King Charles is preparing to end one of the most quietly contested perks inside the royal household, ordering a formal review of the rent-free living arrangements enjoyed for nearly two decades by Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. The monarch’s decision, reported June 10, 2026, signals that the housing privileges extended to the daughters of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor may soon vanish entirely.
Beatrice has been living at St. James’s Palace, while Eugenie occupies a cottage within the Kensington Palace estate. A report from the National Audit Office, the U.K.’s independent public spending watchdog, revealed that both sisters have lived rent-free in those residences for almost 20 years — despite the fact that neither is a working royal.
According to palace insiders, royal officials first contacted the princesses in 2025 and followed up around March 2026, asking them to begin exploring other options for when they need a base in London. The message, delivered through aides rather than the king himself, was framed as part of a broader reassessment of how royal properties are allocated.
A Shift in How Palaces Are Used
King Charles has already instructed aides to review the use of royal residences by members of the family, and the implications stretch well beyond two apartments. Once the York sisters vacate, Beatrice’s apartment is expected to be converted into office space, while Eugenie’s cottage is likely to become accommodation for a senior member of staff.
“Senior royal officials have made it increasingly clear that the accommodation arrangements currently enjoyed by Beatrice and Eugenie are not viewed as a permanent entitlement,” a palace insider told a royal reporter. Officials have stressed that the move is not punitive but operational — practical housekeeping tied to the king’s long-term plans for the institution. The pressure is not only internal. Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee is preparing to launch a formal inquiry into royal housing arrangements, expected before the end of June, with MPs signaling they may summon royal representatives to give evidence before the House of Commons.
Still, no one inside the palace is pretending the symbolism is small. The shift sends a message about who is expected to occupy royal properties in the years ahead, and Prince William’s fingerprints are unmistakable. Reports indicate William, Prince of Wales, the heir to the throne, wants such privileges reserved strictly for working royals.
William’s Hardening View
“Andrew was the warning shot,” one source said. “If a prince can be pushed out of a royal residence, nobody believes the York sisters will be exempt from the changes William wants to make.”
That warning shot landed hard. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor voluntarily surrendered the Duke of York title in October 2025, and was formally stripped of his “Prince” title and “His Royal Highness” (HRH) styling by royal Letters Patent in November 2025, then evicted from Royal Lodge, the 30-room Windsor mansion where he had lived rent-free for years. He was later arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, an investigation that has since expanded to include sex crimes. He has been at the center of public scrutiny since the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, and he is no longer permitted at public royal events.
According to sources close to the family, William’s reasoning is straightforward: royal properties exist to support the institution, and those not working for the institution have little claim to live in them for free. Beatrice and Eugenie, by all accounts, understand the math. The expectation inside the household is that when William becomes king, the sisters will be required to pay their own way. For now, the sisters are navigating the scrutiny carefully. On June 6, Beatrice and Eugenie made their first public royal appearance of 2026, attending the wedding of their cousin Peter Phillips to Harriet Sperling in the Cotswolds — a private family event that allowed them to re-enter the royal fold without the pressure of an official public occasion. The National Audit Office (NAO) report had broken just hours before the ceremony.
The Sisters Plead for Their Father
Even as their own housing future tightens, Beatrice and Eugenie had been quietly lobbying their uncle on another front — their father. The sisters had pleaded with King Charles to allow Andrew to remain at Royal Lodge, though the appeal was rooted less in concern for him than for their mother, Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York.
Ferguson and Andrew divorced in 1996 but had lived together at Royal Lodge since 2008. She is battling both breast cancer and skin cancer, and the princesses did not want her displaced during treatment. Since they were evicted from Royal Lodge, Andrew has been living at Marsh Farm on the royal Sandringham Estate, and Ferguson was last seen in the Austrian Alps.
“The two princesses have spoken to their uncle, asking him to forgive Andrew and for the two brothers to mend fences,” a royal source said. “But it remains to be seen if their requests have been heard.”
The cumulative picture, as detailed by multiple royal correspondents, is of a monarchy quietly contracting — pruning the perks, the properties and the personalities that no longer fit a slimmed-down vision of the institution. For Beatrice and Eugenie, the question is no longer whether the rent-free era ends, but when.