Surprising amount of rent Prince William pays following family members’ ‘peppercorn’ deals

The Prince of Wales and his family call Forest Lodge in Windsor their primary residence, and a new report in The Times has revealed how much the family are paying in rent.

Although documentation filed this week shows that the family are now the owners of the Georgian mansion’s lease, they have been paying £307,500 a year in rent. It had previously been revealed that William and his family signed a 20-year lease on the property, but the rental details had been kept out of the public realm.

The move to go public with their rental agreements comes in the wake of revelations that several members of the royal family had secured ‘peppercorn’ agreements for their properties.

Peppercorn rent is a legal term describing the symbolic payment of rent paid by someone to the Crown Estate. It is a nominal or token amount that satisfies the legal requirements of the contract, but it is so low an amount that its function is more symbolic than anything else.

Among those who benefitted from these agreements were Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor when he was living at Royal Lodge and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh with their Bagshot Park residence.

Edward initially leased the property for 50 years for £5,000 a year in March 1998. The sum later went up to £90,000 a year – described by the National Audit Office as “market value” – after Edward paid £1.36 million to help renovate the property, with the Crown Estate covering the rest of the £3 million refurbishment costs.

William’s life at Forest Lodge

William moved into the property alongside his wife, the Princess of Wales, and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis last year.

Speaking about the move at the time, Danielle Stacey, HELLO!’s Online Royal Correspondent, said: “The Prince and Princess of Wales clearly love living in Windsor, the children are settled at Lambrook School nearby, and they will still be close to Windsor Castle for royal functions and engagements.

“Upsizing to Forest Lodge allows the family more space and has already been viewed as their ‘forever home,’ rather than having the children growing up within the walls of a palace.”

The property boasts twice the number of bedrooms compared to the Waleses’ previous pad, but it also offers a private tennis court and a lake. It is not miles away from Adelaide Cottage, so the children will not have been greatly disrupted by the move.

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However, it hasn’t always been an easy ride for the couple at the property, as increased security measures following their arrival, including CCTV camera-adorned fences and ‘no entry’ signs, reportedly upset local residents.