Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's secret income details have been revealed as the former prince's downfall continues over his alleged ties with Jeffrey Epstein. The Public Accounts Committee published a new report on Friday, shedding fresh light on royal finances and the subletting of properties on the Crown Estate.
The former Duke of York, 66, currently lives on King Charles' Sandringham estate in Norfolk after officially surrendering his lease on Royal Lodge. For years, while living at Royal Lodge on a peppercorn rent, Andrew was reportedly quietly making money from it.
Even after he stepped down from royal duties in 2019, he kept earning from renting out cottages on his former Windsor estate. The truth came out in a letter from James Chalmers, Keeper of the Privy Purse, to the Public Accounts Committee.
The information came from "the Household of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor" and was shared "in the interests of transparency and openness." The report, published on Friday, revealed something shocking: Andrew had sublet one cottage at a below-market rate to a tenant who worked for the royal family for most of a 22-year tenancy.
Then, from late 2021, for less than a year, he sublet three cottages in total. Together, they brought in just over £2,000 a month, before maintenance and expenses.
In the letter dated 7 September 2026, it stated: "This is with the agreement of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor." It added that while the committee offered to keep it confidential, Andrew was content for it to be in the public domain. It recommended that the Crown Estate should prohibit subletting as standard.
It concluded the Crown Estate "did not identify specific lessons from the Royal Lodge lease arrangement." It called the Estate "reluctant to discuss specifics on how it is applying lessons learned" - saying the lease was a "product of its time." Subletting was not completely ruled out, but the committee said leases should prohibit it unless the Crown Estate agrees.
Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson had lived at the estate for nearly two decades. Meanwhile, the King privately paid £1.5 million for the mansion's repair and restoration costs to the Crown Estate, after £302,000 compensation was deducted from the £1.8 million bill for Andrew giving up the lease early.
The Crown Estate is an independent £17 billion property, land, and seabed portfolio which returns its profits to the Treasury for public spending. It is owned by the monarch "in right of the Crown," meaning while the King owns it during his reign, it is not his private property and he does not manage its assets.