An inquiry into the Crown Estate triggered by the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor sub-letting controversy heard from the organisation's chief executive on Monday. Alongside fielding questions over his salary jumping £517,000 in 2019 to £2.3m in 2026, Dan Labbad was grilled by MPs regarding Andrew's practice of charging his Royal Lodge tenants rent while only paying peppercorn (nominal) rent himself. "Those potential income streams were taken into account in determining what best value was at the time," said Dan, in a sentence so ambiguous it may as well be a cryptic crossword clue. Dan also suggested the sub-letting practice is commonplace, a tacit admission that perhaps it isn't wholly justifiable but everyone's at it so don't pick on us, okay. And maybe he's right? Are our parliamentarians getting their proverbials in a twist over nothing – mere peppercorns, if you will?
It may not be a great look for the Royal Family but Andrew's tenants weren't being charged market rent, merely enough to cover running costs, so he wasn't exactly coining it in by dint of the scheme. And as millions of young people will attest, the whole housing market is set up in a most inequitable fashion, so the focus on the Crown Estate is something of a distraction from the wider structural inequalities at play. I am torn on this one but what about you? Take part in the poll below and then expand on your answers in the comments below...
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