King Charles III’s rental of property gifted to Queen sparks talks of the use of gifts by the Royal family

Controversy has erupted after reports surfaced that King Charles III has been privately renting out a property gifted to his mother during her reign. Named the Georgian House, the elegant Edinburgh property was given to Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 by its previous owner and was managed by the UK government for more than 40 years. 

However, the property was divided into two flats and is now being rented out to tenants at full market rate, which has once again raised questions about the use of gifts given to the royal family and their subsequent management.

Property records indicate that the property was registered as being held by a government department as a gift to the Queen. The Guardian alleged that government papers show the property was treated as a state-owned building for decades, being used as "grace and favour" homes for dignitaries and employees of the royal household. However, the government stopped taking responsibility for "grace and favour" properties and handed them back to Buckingham Palace to handle the maintenance and management of the homes.

Conversations about funding renovation work for the property were happening among government officials, with the then Department of the Environment offering the royal family a payment of £6,000 in lieu of the incomplete modernisation work.

However, civil servants were hesitant about the arrangement, believing it would be asking for trouble if the government funded the renovations.

After the property was handed over to Buckingham Palace, civil servants thought the property would be paid for by the royal household. The apartments, valued at around £1.5m to £1.8m, became part of the Queen's private estate and are held by Canup Ltd - the company that owns the King's lands and houses at Balmoral and Delnadamph in the Scottish Highlands on his behalf.

A palace spokesperson stated that in the ‘90s, at the request of the Department of the Environment, the property was handed back to the Queen, who took on the responsibility for its maintenance and upkeep privately though they did not comment on whether the Queen had known its previous owner.