The former Prince Andrew is said to have been paying just over £13,000 per year to rent the property – which is believed to have been used to house staff close to his previous home
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has reportedly given up his lease on yet another Crown Estate property after he was kicked off Royal Lodge last year.
The former Duke of York is said to have asked to end his lease on the East Lodge, a £13,000-a-year Grade II-listed cottage rental near Sunninghill Park in Berkshire. The property, located near his former home in Sunninghill Park, Berkshire, is the second within the Crown Estate to have been given up by the King’s brother after he vacated Royal Lodge in late 2025.
The move to drop the property comes nearly 30 years after the royal took on the tenancy, and as mystery swirls about how he was able to pay for it.
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The BBC reports that lease documents show the then-Duke had started his tenancy at East Lodge in February 1998, initially paying up to £3,500 annually for the Crown Estate Property. According to the same documents seen by the national broadcaster, that rent has shot up by nearly £10,000 over the following nearly 30 years.
The property was located near his much larger former personal home in Sunninghill Park, Berkshire, and was believed to have been used for staff accommodation.
He had reportedly kept his tenancy of the property in an arrangement with the Crown Estate, meaning it stayed in his hands months past his residency of Royal Lodge, which he vacated late last year. The new documents will raise questions as to how he was able to pay for East Lodge, rent for which cost more than half his declared annual income.
Andrew was all but expelled from his family following continued outrage stemming from his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with his move from Royal Lodge in late 2025 sparked by continued revelations.
He has always denied any wrongdoing stemming from his relationship with the sex trafficker, but the association saw King Charles III take away his £1million annual royal allowance in 2024. He was left with his £20,000 declared annual Naval pension to pay for the 30-bedroom mansion and estimated £3million-a-year security bill.
A Royal Lodge lease released in October 2025 showed he paid a “one peppercorn” of rent on the mansion for more than 20 years after signing a 75-year lease and paying £1 million in 2004.
According to the documents seen by the BBC, there was a provision on rent for East Lodge that saw rent increase with inflation, rising to £8,047 per year by the time it was renewed in 2020. Documents from late August 2025 showed the rent had risen to £12,922 in an area where rental prices range from around £2,000 to £7,500 per month.
Andrew’s tenancy was set to end in July 2027, but is set to end early following BBC probing of the property, the broadcaster said. The Crown Estate said in a statement: “Since then… we have received a request for us to consider an early termination of the lease.”
