EVEN THE KING WILL HAVE TO COUGH UP

KING Charles faces a bill of £9,000 a year for rental licence fees to cover holiday accommodation at Balmoral and the late Queen Mother’s Castle of Mey holiday retreat.

The 50,000-acre Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire, which rents out eight holiday cottages, is among thousands of operators that will be forced to get a licence in order to comply with the rules.

Aberdeenshire Council fees show it could cost £7,921 for the eight holiday cottages on the estate, with seven of them coming under a £1,015 banding covering properties for ‘five to nine people’ and the eighth coming under a slightly cheaper banding.

Meanwhile, at the Castle of Mey, in Caithness, in the Highland Council area, the cost of a three-year licence for the luxury ten-bedroom Granary Lodge B&B could be £530, while a licence for the

Captain’s House self-catering lodge, which sleeps six, is likely to be £470. Buckingham Palace said the Balmoral estate would comply with any and all relevant licences for commercial endeavours.