Echo Comment on king paying rent for Andrew’s daughters

Whenever sensitive figures are released, like the size of MPs’ expenses or the amount the stars of the BBC are paid, there is always a hullabaloo that often tips into jealousy.

But there are several disclosures in the NAO report that should be questioned, like is it right that taxpayers effectively subsidise Andrew’s two daughters, who are non-working royals, so that they can live rent-free in London palaces?

One of the biggest generational unfairnesses in Britain at the moment is the way young people are completely priced out of the property market, with many of them making massive sacrifices to get on the first rung of the ladder.

Yet here are two princesses having their rent paid by the king.

They both own properties outside London – one in the Cotswolds, another in Portugal – and both have made wealthy matches, so why is money coming out of the royal purse to give them second palaces in the capital?

There is much sympathy for Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 36, who have been dragged into scandal by their discredited parents; there is even more sympathy for hard-working ordinary somethings who slog their souls out to afford a mortgage. Why should non-working royals be any different?