Later this year, the Royal Family - and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor - will face uncomfortable scrutiny on the rental agreements in place on some of the Crown Estate's most lavish properties. 

Parliament's Public Accounts committee, a public body, will probe contracts negotiated apparently under the radar on a host of enviable apartments and houses, including at St James's Palace, Kensington Palace and within Great Windsor Park.

The review is likely to shine a light on some of the rental arrangements of high-profile non-working royals, including Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice and Princess Michael of Kent - and, in some cases, expose 'zero' and 'peppercorn' rents on a host of regal properties.

Royal Author Norman Baker told the Daily Mail: 'It is good that parliament, which generally does its best never to look into royal matters, has been forced by public opinion to examine the outrageous rental agreements which both ex-Prince Andrew and his brother Prince Edward have enjoyed – near-zero rents for gigantic mansions in the most charming surroundings of Windsor Great Park.'

He added: 'As the profits from the Crown Estate go straight to the Treasury, it follows that applying a peppercorn rent rather than a market value means a loss to the taxpayer. 

'We have been paying for these rich royals to live in luxury effectively rent-free.

'I think Beatrice and Eugenie would be wise to leave their properties in St James’s Palace and Kensington Palace before people (such as you and me!) start asking too many questions. 

'Non-working royals should never benefit from grace-and-favour or peppercorn rent arrangements.'

Such public analysis will also highlight how such properties are often second homes, used sporadically - and the issue of how many rooms one royal brood actually needs.  

'In the case of Prince Edward’s Bagshot Park residence - it has an incredible 120 rooms for his family to rattle around in,' explained Norman.

'And not content with his peppercorn rent for this, he and wife Sophie lease out the mansion’s stable block for an eye-watering £130,000 a year. Does he forward that money to the Crown Estate? I'll give you one guess.

'When Charles was Prince of Wales, he made it known that he paid a market rent for Highgrove. That went into Duchy of Cornwall funds and was then returned to Charles as part of the Duchy’s profits – all of course without any tax being deducted. In other words he really paid nothing.

'There was uproar when it was revealed that Prince and Princess Michael of Kent were paying just £69 a week for their enormous home in Apartment 3 in Kensington Palace. They were forced by the scandal to pay the market rent of £120,000 a year, up from £3,588. The new rent was not backdated.

'Other royals, such as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Duke and Duchess of Kent have benefited from so-called grace-and-favour properties, a circumspect way of saying they get where they live rent-free.

'We have to hope that that Public Accounts committee will do its job properly and end the scandal of rich royals living in luxury at little or no cost to them – but considerable cost to you and me.'

So, which members of the Windsor family - including those far from the throne - have more room than they need? And enjoy palatial second homes for a fraction of the price a taxpayer would pay... 

William and Kate will pay a 'market rent' for their Windsor family - but what of the other six properties, from the Isles of Scilly to Sandringham, the couple can stay in?

Royal Author Norman Baker says Prince William has learned from the mistakes of more distant royals on how badly dubious rent deals can present to the public - at least when it comes to their main family home, Forest Lodge, in Great Windsor Park. 

He says: 'William has seen the warning signs and announced he will pay a market rent for their sumptuous new home, Forest Lodge, built in the 1770s and nestling inside a new and rather ugly perimeter fence some 2.3 miles long.

'But what of his other properties? For the prince who is championing the needs of the homeless has six other properties he and Kate can stay in. 

'There is the modest-sounding but far from modest 20-room Apartment 1A in Kensington Palace in London, Anmer Hall in Sandringham, Restomel Manor in Lostwithiel, Tamarisk House on the Isles of Scilly, Tam-Na-Ghar on the Balmoral estate, and a royal retreat in Llandovery in Carmathenshire.'

As apartments go, Kate and William's Kensington Palace property isn't your average London flat, sprawling across four storeys and featuring 20 rooms, that are barely used. 

Alongside three ensuite bedrooms, there are five reception rooms, additional bedrooms, a gym, laundry area and staff quarters.

Kensington Palace has been a part of the Prince of Wales' life at every stage, including his childhood. His mother, the late Princess Diana, resided here from 1981 until her tragic death in a car accident in Paris in 1997. 

And William, 43, and Kate, 44, moved into Apartment 1A in 2013, welcoming children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis while living there. 

