Royals win ‘sweetheart’ land deals
Prince Andrew has been granted “sweetheart” property deals with the Crown Estate which have made him millions of pounds and secured a rent-free royal residence for his two daughters.
A Sunday Times investigation has found the Crown Estate has been privately offering the royals bargain deals at taxpayers’ expense. The statutory body manages land and property owned by the crown but has an obligation to protect the interests of taxpayers.
The bargains on the royal portfolio include: The sale of the Crown Estate freehold of Andrew’s former marital home, Sunninghill Park, for £12,265 in August 2003. The property was subsequently sold by Andrew for £15m and now lies abandoned. A 75-year lease on Royal Lodge, the Queen Mother’s former home in Windsor Great Park, for £1m. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie can inherit the lease on the 30-room mansion and live there rent-free until 2078. A 150-year lease for Prince Edward on Bagshot Park for £5m. Property agents say the imposing mansion would have fetched up to £30m on the open market.
The Crown Estate says it took independent advice for the valuations, but special circumstances – such as security issues – mean such properties cannot always get the “highest market value”.
MPs warned this weekend that preferential deals risked undermining the royal family.
“Junior members of the royal family are apparently obtaining substantial financial benefits from sweetheart property transactions with the Crown Estate,” said Ian David-son, a Labour MP and member of the House of Commons public accounts committee.
“All the terms of these deals should now be disclosed.”
The Crown Estate is charged with the environmental stewardship of its land. However, Sunninghill Park, near Ascot in Berkshire, now lies derelict after Andrew obtained the freehold from the Crown Estate and sold it to a Kazakh buyer. “It has been left to rot,” a neighbour said last week.
Bracknell Forest council said it was investigating the property and trying to find out whether there was any requirement to use the Housing Act, under which abandoned homes can be seized by local authorities.
The Crown Estate manages a £7.3 billion land and property portfolio. Although the land and property are owned by the Queen in name, the body is accountable to parliament and returns revenues to the Treasury.
Buckingham Palace said the lease extension for Bagshot Park was at “an agreed market price”. It said the terms of any future lease arrangement for Royal Lodge was confidential.
The Crown Estate confirmed that the Royal Lodge deal meant the lease could not be sold, but could in future years be “assigned to Prince Andrew’s daughters”, Beatrice and Eugenie.
It said there had been “selective” marketing when Edward was offered Bagshot Park and the deal had been checked for value for money. The freehold of Sunninghill Park was sold under normal valuation procedures and there had been “no reason” to keep it.
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