Andrew granted £302,000 compensation after Royal Lodge lease surrendered

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been granted £302,000 in compensation after the lease on his former Royal Lodge home in Windsor was officially surrendered.

A Crown Estate spokesperson said the former prince paid £1.8 million in repair and restoration costs as the lease was handed back more than 50 years early.

Andrew was entitled to compensation because, as per the terms of his lease, he surrendered it within the first 25 years.

In December last year, the Crown Estate told MPs it was not believed Andrew would receive compensation for the early surrender of the lease once repair and restoration costs were taken into account.

In the letter to the Commons Public Accounts Committee, the Crown Estate added: “Before this position can be fully validated however, a full and thorough assessment must be undertaken post-occupation by an expert in dilapidation”.

The Crown Estate spokesperson said: “The lease for Royal Lodge has ended and our focus now is firmly on its future use and the opportunities to generate additional financial value for the nation from its early return.”

A compensation clause was added into the terms of the lease because of Andrew’s 2005 payment of £7.5 million for refurbishment at the 30-room property, the spokesperson added.

The former Duke of York moved out of the Windsor mansion earlier this year as files related to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein were released by the US Department of Justice.

He was forced to move into Marsh Farm on the King’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk, amid public outcry about the rent he paid on the Royal Lodge.

In June, a National Audit Office investigation revealed that the late Queen’s second son received an undisclosed private income from subletting three cottages on the Royal Lodge estate while paying a peppercorn rent for more than two decades.

The Crown Estate spokesperson said the property will now be marketed by two nationally recognised agents for its proposed future use.