However, in 2022, the heir-to-the-throne made the move full-time to Windsor, first living in pretty Adelaide Cottage, before settling in their 'forever' family home, Grade-II listed Forest Lodge in Windsor Great Park late last year. 

The latter, a 328-year-old building, underwent a £1.5million renovation in 2001 and was then put on the rental market for £15,000 a month. 

Previous tenants in the property's adjoining cottages, converted from Forest Lodge's stables, were said to be asked to leave when the family moved in in November last year. 

While Kensington Palace remains the couple's official London residence, Forest Lodge is only just over an hour's drive from the capital, which largely renders the residence filed under 'occasional use' for the family. 

The Wales appear to favour ten-bedroom Anmer Hall to fully escape London life; the Georgian house on the royal Sandringham Estate was gifted to the couple by the late Queen Elizabeth and remains their country residence.  

Beyond occasional holidays, the Wales are rarely at the other properties in Prince William's portfolio: Restomel Manor, Tamarisk House, Tam-Na-Ghar and the royal property in Llandovery, Carmathenshire. 

And the Prince of Wales is unlikely to be worried by the lack of use... because, says Baker, he's probably not covering the rent for at least some of them.  

Baker explains: 'It is believed that no rent is paid on Apartment 1A or Tam-Na-Ghar out of the pockets of William and Kate. 

'In addition, it is likely that the properties which sit within the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster will be classified as business expenses and so reduce the taxation bills for Charles and William.'  

Keeping a 'foothold' in royal life: Princess Beatrice's St James' Palace bolt-hole 

London's oldest working royal palace, built by Henry VIII in the 1530s, is a remarkably convenient location if you're a non-working royal about town, so it's little wonder that Princess Beatrice retains a rented apartment in the regal property. 

Despite neither Beatrice, 37, nor her younger sister Eugenie, 36, having royal duties - both enjoy private careers, the daughters of the disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson still maintain a foothold in royal residences.

One could argue a London retreat isn't entirely needed, Beatrice resides in a six-bed farmhouse in the Cotswolds, thought to be worth around £3.5 million, with husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and her two daughters Sienna, four, and Athena, one.

While the former Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal title last year, following his involvement with late US financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Eugenie and Beatrice have both retained their 'princess' titles. 

It's not clear exactly how much Beatrice, seen getting into an Uber earlier this month at St James Palace, pays for the privilege of a mailbox at the historic London address. 

It's thought Andrew negotiated royal property deals for both of his daughters to pay rent to the King, despite neither of the siblings residing full-time in their properties. 

Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's Kensington Palace cottage

The former Duke and Duchess of York's younger daughter, Eugenie, who's expecting her third child with husband Jack Brooksbank, hasn't lived full-time on English soil since 2022. 

The couple relocated to Portugal when Brooksbank was offered a role in the country, working at the exclusive CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club in Comporta, a 90-minute drive south of Lisbon.

When the couple are in London with children August, five, and Ernest, two, they reside in grace-and-favour property Ivy Cottage, within the gilded confines of Kensington Palace.

The non-working royal has occasionally shared social media posts showing her spending time at the three-bedroom cottage, which is surrounded by a white picket fence and sits close to Nottingham Cottage, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle famously resided pre-Brexit and Wren House, which is the residence of the Duke of Kent.

Ahead of the couple's 2018 wedding, they resided in the property full-time but appear to now be enjoying life off the royal radar on Portugal's sun-drenched coast, with the cottage standing empty for great swathes of the year. 

Prince Edward and Sophie's £30million estate where they pay only peppercorn rent - and make up to £130,000 a year sub-letting stable block

Prince Edward paid a £5million premium to the Crown Estate in 2007 to lease 120-room Bagshot Park on the Windsor estate through his company Eclipse Nominees Ltd for a peppercorn rent for 150 years, according to a document released by the Crown Estate in 2025.

He and Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, continue to live rent free at the rambling property with their children Lady Louise and James, the Earl of Wessex, due to the cash that he paid in advance.

Bagshot Park was built for Queen Victoria's third son, and his wife, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught. Following the Duke's death in 1942 it was requisitioned by the Army as a college.

