grace-and-favour home
noun phrase

- a residential property owned by a monarch by virtue of his or her position as head of state and leased, often rent-free, to persons as part of an employment package or in gratitude for past services rendered (in the United Kingdom, these homes are owned by the Crown or a charity and, in modern times, are often within the gift of the prime minister)

Wikipedia

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PHRASE ORIGIN

It is possible that the term crept into English through the writings of Niccolò Machiavelli, who wrote of advisers who are ministers per grazia e concessione, which has been translated as "through grace and favour".

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ENGLISH GRACE-AND-FAVOUR RESIDENCES

In England there are over 100 apartments, the most splendid being at Kensington Palace where the Prince of Wales, Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent once lived. There are also some at Windsor Castle, and Buckingham Palace. St James's Palace had 20 apartments. Lord Kitchener once lived there, as did the Duke of Windsor. Hampton Court apartments were generally occupied by retired soldiers and diplomats or (more usually) by their widows.

In the latter part of Queen Victoria's reign, Frogmore Cottage in the Home Park, Windsor, was the grace and favour residence of her Indian attendant, Abdul Karim (the Munshi)*. In 2018, it was renovated for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who moved into it in the spring of 2019.

*Mohammed Abdul Karim CVO CIE (1863 — 20 April 1909), also known as "the Munshi", was an Indian attendant of Queen Victoria. He served her during the final fourteen years of her reign, gaining her maternal affection over that time.

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