Prince Edward is paying a peppercorn rent for his mansion in Surrey in a similar deal to that of his brother Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. 

The Duke of Edinburgh, who was awarded the title after his father Prince Philip’s death in April 2021, moved into the 120-room Bagshot Park with his wife, the Duchess of Edinburgh, in March 1998.

He initially leased the home for five decades for £5,000 a year, though that rose to an annual sum of £90,000 after he paid £1.36million to renovate the estate, with the Crown Estate handing over another £3million for refurbishments. 

Edward’s lease was extended in 2007 under a deal signed with his company, Eclipse Nominees Limited. He paid £5million upfront for a lease of 150 years, which was said to be ‘market tested’, but now only pays a peppercorn rent, The Times reported.

There are also no conditions on any future sale of the Prince’s lease, only that any new tenant must be able to afford the property’s maintenance, the newspaper added. 

It appears to be a similar deal to that signed by Edward’s brother Andrew, when he paid £1million to secure a 75-year lease for the Windsor Royal Lodge in 2003 – and has since paid only ‘one peppercorn’ in rent per year, ‘if demanded’.

Although conditions on Andrew’s lease limited him to passing it on to his wife, Sarah Ferguson, or his children, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice.

Andrew is in the process of being booted from the Grade II-listed mansion, his and Sarah’s 30-room home, after being stripped of his royal titles over his links to late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein last month.

The former prince, who has vehemently denied the accusations against him, is set to relocate to a property on the Sandringham estate as soon as practicably possible – which is expected to be well into the New Year.    

Last night, the Daily Mail confirmed that Andrew’s move from Royal Lodge will not happen this side of Christmas,  but will instead take place some time in 2026.

Sources have indicated that the ‘practicalities’ of packing up his belongings at ten-bedroom Royal Lodge, where he has lived on the Windsor Estate for more than 30 years, and moving to his undisclosed new home were ‘quite a substantial logistical process, if nothing else’.

He also needs to negotiate the ending of his 75-year lease on the property from the Crown Estate early, which some fear could see him in line to collect compensation given the work he has already carried out on the property.

But happily, it will also take Andrew – who has now lost everything over his relationship with convicted paedophile Epstein – out of the picture when the Royal Family gather in Norfolk on Christmas Eve for their annual festive break.

A source said the situation could have proved ‘quite awkward’ at a time when Andrew quite clearly isn’t welcome.

‘He won’t be anywhere near the Big House [the nickname given to the monarch’s home at Sandringham],’ they confirmed.

While the move to the estate won’t happen imminently for logistical reasons, they explained, people were also acutely aware any physical proximity to his family at such a special time of year would make his exclusion ‘seem even more barbed’.

Sandringham was chosen because it is the sovereign’s personal estate, meaning that Andrew’s living arrangements can be sorted – and, crucially, funded – completely privately.

Buckingham Palace announced on October 17 that Andrew would stop using his remaining titles and honours and would no longer be known as the Duke of York.

Three days later Andrew’s title was scrubbed out on his profile page on the royal website to reflect the loss of this dukedom over the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal.

On October 30, it was revealed that Andrew would lose his prince title, before this was officially actioned on November 7 by the King, who also removed his HRH style.

But Andrew was still listed until recently on the website’s line of succession page in eighth as ‘The Duke of York’, behind Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.

Now, with his public life having been effectively ended, the website has finally been updated and the line of succession entry appears as ‘Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’.

His profile page was already taken down at the start of November, with a message on royal.uk/the-duke-of-york now saying: ‘The requested page could not be found.’

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.