A new report indicates that Great Britain’s King Charles is getting tough with his brother, Prince Andrew, in their long-term duel over the latter’s residence.
Andrew currently lives in a 30-room mansion at Windsor, Royal Lodge. His brother wants him to move to Frogmore Cottage, a five-bedroom residence on the grounds of Windsor Castle that was once home to Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
But according to excerpts of a biography of the king written by Robert Hardman and published in the U.K. Daily Mail, Charles has made it harder for Andrew to stay put.
Charles has decided to cut off Andrew’s annual personal allowance, which is estimated at around £1 million a year, and will not foot the bill for Andrew’s seven-figure private security detail, the book says.
“The duke is no longer a financial burden on the King,” a source quoted in the book said.
Andrew’s connection with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his settlement with an Epstein victim led to the end of Andrew’s role as a working member of the royal family while his mother, Queen Elizabeth, was still alive.
An excerpt from the book published by the Daily Mail said the queen was ready to evict him.
“’Had she lived another year, he would have been out,’ says a former adviser to Elizabeth II firmly,” the excerpt said.
“’It was her plan to move him out, to end the lease for the Sussexes at Frogmore Cottage and to move Andrew in there. It was mainly a money thing, as she could see it was becoming unsustainable,’” the excerpt said.
The Mail reported that Andrew believes he has “a cast-iron, long-term lease on the late Queen Mother’s former home in Windsor Great Park.”
The prince has resisted being downsized, despite the fact that his current abode is apparently in disrepair.
“Visible cracks, crumbling paint and spreading black mold now mar the historic walls of the Duke of York’s 30-room mansion,” the New York Post reported.
“Now that the King has effectively called his brother’s bluff, Andrew is going to have to find the money for the upkeep of his vast property, as well as his security detail, with no visible sign of independent income,” the Mail’s report noted.
The Mail said that the prince has said he can find what the book called “other sources of income” to pay his bills, but noted that his brother will be watching and waiting to see if that comes to pass.
“‘If he can find the money, then that is up to him, but if not, he will find that the King does not have unlimited patience,’” the excerpt quoted what it said was an unnamed insider as saying.
Royal commentator Christopher Wilson said Andrew is making the problem worse, according to the Post.
“It’s dishonoring [the Queen Mother’s] memory,” he said.
“It’s shoving up two fingers at King Charles,” Wilson said, referring to an obscene British gesture. “The state of his mind is reflected in the state of his home.”
“It is falling all around him,” he said. “He doesn’t care anymore.”
