Andrew’s mystery £3m lifeline to stay in Royal Lodge should be revealed with his questionable pals
THE source of Prince Andrew’s £3 million lifeline that means he can now stay in 30-room Royal Lodge should be revealed, claim royal experts.
According to royal pros, the disgraced Duke of York, 64, was desperate to stay at his publicly owned home after King Charles cut his allowance, but there is now new controversy over who his secret benefactor is.
On this week’s episode of Royal Exclusive, Matt Wilkinson, The Sun’s Royal Editor, was joined by News.com.au’s Royal Reporter Bronte Coy and Katie Nicholl, Vanity Fair’s Royal Correspondent, to discuss Andrew’s Royal Lodge saga.
According to Matt: “This saga has been going on for a long time but one of the main issues is him at the Royal Lodge.
“We now know that Prince Andrew’s money has been taken away, his Annual Allowance by the King, he has removed it.
“We don’t know where this money’s come from. Do you think we should know how Andrew has secured money to remain in the Royal Lodge?”
Prince Andrew’s home, Royal Lodge, is a £30million 19th century listed Windsor pad that he shares with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.
It was where the late Queen Elizabeth spent part of her childhood and boasts 40 hectares of woodland and lawns, eight cottages, and lodgings for security personnel.
But Andrew, who moved into Royal Lodge, the former home of the Queen Mother, in 2004 – has refused to move, after taking on a lease that lasts until 2078.
Charles, 75, is said to have wanted Andrew out of the house for years, but after Andrew lost his annual £3million-a-year hand-out from the King, which funded guards at Windsor’s Royal Lodge, Bronte explained: “My feeling on this is, look, he’s out of royal duties now, so there’s a degree that he can go about his life as long as it’s above the line.
“With that said, he has incredibly bad form in the past with choosing his associates and given his proximity to a lot of influence, he has people’s ear, whether or not they listen is a whole other thing, but he is in the royal circle, so the fact there is suddenly £3million, or something thereabouts, being given to him, apparently indefinitely, to fund him, is it just a one way generous offer?”
Bronte explained that the mystery behind the £3million handout should be revealed, as a result of his ‘questionable’ pals.
She questioned: “Is it for a set period of time? Is there something Andrew is going to do in return?
“I think information like that is what’s making people nervous because as I said, he’s got very, very questionable taste when it comes to choosing who he will align himself with.
“Also at a point where he’s been stripped of all of his funding, any kind of lifeline, especially one of this size, you would assume would’ve been jumped at.
“He’s desperate to stay in Royal Lodge.”
Following this, Katie agreed: “He doesn’t wanna leave, the King’s not gonna kick him out because they’re brothers after all.
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“Royal finances are complicated but essentially it comes down to the public expenditure and then the private expenditure.
“The public expenditure, there’s a great level of transparency around, we know how it’s spent.
“But when it comes to the private finances, it is much much harder to get into that and clearly, Prince Andrew is not a poor person.
I think there should be a little more reassurance from an official source, maybe not unmasking whoever the person is, but more reassurance that it’s come from somewhere people will be comfortable with
Bronte Coy
“He’s got inheritance from his father, from his mother and I would imagine he’s probably having to dip into that to stay at Royal Lodge because quite rightly so the King has cut off that financial tap, as he did for Prince Harry, because Andrew is no longer a working member of the royal family. That could never have gone on indefinitely.
“I think the problem for Charles is Andrew doesn’t want to leave Royal Lodge, it’s where he lives with Fergie, he’s digging his heels in, and he’ll stay for as long as he can afford to stay.
“And obviously there is money that he is able to use.”
Inside Prince Andrew's 'crumbling' Royal Lodge
THE disgraced Duke of York resides at the £30million Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, Berkshire - at least for now.
King Charles has redoubled his efforts to evict the Duke – with insiders branding the stand-off the “siege of Royal Lodge“.
Despite his divorce from Sarah Ferguson in 1996, Prince Andrew lives with his ex-wife at the countryside estate.
Prince Andrew‘s royal residence, with its eye-catching white exterior, boasts 30 rooms with plenty of space for entertaining, plus seven bedrooms spread across the two topmost floors.
The Duke of York is said to spend all day “watching TV in a dark room” like a prisoner at his “crumbling” home.
Royal Lodge is said to “need extensive repairs”, thought to be about £400,000 a year.
