Fury as Beatrice and Eugenie living in royal palaces for free

From the article:

“[Princess Beatrice](https://www.express.co.uk/latest/princess-beatrice) and [Princess Eugenie](https://www.express.co.uk/latest/princess-eugenie), the daughters of disgraced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, do not pay rent on[ their homes at the royal palaces](https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/2210763/beatrice-eugenie-leave-royal-homes), a new investigation has found. The King foots the bill, despite the York sisters having primary residences elsewhere and not being working members of the Royal Family, and their adjusted rents were based on outdated market valuations.

The report by the National Audit Office into the Firm’s residential property arrangements also found that the former Duke of York received undisclosed income from renting out three properties on his Royal Lodge estate, despite [paying only a peppercorn rent for living at the Windsor mansion](https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/2123847/prince-andrew-rent-royal-lodge-lease) for over 30 years.

Other key findings include that the monarch is paying the rent of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, and his wife, at Kensington Palace, despite Buckingham Palace announcing that from 2010, the couple would foot the then-£120,000 yearly rent themselves.”

But who exactly is furious?

Like 15-20 years ago Charles and Andrew got in a fight over who should pay for the renovations on Eugenie’s Kensington Palace apt and their letters leaked to the press, but I really want to know if Charles won and Andrew/Beatrice had to pay for them.

I’m not furious, just curious. What, exactly, entitles them to the properties? They’re each married with families, homes of their own and, in the case of Eugenie, she spends most of her time in Portugal. Why aren’t they just given short-term rentals on palace grounds for when they actually need to be in London?

I don’t really understand what people expect. They’re literally Princesses. What’s the point in having a royal family if you expect them to be treated normally?

I say this as someone who doesn’t believe in monarchy, and who has no fondness for the BRF. I just sort of assumed and expected this so I’m not surprised. Is the issue that people are surprised to learn this?

It may be because I’m petty, but I’d much rather Beatrice and Eugenie live in palaces than Sarah and Andrew.

Thought you had to be a full-time “working royal” to enjoy the perks?

“Shock: Princesses live in palace! More news to come: fish live in water!”

People who make a fuss about where the royals live irritate me to no end, these palaces exist, the royal family exists, this is where they live. If you don’t like it make a case for abolishing the monarchy, but see their argument on that account is weak so all they can do is chip away at things.

To everyone dismissing this as something only unreasonable people would be upset about or to anyone wondering why the private living arrangements of the royal family is drawing criticism:

The criticism over non-working royals living in royal properties is because the royal family benefits from a combination of direct taxpayer subsidies and specific legal exemptions that allow the monarchy to retain properties under conditions (e.g. death, upkeep costs, etc.) that require other people to sell ancestral property. The special laws that allow this were passed under the theory that the people benefiting service the public through their work for the monarchy (whether the work they provide is worth these legal benefits is another matter). Here, regardless of who is actually paying rent, the benefit of royal housing is being passed on to people who aren’t earning that benefit.

But, the rent here is being paid for by Charles, whose money comes from the Duchy of Lancaster. The Duchy of Lancaster is a special legal estates (i.e. portfolios of land, property, investments, etc.) that are exempt from capital gains taxes, corporate taxes, inheritance taxes, property sales taxes, etc. The money generated from the Duchy that goes to Charles (as opposed to back into the Duchy where it is shielded from taxes) is taxed because Charles voluntarily pays income taxes on it. However, I believe his income taxes are private, so we don’t know details about exemptions and things like that.

I believe it is completely reasonable to have an opinion on how laws enrich the royal family.

Parasites at work here?