Prince William and Catherine are paying £307,500 a year in rent for Forest Lodge in Windsor, a figure made public for the first time on 15th May. The disclosure puts a price on the couple’s new home after they made an official move in November 2025 from Adelaide Cottage.
The rent was filed in official documents with the Land Registry, which listed the Prince and Princess of Wales as leaseholders of the property. Forest Lodge is an eight-bedroom, Grade II listed Georgian mansion valued at £21 million, and the lease covers the main house and two cottages within the grounds.
The timing matters because this is the first clear public view of what the Waleses are paying for the home that has been described as the family’s likely forever home. The couple signed a 20-year lease in July of last year, but the annual charge was not previously disclosed. That leaves readers with the number that matters now: £307,500, set through a commercial valuation process carried out by three independent property firms.
The money is privately funded by William and Catherine, a point that sharpens the contrast with the cheaper arrangements that have long surrounded royal homes. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor lived at Royal Lodge for 22 years after signing a 75-year lease in 2003 and paid £8.5 million upfront, including £7.5 million for refurbishment, with the deal effectively covering about £113,000 a year in rent to The Crown Estate. Forest Lodge’s previous tenants paid £216,000 a year after signing a tenancy in 2019, which makes the Waleses’ market-rate bill harder to ignore.
That comparison is drawing attention as royal leases come under scrutiny and the Public Accounts Committee opens an inquiry into The Crown Estate. William also pays income tax of between £5 million and £7 million on his annual income from the Duchy of Cornwall, underscoring that the couple’s Windsor home is being handled differently from the sort of heavily discounted arrangement that once applied elsewhere. The unanswered question is not how much they are paying now, but whether the 20-year lease gives them room to stay on after the first term ends.
