Andrew Windsor, the English commoner formerly known as Prince, was required to pay what amounts to a single peppercorn a year to rent the royal 30-room mansion where he’s lived for three decades.

The odd rent arrangement dates back centuries to a time when the spicy little seeds brought a saucier price than today and were frequently used as a symbolic sum in English real-estate deals that required payment to be legally validated.

One peppercorn is typically a stand-in for the likes of a $1 rent in a lease today, according to the Guardian , and it is unlikely Prince Andrew has been actually handing over a little black ball to the royal family every year since he moved into the Royal Lodge on Windsor Castle’s grounds in 2003.

But even though Andrew is already on his way out of the dig

See Full Page