Twitter in hot water with King Charles as Elon Musk's company sued over alleged unpaid rent

King Charles III's Crown Estate is suing Twitter over allegations of unpaid rent at the social media company's London offices.

• King Charles III's Crown Estate is suing Twitter over alleged rent arrears, it has been revealed. 
• His Majesty's property business filed legal action against the American social media company, which is owned by South African billionaire Elon Musk, last week. 
• In other royal news, Princess Anne told photographers to 'naff off' after taking this snap but according to some - this isn't the whole story.
  

King Charles III's Crown Estate is suing Twitter over allegations that the American social media company has failed to pay rent for its London offices. 

The independent commercial business, which manages a $9.5 billion real-estate portfolio owned by the British monarchy, filed the case at the High Court last week. 

According to the BBC, the alleged rental arrears concerning office space near Piccadilly Circus in central London. 

Twitter, which was bought by South African billionaire Elon Musk in October, has also been sued by a landlord in San Francisco for allegedly failing to pay rent at its West Coast location for January. Twitter also reportedly asked employees at its Singapore offices to vacate the office on January 11 because of rent arrears. 

According to The Daily Telegraph, the US company had signed a £2.6m-a-year lease for the third floor of its London offices, but the case relates to alleged unpaid rent on the first floor in the same building.

Musk bought Twitter in a $44bn (£35bn) deal last year and subsequently fired half of its 7000 employees in an effort to cut costs. The Tesla mogul's takeover of the company has been met with widespread criticism, with multiple advertisers withdrawing from the popular platform over concerns that his 'free speech' agenda could lead to a rise in hateful content. Musk also received backlash for his relaunch of the 'Blue Tick' scheme for verified users, which was marred by glitches and led to a flood of imposter accounts. 

King Charles appeared to slam Twitter in 2015 during a speech to mark the 500th anniversary of the Royal Mail. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps your greatest service is the way that Royal Mail, by its very existence, defends the written word," the former prince said in his speech to the staff of Britain's longrunning mail service. 

"In these days of texting and various social media apps, the well-constructed sentence is under mortal threat!" 

The Queen's eldest son seemed to then specifically criticize Twitter, expressing his disapproval of today's "140 characters or less culture."