MPs ‘pushing hard’ to launch inquiry into Prince Andrew’s Royal Lodge residence | Prince Andrew
MPs on parliament’s powerful select committee are “pressing hard” to launch an investigation into Prince Andrew’s residence at the Royal Lodge, the Guardian understands.
Keir Starmer said he was open to MPs questioning Andrew in person about his home in Windsor Great Park, where he has lived rent-free for more than 20 years.
MPs on the public accounts committee, which oversees public spending, are understood to be rallying support to launch an investigation into financial arrangements.
The select committee is chaired by senior Conservative MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown. The decision to launch an investigation must be accepted by the full committee.
Margaret Hodge, the committee’s former chair, publicly criticized the living arrangements of Andrew, who was stripped of his dukedom by the palace following new revelations about his friendship with convicted child sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
The government is facing mounting pressure over the prince’s residence at the 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor. Here it turned out that the prince had not paid rent for more than twenty years.
Andrew has leased the Royal Lodge from the Crown Estate, the UK state’s property empire, since 2003, making a one-off payment of £1 million to lease the property for 75 years but paying £7.5 million for renovations. He pays “a peppercorn” of rent a year.
The royal estate would have to pay him compensation if he had to leave the manor.
The crackdown comes amid new allegations about the prince in a posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein survivor who said she had sex with Andrew on three separate occasions. He also said the prince’s team was trying to “hire internet trolls” to “force” him online. Andrew has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said on Tuesday that she believed people should “pay their own way” when asked whether Andrew would be allowed to remain in the Royal Lodge.
Sources close to the select committee said there was a growing desire for a proper review to be carried out over his continuing living arrangements and luxuries despite his behaviour.
Under prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Starmer appeared to agree with Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey when he suggested MPs should cross-examine Andrew about the Royal Lodge.
“Given the revelations about the Royal Lodge, does the Prime Minister agree that this House should properly scrutinize the Crown estate to ensure taxpayers’ interests are protected? The Chancellor has said these arrangements are wrong, so will the Prime Minister support a select committee inquiry to obtain evidence from everyone involved, including the current resident?”
Starmer replied: “It’s important that there is a proper review in relation to all properties, royal properties, and I absolutely support that.”
His spokesman did not deny that Starmer supports the idea of a select committee examining the Royal Lodge. “It is important that appropriate review is carried out when review is needed,” they said.
Davey said any cross-examination would have public support. “It is right that the public quite understandably demand answers, so parliament must get to the bottom of the Royal Lodge regulations.
“Prince Andrew must appear before the parliamentary committee to present his evidence and show his remorse. Transparency will play a central role in rebuilding trust in our institutions.”
