Prince William could receive £700,000 a year in rent from King Charles after taking over the Duchy of Cornwall

Prince William has become his father's new landlord and will receive up to £700,000 a year from King Charles for the monarch's Highgrove home, a source claims.

The Prince of Wales now controls the Duchy of Cornwall and its £345million property portfolio - including his father's Gloucestershire home, Highgrove.

The Duchy, which owns 128,000 acres of land and reportedly had a £21million income last year, is passed to the eldest son of a reigning British monarch.

As such, King Charles will now have to pay hundreds and thousands of pounds to William, to honour the long lease he signed on Highgrove House which was purchased in 1980.

As source told The Sun: 'The King has a long lease and pays rent on Highgrove House and surrounding land.

Inheriting the Duchy has made the new Prince of Wales the biggest private landowner in Britain, with a £1.2 billion holding across 23 counties, including farms, housing developments, seven castles, woodland, coastlines and commercial property.

It is often said that Highgrove is the royal residence Charles is most attached too, and it's where the new sovereign visited for just a day following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II,

During the early years of his marriage to Princess Diana it was their weekend home, but the Princess never returned after their separation in 1992.

The estate is also close to Queen Consort Camilla's personal home Ray Mill House in Reybridge near Lacock, Wiltshire - and is now a place the King and his wife deeply cherish.

The estate, of course, boasts a residence of suitable stature for any reigning monarch.

A nine-bedroom, six-bathroom mansion, and once home of Maurice Macmillan, son of the former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, it has beautiful interiors by the late decorator Robert Kime.