A grace-and-favour home is a residential property owned by a monarch, government, or other owner and leased rent-free to a person as part of the perquisites of their employment, or in gratitude for services rendered.
Most of these properties are taxed as a "benefit in kind", although this status does not apply to Downing Street or any home granted for security purposes, such as the residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
[3] 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".
[5] 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).
[6] Other residences include: Mary Treadgold's novel for children, The Winter Princess (1962), concerns a child who comes to stay in a grace and favour apartment at Hampton Court.