Prince Edward's 'peppercorn rent' at 120-room Surrey mansion with 'no conditions'

 Prince Edward, who lives at the 51-acre Bagshot Park with his wife, the Duchess of Edinburgh, only pays "peppercorn rent" at the sprawling property.

The Times explained that, according to the terms of Edward’s lease extension, signed in 2007 with his company, Eclipse Nominees Limited, "he paid £5 million upfront for a lease of 150 years, but pays only a peppercorn rent." This was also something noted by the Guardian last month.

Peppercorn rent is a term used to describe a small, nominal rent, such as one peppercorn, to satisfy a legal requirement for a contract to be binding. 

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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.

The Ministry of Defence returned the site to the Crown Estate in 1996, attracting two commercial proposals - one for a conference facility and another for hotel conversion - both rejected before the Estate opted to lease the property to Edward.

As the Land Registry report was heavily redacted, it made it "impossible to establish" whether he continued to pay a market rent.

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There are no conditions set on the further sale of Edward's lease, beyond that the new tenant could afford the property's maintenance, meaning that Edward could profit from its sale.

Campaigners have since questioned whether Edward, 15th in line to the throne, can justify his occupation of a property that could otherwise be leased by the Crown Estate for taxpayer benefit.

This comes just weeks after the publication reported that Andrew Mountebatten Windsor had a similar deal with his former home, Royal Lodge, which he and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, were forced to vacate following the surprise removal of his titles by King Charles.

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However, this contrasts with Andrew's lease, which restricts who can inherit Royal Lodge to just Sarah Ferguson and their daughters, Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice. Prince Edward's lease contains no such familial limitations for his wife, the Duchess of Edinburgh and their children, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex.

HELLO!'s  Homes Editors, Rachel Avery, previously explained that it's "fairly commonplace" for royals to have different contracts when leasing their homes from the Crown Estate.

She explained, after news of Prince Andrew's peppercorn rent: "It's fairly commonplace for royals to lease a property from the Crown Estate, and each one comes with a different contract. Sometimes the royals pay the going rental rate, like Prince William and Princess Kate will be at Forest Lodge, and other times they simply have to pay for the upkeep of the building. As Royal Lodge is a historical property, there will be a considerable bill for keeping it in working order, and this will be down to Prince Andrew to find the money for that."

Buckingham Palace have declined to comment.