Prince Charles may have to pay £700k rent per year to Prince William

A new report has suggested that when Prince Charles becomes King, he may have to cough up a hefty rent sum to his son the Duke of Cambridge.

• This depends on whether Prince Charles decides to keep Highgrove House in Gloucestershire when he is King.
• Highgrove House will no longer be Prince Charles' when he ascends to the throne.
• In other royal news, Prince William is praised for emotional climate change plea, "Our planet is now in crisis".

Prince Charles will one day be king but it appears that even as king he'll still have a few bills to cover and it's relating to his beloved Highgrove House.

A source close to the royals told the Mail on Sunday, that when he is King, Prince Charles plans to make some big changes to the royal residences that are currently in use by different members of the royal family.

Alongside explaining that Prince Charles to make Buckingham Palace residence a ‘flat above the shop’, the source also revealed that Prince Charles would prefer to keep his Gloucestershire home instead of taking up residence at Windsor Castle, which is a residence preferred by the Queen.

"Charles is not keen on Windsor because it is quite noisy," the source said, "His view is that if he's heading to Windsor, he may as well carry on to Highgrove in Gloucestershire." 

Highgrove House is located in the Cotswolds and is part of the Duchy of Cornwall estate. The Duchy of Cornwall is a private estate that was established in 1337 by Edward III in order to provide independence to his son and heir.

When the Queen dies and Prince Charles ascends to the throne, the title and estate associated with the title, The Duchy of Cornwall, will automatically be inherited by Prince William.

This is because the eldest son of the reigning monarch inherits the possession and title of the Duke of Cornwall.

Interestingly, this old piece of legislation is only applicable to a male heir. This means that the title will change from Prince William to Prince George when William ascends to the throne. This also means that if Prince George only has daughters, there will be a need to update this archaic piece of legislation.

So, if Prince Charles chooses to stay at Highgrove House, he may have to pay his son a handsome sum in order to remain on the property. This is because Prince William will be the rightful owner and landlord of all of the property associated with the Duchy of Cornwall.

It is estimated that the rent per annum on Highgrove House is around £700,000. It is unknown if Prince William will in fact demand this sum from his father, but as owner and landlord, he would have a right to ask his father to pay to stay at his property.