Grandeur on token rent Prince's 30-room home caught up in scandal

With its 30 rooms nestling in 98 acres of secluded grounds in Windsor Great Park, Royal Lodge has been the home of Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson for two decades and has been likened to a very grand country house.

- Caroline Davies

Now it is in the crosshairs of public outrage as pressure mounts to justify the discredited prince's right to live in a crown estate property on “a peppercorn” rent.

The seven-bedroom Grade II-listed Georgian mansion is laid out across three storeys with two-storey wings, and features a “formal room” and a spacious drawing room with intricate mouldings and millwork, tall ceilings and large arched windows opening out onto the rear terrace.

There is a conservatory and a saloon, reportedly measuring 48ft by 30ft (15 metres by 9 metres).

The residence is so large that both Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were able to host their wedding receptions at home.

One person who has seen inside described its style as classic elegance with antique furniture and rugs, walls hung with art from the royal collection and fresh flowers in all the main rooms.

Visitors are greeted by a butler on arrival and there is a cook and housekeeper, according to reports.

There are rare glimpses of its interior in the background of Sarah Ferguson’s YouTube show, Storytime with Fergie and Friends, showing windowsills lined with trinkets, vintage-style vases and potted plants.

Its extensive grounds include a gardener's cottage, a chapel lodge, six lodge cottages and police security accommodation. Beatrice and Eugenie grew up there, and the garden boasts their personalised wooden swings. Reports say there is room for a swimming pool, a driving range for the golf-obsessed prince, and tennis courts.