Overview
- The National Audit Office report found that Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie did not personally pay rent for their residences, with the cost covered by the Privy Purse, the King’s private income.
- The NAO also showed that upkeep of those properties is paid from the Sovereign Grant, which is funded by taxpayers, creating the central public concern about mixed funding.
- Prince William and the Palace have begun reviewing property and funding arrangements and commentators say the sisters may be asked to pay market rent or find alternative homes, though no formal eviction or policy change has been announced.
- The sisters made a public family appearance at Peter Phillips’s wedding on June 6, were absent from the Buckingham Palace balcony for Trooping the Colour, and later travelled to Vienna for another wedding as scrutiny intensified.
- The audit further revealed that the former Duke of York was allowed to sublet cottages on his Royal Lodge estate while paying a nominal rent, a finding that deepens questions about long‑standing grace‑and‑favour arrangements and institutional transparency.