The deal which means Andrew can nonetheless afford to dwell in Royal Lodge

More particulars have emerged about how Prince Andrew can afford his sprawling 30-room Windsor mansion, in a lease settlement which has been revealed.

The association means he has solely ever paid a token annual lease on Royal Lodge, and even which may not be required below his cope with the Crown Estate, a doc seen by BBC News confirms.

The deal meant that instead of paying annual rent, Prince Andrew made giant lump sum funds up-front, together with for renovations.

In impact, these funds – which totalled round £8m – meant he was shopping for himself out of future lease obligations all through the 75-year lease.

Details about Prince Andrew’s residing preparations have been scrutinised as controversy continues over his connections to intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, a scandal which has been reignited by new sexual abuse allegations contained in Virginia Giuffre’s posthumously-published memoir.

While Prince Andrew has at all times strenuously denied abusing Giuffre, contemporary questions have been requested in latest days about how he is ready to fund his life-style regardless of not being a working royal.

Prince Andrew, who gave up titles together with the Duke of York final week, signed the lease settlement on his dwelling in 2003 together with his landlord, the Crown Estate, which operates as an unbiased property firm.

The Grade II-listed Royal Lodge on the Windsor property boasts a gardener’s cottage, a Chapel Lodge, six-bedroom cottage and safety lodging.

Prince Andrew’s lease is described as a “peppercorn”, which suggests a small sum equivalent to £1, which will be paid yearly on a protracted lease, as a part of a authorized association between a tenant and the owner. Or in his case there was no cost in any respect.

It’s not about making a revenue however is a symbolic cost, on this case from Prince Andrew to the Crown Estate.

This ongoing association poses an issue for the Royal Family: with Prince Andrew mired in scandal, it’s a horrible look to have him residing amongst them in Windsor in obvious splendour.

The lease doc additionally present Prince Andrew has to maintain paying for the maintenance of Royal Lodge, guaranteeing the outside stonework is in good situation each 5 years and portray the inside each seven years.

He has to “paint, paper, polish, decorate” to maintain the home in good situation and to maintain the landscaped grounds and gardens in good order. Prince Andrew, because the tenant, additionally has to permit his landlords to examine and ensure he’s holding to the phrases of the lease.

Other particulars revealed within the lease embrace clauses specifying that no helicopters are in a position to land there, and no playing is allowed on the premises.

Information individually printed by the National Audit Office reveals Prince Andrew needed to pay for £5 million price of repairs, £2.5 million for the choice of shopping for out future lease and an extra £1 million premium to the Crown Estate.

There may now be questions on the place Andrew obtained the funds in 2003 to successfully pay greater than £8 million for a lease for all times.

That up-front cost association helps to clarify how he can presently afford to dwell there, given he doesn’t need to make a month-to-month cost.

The deal was based mostly on a notional lease of £260,000 per yr, though with the popularity that it could have been exhausting to lease out the property commercially due to the safety restrictions.

And the NAO mentioned the refurbishments went on to value Andrew greater than £7.5m, relatively than the preliminary £5m anticipated by the deal.

There have been different precedents for this sort of association with the Crown Estate. In 1998, Prince Edward took a 50-year lease for Bagshot Park, placing in about £580,000 to pay for renovations which later rose to about £1.4m.

It was a smaller up-front cost than Prince Andrew paid, with Edward then having to pay lease of about £90,000 per yr, which could have risen since according to inflation.

It’s been no secret that Buckingham Palace has wished to see him transfer out of such a grand setting, nevertheless it’s additionally recognised that he has a cast-iron lease, independently held, on Royal Lodge.

More than 20 years in the past, when Prince Andrew was a much less controversial determine, the deal on Royal Lodge was seen as financially higher for the taxpayer than utilizing the home as a “grace and favour” residence, the place somebody may dwell with none industrial cost.

The property on the time, as soon as occupied by the Queen Mother, had been rundown and in want of modernisation, and getting Prince Andrew to pay for the constructing work was seen as a method of avoiding any public expense.

And due to safety necessities about the home’s location on the Windsor property, the Crown Estate was keener to maintain a cash-paying royal there, when it may have been tough to placed on the open market.

An NAO report mentioned the association met the Crown Estate’s obligation to supply “value for money” and that it had been “money’s worth”.

The King final yr ended any monetary assist for his brother – and it nonetheless stays unclear how Andrew pays for prices equivalent to safety and the requirement to pay for the maintenance.

The association by which he paid money up-front relatively than month-to-month lease, and his settlement to hold out substantial repairs, additionally explains why he will likely be reluctant to surrender his place in Royal Lodge, which he shares together with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.

Part of the deal was that if he left early within the lease he may reclaim a few of the cash that he had paid up-front, with that quantity tapering down over time, till that assure ended completely after 25 years. The longer he stayed there, the much less he would get again if he gave up the lease.

It’s now greater than 22 years since he signed the lease and so the quantity he would get again has stored falling. At the present price, it is about £186,000 for every remaining yr till 2028.

The lease is because of finish in June 2078, past his anticipated lifetime, and the association additionally contains the clause that his ex-wife and daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie may proceed with it.

On Tuesday, Number 10 mentioned it was as much as the NAO whether or not to re-examine Prince Andrew’s lease preparations for the constructing.

Dame Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the Commons treasury committee, mentioned “we need to have answers” to make sure taxpayers’ cash was not being misspent.

Asked about Prince Andrew’s residing preparations, Chancellor Rachel Reeves mentioned: “I haven’t seen the details of this… but I do think people should pay their way and pay their fair share.”

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick had earlier mentioned: “It’s about time Prince Andrew took himself off to live in private and make his own way in life.”

While Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokeswoman Lisa Smart mentioned Andrew “should show some contrition by returning every penny of rent that he’s not paid while disgracing his office”.