The monarch is said to be becoming increasingly frustrated at Andrew’s refusal to care for the colossal mansion.
Andrew is said to have promised King Charles he would take care of its expensive repairs – despite having no apparent source of income.
Matt added: “I’m just very nervous, I’m trying to find out where this money is coming from.”
To this, Bronte agreed: “I think with Andrew, people are very nervous.
“I think there should be a little more reassurance from an official source, maybe not unmasking whoever the person is, but more reassurance that it’s come from somewhere people will be comfortable with.”
The Vanity Fair Royal Correspondent then added: “Because if there isn’t that puts the King in a very difficult position.
“And then you’ve got the proximity of Andrew, the sort of black sheep of the family, it’s not an easy position for the King to be in.”
But now, The Sun has revealed that Andrew has negotiated a cheaper protection deal at his leased home which he refuses to leave.
His plan is believed to be bankrolled by Middle East money.
He has his security but at a cheaper rate and he is managing to finance it himself
Source
Daughters Beatrice and Eugenie have addressed conferences in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.
A source said: “He has his security but at a cheaper rate and he is managing to finance it himself.
“He has dug his heels in and is refusing to move so found a way to finance his security.
“How sustainable in the long term, then who knows how long he can do it for.”
Author Andrew Lownie, who is penning a shock book on the prince, said: “Prince Andrew is likely to have many forms of income.”
It comes after news last week that Andrew had shown Palace officials that he has the required funds to maintain upkeep of the 30-room mansion.
And Sir Michael Stevens, keeper of the privy purse, approved the money as coming from legitimate sources, The Times reported.
It’s no wonder that eyebrows are being raised over how Andrew can afford his upkeep, given he was stripped of his status after becoming embroiled in a scandal due to his association with the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
He was accused of sexual assault by Virginia Giuffre and handed over millions to settle the case against him – although he has always vehemently protested his innocence and insisted he never even met her.
'There is no way back for Prince Andrew', claims PR guru
PRINCE Andrew’s reputation is damaged beyond repair and he will never be able to engineer a return to public life, according to one of Britain’s top PR gurus.
Brand and culture expert Nick Ede, who runs East of Eden PR agency, called the shamed royal “deluded” for thinking he could ever return to royal duties and urged him to give up and ‘enjoy his life’ in exile.
It follows the release of Scoop – a Netflix movie based on the 2019 interview he gave to Newsnight.
Nick said: “There is no way back for him.
“I think you know this perpetual idea that he could still be back. Nobody cares. He hasn’t got fans.
“There’s nobody out there who’s going ‘We want to see Prince Andrew’, not one single person. I think he has to realise that. But I think it’s going to take a long, long time for him to actually understand. It’s very deluded.
“In my opinion, the best thing that he could do is just enjoy his life. He’s got gorgeous daughters. He has a great relationship with Fergie, he has a lovely house.
“Just live a quiet life.”
Reflecting on the interview five years ago – the fallout of which saw Andrew step back from royal duties “for the foreseeable future” – Nick compared the fallout to Frost vs Nixon and said he would have urged him not to do it.
He said: “If I had been advising him, I would say, go quiet, be quiet, just go to ground. You know you’re a prince. Enjoy the life that you lead, but do not open this can of worms, because that’s what it is.
“There was no admission that a relationship with somebody like Epstein was terribly toxic. There was no idea that there were loads of victims of trafficking whose lives were completely ruined by Epstein. He didn’t seem to think that the association he had with that man was anything but positive.
“I think his worst gaffe was obviously being in that interview and agreeing to it in the first place, for not realising that he’s actually going to be interviewed by a very, very good journalist who is going to ask him questions which he might not like.
“But I think what this has done is really shown how archaic Prince Andrew is in his opinions and thoughts.
“Read the room. He’s never read a room at all.”
Andrew appeared on BBC current affairs show Newsnight for a now infamous interview with Emily Maitlis in November 2019.
While Andrew initially believed his BBC interview had gone ‘quite well’, millions of TV viewers thought otherwise.
Following a massive backlash, the Duke announced he would ‘step back from public duties’.
Andrew said in his statement: “It has become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work and the valuable work going on in the many organisations and charities that I am proud to support.
“Therefore, I have asked Her Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the foreseeable future, and she has given her permission.”
Now, Andrew is now said to live a rather reclusive existence – spending his days playing golf, riding and watching television behind the walls of his estate – the refuge he is said to be desperate to hang on to.