Over the weekend, the Sun announced – straight from a palace briefing, I’m sure – that King Charles planned to stop paying for Prince Andrew’s private security. I’m a little bit fuzzy on exactly what Andrew’s current security arrangement is, because I’ve assumed this whole time that Andrew still has royal protection officers and that the cost is simply picked up by Charles through the Duchy of Lancaster funds. That was seemingly the arrangement made by QEII for Andrew, but I might be wrong. Andrew might really have “private security” in some sense, I don’t know. In any case, this new move has gone down poorly, because it looks like Charles is putting his brother’s safety at risk because Charles wants him to move out of Royal Lodge. Charles has been trying to get Andrew out of that house for a couple of years now and Andrew refuses to budge. Well, Andrew’s close associates had a lot to say about this:

King Charles has reportedly told the private guards their contract ends in the Fall. A palace insider told The Sun on Sunday: “Everyone is speculating this means the duke will have to leave the Royal Lodge because what other reason could there be to take his security away?”

A very old friend of Andrew’s told The Daily Beast: “It’s very sad that Charles, who has a house for every day of the week, can’t just let Andrew have the quiet enjoyment of his own home. Charles has always been jealous of Andrew and to many of us who know him, and the history of their relationship, the endless briefing to the media about Royal Lodge feels childish. Andrew knows he f***ed up, he has taken his medicine, he has done everything that has been asked of him, he has given up his military associations, his charities, his lobbying but he is not going to give up his kids’ inheritance and move into Harry and Meghan’s old yoga studio.”

“If Charles doesn’t want to pay for security, Andrew will be quite happy to rely on protection from the police, like every other citizen in the country. Where he lives has got nothing to do with it. He is entitled to expect not to be murdered in his bed.”

Another friend of Andrew’s said, “He doesn’t have anything in his life except Royal Lodge. Why take that away?”

Andrew, who once told a royal biographer he wished he had been a plumber, enjoys looking after the house, this friend said, adding: “He likes beetling around the estate and getting the gutters cleaned and the drains unblocked. I think to take that away from him could be counterproductive, because what would he actually do all day? Write his memoirs?”

One authority on Prince Andrew, the author Andrew Lownie, who is currently writing a biography of the prince, told The Daily Beast: “Andrew can quite easily afford to pay for his own security. He inherited a trust fund from the Queen Mother and he is still doing very good business in the Middle East. He made a lot of contacts as trade ambassador and he is now calling in the favors. He has plenty of rich friends and benefactors. Charles is trying to act tough with his brother, who he always had a rivalry with, but it doesn’t seem to me a clever fight to pick, because Andrew has a lease with the Crown Estate, he has lived there for a long time, and he has plenty of money.”

[From The Daily Beast]

I’ve never really picked a side between Charles and Andrew, they’re both completely horrible in different ways, and it’s actually kind of funny to watch their simmering feud. They keep on threatening each other in the media too – Andrew’s argument is basically: if you keep pushing me, I’ll start to tell all of the family secrets too. Charles’s argument is basically: I’m king, you have to do what I say, damn it!

“It’s very sad that Charles, who has a house for every day of the week…” Charles has more homes than that, actually. He’s constantly moving between Highgrove, Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, Birkhall, Balmoral, Castle Mey, Sandringham, Windsor Castle, his place in Romania, and on and on. “Charles has always been jealous of Andrew and to many of us who know him, and the history of their relationship, the endless briefing to the media about Royal Lodge feels childish.” Damn.

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