The King’s aides flatly deny the suggestion, however the prince has however turn out to be mounted on the thought, which surfaced a 12 months in the past, that Royal Lodge was being earmarked for Camilla.
In fact, the Queen, who grew to become a member of the royal household by marriage in 2005, is way much less grand than Prince Andrew and is unlikely to wish to reside alone in such a big residence even for less than a part of the 12 months.
Camilla nonetheless owns Ray Mill Home, the Grade II-listed household home in Wiltshire she purchased with the divorce settlement from her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, and it’s stated to be the place the place she feels most at house.
Earlier this 12 months, she selected Ray Mill as the situation for her official 78th birthday portrait, and in March, the King purchased the Outdated Mill property subsequent to Ray Mill to stop it from being changed into a marriage venue and ruining the Queen’s privateness.
In discussions about Royal Lodge, Prince Andrew has been immovable in his opinion that he has each proper to stay there.
He paid £1 million ($2.05 million) for a 75-year lease on the property in 2003, and spent greater than £7.5 million renovating it at his personal expense as a part of the identical settlement.
The prince has argued that he has saved the taxpayer cash by paying for the renovations – and the appreciable annual repairs of the mansion – out of his personal funds and doesn’t agree with the view of some MPs that he’s costing the taxpayer cash by residing rent-free.
Andrew’s representatives have put ahead the view that Royal Lodge couldn’t be rented out by the Crown Property – in impact an arm of the Treasury – due to safety issues over its proximity to Windsor Fort.
In the meantime, William, the Prince of Wales, who has no time for his uncle however stays on good phrases along with his cousins, Beatrice and Eugenie, has made it identified that he needs the difficulty of Royal Lodge settled earlier than he turns into king.
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Sir Geoffrey stated he would ask questions of the Treasury and the Crown Property as a part of his committee’s remit “to look at the economic system, effectivity and effectiveness of public spending, and make sure the taxpayer is receiving greatest worth for cash”.
He stated: “We’ll evaluation the response we obtain to our forthcoming correspondence and can take into account at the moment whether or not to hunt additional data.”
He additionally stated the committee would preserve a detailed eye on the Crown Property’s annual report when it got here out subsequent 12 months.
