contact with the convicted sex offender.
Downing Street said MPs will not be given time in the House of Commons to discuss Andrew’s conduct because the royal family wants Parliament to focus on “important issues”.
The Commons could only discuss the prince’s friendship with Epstein and his rent-free mansion if there was a formal motion, but the Government controls the bulk of parliamentary time.
Downing Street said it would not allocate time for a debate in the chamber although MPs could still scrutinise the situation in committees.
