Princess Eugenie, Beatrice warned over royal properties: 'Wise to leave'

 Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have received a stark warning to vacate their London palace residences before a highly anticipated government review turns their living arrangements into a fresh public scandal.

The warning came from Norman Baker, a former Liberal Democrat Home Affairs minister, following disclosures that Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee is preparing to aggressively audit rental agreements across the Crown Estate later this year.

Baker publicly urged the York sisters to proactively walk away from their historic accommodations, warning that non-working royals should not continue to benefit from subsidized "grace-and-favour" properties:

“I think Beatrice and Eugenie would be wise to leave their properties in St James's Palace and Kensington Palace before people start asking too many questions. Non-working royals should never benefit from grace-and-favour or peppercorn rent arrangements.”

— Norman Baker, Former Home Affairs Minister

The Properties in Question

Both sisters maintain highly prestigious footholds in London, despite neither of them acting as working members of the Royal Family and both having primary residences elsewhere:

• Princess Beatrice (37): Maintains a rented apartment at St James’s Palace. Her primary family home is a £3 million country estate in Oxfordshire, where she lives with her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, and their children.

• Princess Eugenie (35): Retains Ivy Cottage, a quaint three-bedroom house on the grounds of Kensington Palace. Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank—who recently announced they are expecting their third child—actually spend the majority of their time living in a luxury $4.8 million estate in Portugal for Jack's work.

The Problematic "Father's Deal"

The scrutiny is heavily compounded by the fact that their palace properties are the result of a historical, private commercial agreement brokered by their disgraced father, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

According to reports originally published by The Times, Andrew deliberately struck a deal with the Crown Estate years ago to secure an urban foothold for his daughters. Historically, Andrew was paying an estimated £1,600 a month for a four-bedroom apartment at St James's Palace for the sisters—a minute fraction of commercial value.

While it remains unclear whether Beatrice and Eugenie have assumed financial responsibility for the bills since their father’s eviction from Royal Lodge and subsequent arrest, experts point out it is highly unlikely they are paying true market rates. In elite districts like Kensington, equivalent commercial properties fetch between £15,000 and £19,000 a month.

The Shift Toward Market Accountability

The political climate surrounding royal housing has shifted dramatically, fueled by public outcry over the York family's historic finances. Royal analysts note that other senior figures have already read the room and adapted to avoid public backlash:

The Upcoming Audit: With the Public Accounts Committee actively preparing to examine the "near-zero rents" historically enjoyed by senior royals, the York sisters face a difficult choice.

As biographer Andrew Lownie recently noted, if the sisters wish to protect their remaining public standing, they may have to willingly renounce these palace privileges, move out, and pay standard market rates like private citizens. Remaining inside the palace walls under a deal brokered by their father risks dragging them right back into the media storm they have been desperately trying to escape.