Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee will examine the Crown Estate’s leases to members of the Royal Family in early 2026, after receiving responses on the Royal Lodge agreement from the Crown Estate and HM Treasury. Chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said the material provides a basis for an inquiry, with hearings planned in the new year.
In written evidence to MPs, the Crown Estate recorded that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor served the minimum 12 months’ notice on 30 October 2025 to surrender the Royal Lodge tenancy. Absent any repair liabilities, he might have been eligible for £488,342.21 on 30 October 2026, but an initial inspection on 12 November identified dilapidations likely to offset any payment; a full assessment will follow once he vacates.
Royal Lodge has been held on a 75‑year lease since 2003. The arrangement required a £1 million premium and a commitment to at least £7.5 million of refurbishment, with ongoing rent set at a peppercorn “if demanded”. These terms, first described in official material and reiterated in the Crown Estate’s briefing, explain why no regular rent has been due.
The Crown Estate told MPs that, having regard to the property’s location, condition at grant and security considerations in Windsor Great Park, the lease terms were independently reviewed and judged “fair, reasonable and in line with market practice”. The estate also noted that end‑of‑tenancy repairs are “not out of keeping” with a tenancy of this duration.
The submission published to MPs also covered Forest Lodge, now the private home of the Prince and Princess of Wales. The couple hold a 20‑year non‑assignable lease at open‑market rent, with the move completed during the October half‑term, according to contemporaneous reporting.
The committee has not confirmed a witness list. While select committees can invite any witness, it is uncommon to compel appearances by members of the Royal Family. The committee will set scope and witnesses when it publishes the inquiry timetable.
For scrutiny purposes, the statutory tests sit in the Crown Estate Act 1961: commissioners must secure the “best consideration in money or money’s worth” and maintain the estate’s value and return with due regard to good management. Those duties will anchor questions on value for money alongside more recent legislative changes.
Separately, Buckingham Palace announced on 30 October 2025 that the King had initiated the formal process to remove Andrew’s style, titles and honours and that notice had been served to surrender the lease. Letters patent published in The Gazette on 3 November confirmed removal of the prince title and HRH style.
The financial stakes are public. The Crown Estate is a public corporation whose net profits are paid into the Consolidated Fund before Sovereign Grant calculations, with more than £3 billion transferred to the Treasury over the past decade, as the Treasury Committee has noted.
What happens next is procedural. The PAC will publish terms of reference and hearing dates; the chair has indicated work will draw on an updated National Audit Office review of the 2005 royal leases report and the Crown Estate’s 2025/26 accounts, with sessions expected in early 2026.