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Now that his coronation is done and dusted, the King is getting on with some pressing problems that need to be sorted.
Top of his list is dealing with his brother Prince Andrew, who is refusing to move out of his home, Royal Lodge. Andrew has leased the 30-room mansion on the Windsor Estate for nearly 20 years and expected to be there for the rest of his life.
But Charles made it clear after the death of their mother, Queen Elizabeth, last year that he wants Andrew out – apparently so that his heir Prince William and his family can live there – and he has cut an annual grant of almost $500,000 his younger sibling receives, meaning Andrew won’t be able to afford to run the house.
But Andrew, 63, has dug in his heels and is determined to stay put.
“He is refusing to budge,” says a friend. “This has been his family home for the past 20 years. Is it really sensible to kick him out?
Staying put! Royal Lodge is more suited to a young family, like William and Kate’s brood.
“He’s concerned that now the coronation is over, the knives are out. He’s worried that the royals might even turn off the utilities to get him out of there. We’re dealing with human beings, not real estate.”
The pal adds that Andrew – who was stripped of his royal duties in 2019 and forced to step back as a frontline royal because of his association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and claims he sexually assaulted an underage girl – is in very low spirits and other than attending the coronation, has become very reclusive. “He is so fragile. He is refusing to see anybody.”
The friend adds Andrew is upset he hasn’t been able to discuss the matter in person with the King or William and might consider a compromise if “Charles does the decent thing and talks to his brother face to face”.
“Why not sit down and talk? If they need the house for William, perhaps Andrew should be told. Perhaps William should invite his uncle for tea and explain? Andrew’s lost his mother. Who, straight after that, would want to be evicted by his brother?”
Given the current cost of living crisis in the UK and ongoing criticism about how much the royal family costs taxpayers, since coming to the throne, the King has ordered a major review of how money is being spent, including on housing for extended members of the royal family. “He knows the public won’t want to see money wasted – particularly in the current climate,” says an insider.
According to some reports, Andrew has already been asked to vacate the Buckingham Palace apartment he has had for decades and used as a bachelor pad after his divorce from Sarah, Duchess of York, in the 1990s.
“The King has made it clear that Buckingham Palace is no place for Andrew,” says a source. “First his office closed and now his sleeping quarters.”
Andrew won’t be completely homeless – he does have the option of using a suite of rooms at St James’s Palace for his London bolt-hole. And for his main home, the palace has suggested Frogmore Cottage. The five-bedroom home was given by the late Queen to Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in 2018, but after a renovation costing more than $4 million, they’ve rarely stayed there since their move to California. Earlier this year, a representative for the Sussexes said they’d been asked to vacate Frogmore.
Downsizing to Frogmore Cottage is seen by Andrew as an insult.
However, Andrew will fight to stay at Royal Lodge, says an insider. Set in Windsor Great Park and 5km south of Windsor Castle, it was the country home of Andrew’s grandmother the Queen Mother from 1952 until she died in 2002. Andrew had previously lived in Sunninghill Park, near Windsor, which was given to him and Fergie as a wedding present by the Queen. After they divorced, he sold it to a Kazakhstan billionaire for nearly $30 million.
Andrew was offered a 75-year lease on Royal Lodge – which comes with seven cottages, another lodge, police accommodation and a swimming pool, all set on 40 hectares – for $1.95 million on condition that he carried out refurbishment work estimated at around $15 million. He paid for the work and shifted in with his daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in 2004. Four years later his ex, Fergie, moved in and she has lived there, on and off, ever since.
The King apparently thinks it would make better sense for the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five, to call Royal Lodge home because it’s much bigger than their “cramped” current Windsor house, Adelaide Cottage.
“William has his eye on Royal Lodge because he is keen for more space to reflect his new royal role,” says a source. “But Andrew doesn’t want to leave because the property is seen as a symbol of senior royalty.”
The King is annoyed by his brother’s stubbornness. “Relations between them have never been this bad. It has turned into a real battle, which His Majesty never expected, and it’s left him tired and infuriated.”
