Last weekend, there was yet another convenient deflection to the situation with Prince Andrew and his lease on Royal Lodge. Royal Lodge is a 30-room mansion on the Royal Windsor estate, and Andrew is only two decades into a 75-year “sweetheart deal” lease on the crown property. For years now, King Charles and Prince William have been publicly badgering Andrew to relinquish his lease so that William and his family can move into Royal Lodge. I don’t even believe that Charles cares that much, but William is on the warpath about it, and Charles mostly just wants Andrew to be less visible. Well, last weekend’s story was that Charles was considering cutting off Andrew’s funding. Charles uses Duchy of Lancaster funds to finance Andrew’s security bills and his general living expenses, at the cost of something like $5 million a year. I wrote about what I think is really going on here – Andrew wants to be bought out of his lease and Charles has balked at his terms. Something to keep in mind as you read these highlights from the Daily Beast’s latest exclusive.

Andrew will not move out, despite Charles’s threats: One friend said: “Andrew has no intention of moving out, and it’s extraordinary that his brother has chosen to reopen this battle via anonymous briefings to the press. It’s like they [the Palace] have learned nothing from the whole Harry and Meghan debacle. Andrew does not have a huge amount in his life any more, the house is one of the few things keeping him going, and the idea that he is going to throw that away along with his children’s inheritance is just absurd. The place is perfectly well maintained and the notion that Andrew is in dire financial straits is not remotely accurate. He still has the support of plenty of friends and has plenty of business interests.”

Royal Lodge is Andrew’s forever home: Another friend said: “He was given the lease on the house on favorable terms by the late queen. He has been living there with his family for the past twenty years. It is his forever home and he won’t be leaving. Charles has more than enough houses to go round, and should drop this distracting argument with his brother. I find it hard to believe many people in the U.K. would give the issue a second thought if Charles’ camp stopped running these cruel eviction plans up the flagpole every few months.”

Sarah Ferguson supports Andrew’s decision to remain at Royal Lodge: “Sarah has never sought to rock the boat. She has said very publicly that she is grateful to have been brought back into the family by the late queen and she is of course very grateful that has carried on under Charles. That’s a different thing to selling out her family,” the friend said, “She is fiercely loyal to Andrew.” Asked if her double cancer diagnosis last year had affected her position, the friend said, “Not really because her position has always been that Royal Lodge is the family home. That hasn’t changed.”

Historian Andrew Lownie’s take on the situation: “It’s very clear that Charles is now completely fed up with him and would very much like him to move to Frogmore Cottage, but it all still comes down to the fact that Andrew has the lease. That means there is not much anyone can do. There is evidence that work is going on there, and sure, some of it should have been started last year, but that is hardly going to be grounds to evict him. He has plenty of money. He sold his Swiss chalet, he continues to go out to the Middle East for work, and he inherited money from his grandmother. Sarah Ferguson bought a £5m ($6.4m) property in Mayfair in 2022. The whole dispute really stems from the fact that that the brothers have never got on, and the households don’t get on either. No-one is coming out of this very well, but if Charles is really serious about getting rid of him, he should stop paying for his security—but the problem there is that Andrew is the one royal who perhaps needs it more than any other.”

[From The Daily Beast]

This is what I keep saying too: “Charles has more than enough houses to go round.” Charles currently splits his time between seven homes, right? Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, Highgrove, Balmoral, Birkhall, Sandringham, Windsor Castle, and I’m not even counting the royal properties where he only stays for a day or two every year, like Holyrood Palace. Beyond those homes, there is a vast network of crown properties. These people are acting like Royal Lodge and Frogmore Cottage are the only homes up for debate. It’s insane. Like, I’m not even on Andrew’s side or Charles’s side – they’re both despicable people. But I totally understand why Andrew is playing hardball here and why he’s disgusted with Charles and William’s bonkers eviction campaign.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.