Prince Andrew 'has no long-term future' at his Royal Lodge home'
Prince Andrew ‘has no long-term future’ at his Royal Lodge home, King Charles ‘privately believes’ despite reports the Duke of York had been allowed to stay there ‘indefinitely’
- READ MORE: Prince Andrew to be ‘granted permission to stay at Royal Lodge
King Charles privately believes Prince Andrew has ‘no long term future’ at his Royal Lodge home, despite apparently giving him more time to stump up the money to stay there.
It follows reports that the beleaguered Duke of York has been granted permission by the monarch to ‘stay indefinitely’ at his Windsor mansion after they ‘thrashed out a new deal’.
The pair have been at loggerheads over Charles’s demands that Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah, move out of the 30-room royal property – which has problems with damp and requires several million pounds-worth of repairs – into somewhere smaller, such as Harry and Meghan’s old home, Frogmore Cottage.
The Mirror reported this week that Andrew, 63, had been granted a ‘stay of execution’ after Charles accepted his brother should be given time to prove he can pay for the mansion’s upkeep.
Buckingham Palace has refused to get drawn into the issue. However, multiple well-placed sources in royal circles have told the Mail that the prince isn’t being ‘realistic’ about his financial situation after being forced to step back from public duties over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and having his annual allowance – believed to be in the region of £250,000 – culled by the king.
The disgraced Duke of York is said to have forked out more than £200,000 for roof repairs on the royal mansion over the summer
King Charles privately believes Prince Andrew has ‘no long term future’ at his Royal Lodge home
Andrew, who took over the house from the late Queen Mother on a long-term lease, has ploughed up to £7million of his own fortune into renovations
One family friend said: ‘It’s all a bit cloud cuckoo-land, I’m afraid. No one, not least His Majesty, believes there is any realistic, long-term chance of the Duke of York being able to keep the roof at Royal Lodge over his head.
READ MORE: Prince Andrew to be ‘granted permission to stay at Royal Lodge indefinitely’
‘It’s a massive property and estate that requires a huge amount of upkeep.’ Another added: ‘In all honesty, I would not expect to see the Duke of York of living at Royal Lodge in the long term. If he could pay the upkeep then he would be welcome to stay. But the chances of that happening are, frankly, remote.
‘He and the duchess are… rattling around in a huge property they simply can’t afford.’
The King has no right to kick his brother out because Andrew took on the late Queen Mother’s Grade II-listed property from the Crown Estate in 2004 on a long-term lease and has funded many millions of pounds worth of renovations. If King Charles did persuade him to move, then the Crown Estate could even end up owing Andrew money.
But the sovereign is alive not only to how it looks for a jobless ex-royal to live in such palatial surroundings, but also to the lucrative income Royal Lodge could bring in as a rental property on the open market.
‘The Duke is clearly not going without a fight,’ one insider remarked. ‘This will all probably end in tears. Mostly likely his.’
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