Prince Andrew latest: MPs pressure Crown Estate over ‘value for money’ of Andrew’s rent-free Royal Lodge life

“I look forward to disseminating some of the Crown’s money to do some good,” Virginia Giuffre wrote in her memoir.

Reminder: Four days after his notorious 2019 BBC Newsnight interview aired, Prince Andrew stepped down from public duties. The interview was seen as a disaster for him:

The Crown Estate is independent of the government and the King, the Treasury has insisted, after the Public Accounts Committee called on both the estate and the Treasury to say whether Andrew’s arrangements were value for money.

A Treasury spokesperson said: “The Crown Estate is an organisation independent of both the government and the Monarch.

“We will respond to Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown in due course.”

The Duke of Sussex has railed against social media companies, claiming they “farm our children’s mindset and market it for themselves”.

Harry said there were some “evil wicked people at the heart of this” in a podcast interview with US comic Hasan Minhaj, and when asked if he would become a US citizen, replied he had no plans at this point.

The duke, who has long campaigned to raise awareness about the harms of social media, told the Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know podcast: “People look to governments to protect them and yet we have this lawlessness within this particular industry.

“Where, as far as they’re concerned, accountability slows down innovation, the power and the decision-making rests with the few rather than the many.

“The incentives are all wrong, the incentives are to keep kids online for as long as possible, to farm and process your thinking, your thoughts and literally keep you there for as long as possible so they can make as much money as possible.”

A parliamentary committee has questioned whether Prince Andrew should still be living in a mansion on the Windsor Estate, on which he pays a “peppercorn” rent.

The Public Accounts Committee of MPs raised concerns with the Crown Estate – which manages the monarch’s public property – and the Treasury.

The cross-party parliamentary committee said it expected a response “at the earliest possible date” and set a November 28 deadline.

“It is reasonable … at this point that the committee seek assurance that the rationale for the lease justifies the minimal rent charged,” the letter said.

“There is considerable and understandable public interest in the spending of public money in relation to Prince Andrew.”

The intervention marks a significant change in convention, which dictates that MPs do not criticise the royal family in parliament, and it could increase pressure on Andrew to move to a smaller property.

The King and Queen were garlanded with flowers when they celebrated the 30th anniversary of a landmark Hindu temple with its devotees.

Charles and Camilla wished worshippers a belated “Happy Diwali” – the Hindu festival of lights celebrated earlier this month – when they toured BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, in West London, popularly known as the Neasden temple.

A priest dressed in flowing orange robes placed a garland of roses and carnations around the neck of the King while the Queen’s floral gift was presented by a female senior volunteer.