This is what is called a pressure move. According to information revealed by the Sun on Sunday On August 17, 2024, Charles III made a big decision about his brother, Prince Andrew: he chose to stop funding his security. As of the end of October, the sovereign will no longer pay the bill, estimated at more than 4.5 million euros annually, to ensure the protection of his residence, the Royal Lodge. A final maneuver to try to dislodge him? In any case, yet another blow for the Duke of York.
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Since he retired from public life, following the Epstein scandal, Prince Andrew no longer benefits from the close protection provided by RAVEC, a dedicated service of the British government for active members of the royal family. However, his pension as a former officer was not sufficient to provide the same level of security while using private companies, so upon the death of their mother Elizabeth II, it was his brother, Charles III, who agreed to take over by paying private agents himself, from his personal funds, to watch over his younger brother’s residence.
The main entrance to Royal Lodge, south of Windsor Castle. © Cawthra Ben/SPUS/ABACA
There are about ten employees working in shifts, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to ensure the protection of the Royal Lodge, this mansion with more than thirty rooms, located on the royal estate of Windsor, in which Prince Andrew still lives with his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York. But if the security of the place is no longer assured, will the couple, who no longer have any official function, be able to continue living there? That is the whole issue…
“The king wants him to leave”
For the Sunday tabloid, which quotes a source close to the palace, “everyone is saying that this means that the Duke will have to leave Royal Lodge. Otherwise what other reason would there be to take away his security?” The Sun edition also specifies that these famous private agents were recently informed that their mission would not be renewed in the autumn. “They are all working for a few more weeks, until their contracts expire at the end of October. But there is no indication that they should be replaced.”
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“It’s no secret that the king wants him gone,” the same source told The Sun. Indeed, for months Charles has been trying to convince his brother and ex-sister-in-law to leave the very sumptuous (and very expensive to maintain) Royal Lodge, where they settled after the death of the Queen Mum in 2002, to move to the more modest Frogmore Cottage, renovated and then occupied for a time by Prince Harry and Meghan before they went into exile in America. Much smaller, but also closer to the castle, this residence would prove much less expensive to protect. So there is no doubt that at Balmoral, where the sovereign and the Yorks are meeting this week for their traditional Scottish summer break, negotiations and negotiations must be going well…
