This has been one of the dumbest, low-stakes royal soap opera in a while. The whole thing started last year, when King Charles evicted the Sussexes from Frogmore Cottage, and simultaneously began a pressure campaign to force Prince Andrew to leave Royal Lodge and move into the now-vacant Frogmore Cottage. Whenever Charles wanted a non-Sussex headline, he would leak sh-t about how much he hates Andrew and how Andrew will be forced out of RL eventually. Things came to a head in recent months when Charles reportedly cut off Andrew’s privately-funded security AND cut off Andrew’s general “allowance.” And yet, Andrew told the Crown Estates people that he had plenty of money to keep his lease on RL, and the news was said to be “comprehensively humiliating” for Charles, who looked petty, stupid and too ineffectual to finagle Andrew out of a huge mansion. So obviously, someone had to spread a rumor about how Charles was behind Andrew’s sudden windfall. Face-saving measure, my old friend.

As parlour games go, the subject of who has stepped in to fund Prince Andrew’s future in the white-stuccoed grandeur of Royal Lodge, Windsor, has been the only one in play for weeks. Since the revelation that the Duke of York had secured a cash lifeline for the 30-room mansion, the hunt for his mysterious benefactor has consumed London society. Who, everyone wants to know, has the resources to go up against King Charles, following his demands that his brother downsize to the more modest Frogmore Cottage, once the home of the Sussexes?

Wealthy names from the Middle East to the Russian steppes have been in the frame, but now I can reveal there are some in aristocratic circles who believe the Prince’s secret patron is someone far closer to home. In fact, he may own a rather grand property right next door. They suspect the ‘eviction’ threat is an elaborate double bluff by the King. I have heard from multiple sources that, far from cutting Andrew off, Charles has personally cleared his errant brother’s bills for his upkeep and promised his Royal Lodge woes are taken care of, enabling him to stay there for the foreseeable future.

The question isn’t how he’s done it, but why. Why would the monarch cut through the chaos of Andrew’s finances and social life to salvage his brother’s position in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal? The first person to suggest the King has opened his private purse on behalf of his brother was someone once close to Andrew.

‘He [Andrew] just doesn’t have that many friends any more. He barely goes out, he’s not that welcome anywhere,’ says the source. ‘So it’s got to be family, and the obvious person is the King. I mean, why would anybody who’s not family want to give him money when they’re not going to get anything out of it except a lot of flack?’

I would barely have believed it had the same story not been shared at another glamorous – and usually ultra-discreet – dinner table just a few days later. ‘Charles has paid for it all,’ revealed someone who’s been a guest at Royal Lodge in years gone by. ‘The King has cleared it. It’s all done.’

For clarity, my companion was adamant the funds were not from the public purse but from the monarch’s personal pocket. ‘Private funding,’ they confided. Were this correct, there’s probably a trail leading to the Duchy of Lancaster. That’s the property empire that provides the monarch with their personal wealth. While the Sovereign Grant, the official mechanism for supporting the King, is transparent, the Duchy is a more private matter between him and his accountants. The net surplus of the Lancaster estate was £27.4 million in 2023/24, according to accounts published last July. That would be ample to cover Andrew’s costs.

[From The Daily Mail]

So one of the Mail’s gossip columnists has heard gossip from well-connected people that Charles secretly funnelled millions to Andrew… after Charles wouldn’t shut up about how he cut off Andrew’s security and his allowance, and after Charles spent the better part of two years on a very public campaign to force Andrew to leave RL? No. What happened is that Andrew had money stocked away for a rainy day and Charles is still really mad about it, but he also wants to take credit for “Andrew is staying at RL.” In any case, the Daily Beast’s “palace sources” were “quick to pour cold water on the claims that Charles had pulled off a ‘double bluff’ and was secretly funding Andrew. Palace sources were quick to rubbish the faintly-sourced story, pointing out curtly that it seemed to be based on ‘dinner party speculation’ and ‘gossip.’” Charles had to take a massive L on this whole fiasco, and not only that, he can’t take credit for being generous or smart enough to help his brother.

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