The college closed at the end of the Second World War, and was given by King George VI, to the Army Chaplains who leased it from the Crown Estate from 1947 until surrendering it in 1996.

The Crown Estate says it sought independent professional advice which concluded that the property was best suited as 'a single dwelling for private occupation', but no suitable tenant could be found, despite a marketing campaign.

Terms were agreed to give Edward a 50-year assignable lease from 1998 at an initial annual rent of £90,000, reviewable every 15 years in line with the Retail Price Index, with a requirement for him to spend £1.38million on restoration of the property.

The lease also required the Crown Estate and the Ministry of Defence to put £1.8million each towards renovations, with the MoD's contribution due as a 'dilapidations contribution' for not properly upkeeping the property when it had the lease.

Edward's lease was renegotiated in 2007 following independent professional valuation advice, and he was given the 150-year assignable lease in exchange for a £5million premium.

The Crown Estate insisted that independent legal and property experts were consulted to ensure that both leases in 1998 and 2007 'reflected market practice, including an onus on the tenant to maintain and uphold the property'.

Meanwhile, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh provoked 'outrage' when it was revealed in March that they made £130,000 per year sub-letting stables on their £30million estate. 

Prince Edward and Sophie had advertised the East Wing stables at Bagshot Park, in Surrey, as an office space for £10,834 per month, pocketing £130,008 per year. 

However Crown Estate revenues are supposed to be paid to the Treasury, with taxpayers ultimately benefitting from the Royal Family's profits. 

The stables are located on the pair's 51-acre estate, around 400 metres from the main house which has 120 rooms. 

The advert for the office space, seen by the Daily Mail, describes a 'Grade II Listed Office Building but with modern finishes, fibre connectivity, set within the landscaped grounds of Bagshot Park'.

The property, built in 1890, has two floors and 6,667 sq ft of space. 

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh provoked furious backlash over the listing, with one former minister describing it as an 'outrage'. 

Norman Baker, the former Liberal Democrat home affairs minister, told The Sun that any money Prince Edward and Sophie have made by sub-letting the stables should go to taxpayers, who he claimed are 'losing out'. 

He said: 'It's an outrage they pay a peppercorn rent as it is and now Edward and Sophie are free to rake in £130,000 for a stable block as part of the deal. It is outrageous.' 

Royal expert and author Margaret Holder said the East Wing stables were 'a nice little earner' for the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh - especially as they are 'already on a peppercorn rent'. 

She added that 'the system in place' allows them to make a profit by sub-letting the property, which 'isn't Sophie or Edward's fault'.  

A royal source told the Mail: 'The property in question is not rented to any tenant and it is not on the market.'

It is understood the payment of a 'peppercorn', if demanded, by way of ongoing rent is an approach consistent with standard market practice for long-leasehold residential properties where significant capital investment is made or a premium is paid in lieu of a market rent. 

It is a token payment to ensure the lease is a legally binding contract, as contracts require consideration to be paid. 

Five bedrooms, five reception rooms: Princess Michael of Kent's roomy Kensington Palace abode

Prince Michael of Kent, 83, and his wife Princess Michael, 81, first made Kensington Palace's five-bed Apartment 10 their London home around 40 years ago after the late Queen Elizabeth gifted them the keys following their 1978 wedding. 

Another family home came via Nether Lypiatt Manor, a Grade I-listed house in Gloucestershire - the couple raised their children, Lord Frederick 'Freddy' Windsor and Lady Gabriella Windsor, between London and the countryside. 

In 2006, however, the royal couple made the decision to 'down-size' to London's W8 permanently and they now enjoy the twilight of their lives in one of the country's most beautiful royal palaces.

Apartment 10, which sits in the main palace and has five reception rooms and five bedrooms, is a spacious abode for Prince Michael, a non-working royal who is 52nd in line to the throne, and his wife, famously known as 'Princess Pushy' in royal circles. 

They once called the late Princess of Wales their neighbour - Princess Diana occupied Apartments 8 and 9 at the palace, in the north-east section of the historic Kensington property.

While it's thought the couple enjoyed the property rent-free for much of the earlier decades they spent there - the late Queen paying for the accommodation costs - it's believed they have paid rent on the apartment since 2008. 

A Palace spokesman previously said they could not comment on individual rents.