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NAO: King Charles Pays £278k Rent for Royals' Flats

6/5/2026

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Summary

Story summary

The National Audit Office estimates King Charles may be paying over £278,000 annually in rent for Princess Beatrice’s St James’s Palace flat and Princess Eugenie’s Ivy Cottage.
The rents are set at roughly 60 % of open-market values based on valuations from 2018 and 2020.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received private income by subletting three estate cottages until 2020.

History

Historical Context

After the Glorious Revolution separated royal expenses, Parliament fixed the Crown’s peacetime revenue at £1.2 million in 1697, allocating about £700,000 to the Civil List. Subsequent reforms—George III’s 1760 surrender of Crown Estate revenues and the 1830 restriction to household costs—gradually narrowed the grant. Public scrutiny in the early 1990s revived debate, leading to the 2011 Sovereign Grant Act that finally abolished the Civil List.

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Story summary

The National Audit Office estimates King Charles may be paying over £278,000 annually in rent for Princess Beatrice’s St James’s Palace flat and Princess Eugenie’s Ivy Cottage.
The rents are set at roughly 60 % of open-market values based on valuations from 2018 and 2020.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received private income by subletting three estate cottages until 2020.

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