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.”
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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- 166873, Charles, Prince of Wales and Duke of York at the funeral of Countess Mountbatten of Burma at St.Paul’s church in Knightsbridge. London, United Kingdom – Tuesday June 27, 2017. UK, FRANCE, AUS, NZ, CHINA, HONG KONG, TAIWAN, SPAIN & ITALY OUT Photograph: © Stephen Lock, i-Images, PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE,Image: 533054254, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: i-Images, PacificCoastNews / Avalon
- Britain’s King Charles, Britain’s Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward attend a vigil, following the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, inside Westminster Hall in London, Britain, September 16, 2022.,Image: 723504646, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: HANNAH MCKAY / Avalon
- Death Of HM Queen Elizabeth II: Procession Of Queen Elizabeth’s Coffin To St Giles Cathedral King Charles III, the Princess Royal and the Duke of York walk behind Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin during the procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh. Featuring: King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew Where: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom When: 12 Sep 2022 Credit: Phil Noble/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
- Death Of HM Queen Elizabeth II-Service of Prayer and Reflection for the Life of Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles’ Cathedral Sophie Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward the Earl of Wessex, Prince Andrew the Duke of York, King Charles III, Camilla Queen Consort, Princess Anne the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence during a Service of Prayer and Reflection for the Life of Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh. Featuring: Sophie Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward, Prince Andrew, King Charles III, Camilla Queen Consort, Princess Anne Where: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom When: 12 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
- Death Of HM Queen Elizabeth II: Royal Family Holds Vigil At St Giles’ Cathedral King Charles III and other members of the royal family hold a vigil at St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, in honour of Queen Elizabeth II as members of the public walk past. Featuring: Princess Anne, King Charles III, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward Where: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom When: 12 Sep 2022 Credit: Jane Barlow/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
- Royals head to Easter Mattins Service at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. Featuring: Camilla Queen Consort, King Charles III, Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, Duke of York Where: Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom When: 09 Apr 2023 Credit: Yui Mok/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
- Members of the British Royal family attend the Easter Mattins Service at Windsor Castlle Featuring: Camilla, Queen Consort, King Charles III and Prince Andrew, Duke of York Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 09 Apr 2023 Credit: Cover Images
- The Duke of York departs Westminster Abbey, London, following the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Featuring: Prince Andrew, The Duke of York Where: London, United Kingdom When: 06 May 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
“He doesn’t have anything else in his life- why take that away?” What about his children. Grandchildren. His brothers and sister? The house is all that he has?
It’s really telling as to what really matters to Andrew in his life : himself.
Also Andrew still receives money to do absolutely nothing of his days except being a criminal avoiding prosecution.
Wow, such an overt and direct threat to write his memoirs from H&M’s “yoga studio”! 😂 Otherwise, this is the same old cycle of threat attributed to Charles, response from Andrew threatening to talk, nothing changes…rinse,repeat.
This actually makes me wonder if it’s coming from KP just stirring the pot and because William wants the lodge and how dare he not get it, don’t you know he is THE HEIR?!??!?
If it were coming from Camzilla, he would already be out of the lodge because Camz don’t play. I think Charles is too weak and pathetic to actually do anything but shrug without a push from someone else.
That was exactly my thought. That “write his memoirs” comment was ABSOLUTELY a threat.
Quite, I actually said “there it is” out loud when I read that. I mean he’d do a terrible job and it would be truly awful but I’d love him to actually find a ghostwriter and do just that.
That’s precisely what jumped out at me! Andrew saying “Ok, big bro. Play that card if you like, but know I may have an Ace yet to play.” Andrew is awful, but so is Charles. Also, I do believe that Charles has been jealous of Andrew, Mummy’s favorite.
The jabs against Harry and Meghan are never forgotten, because in Britain marrying a black woman is worse than being a pedofile.
Doesn’t say much for the RF, at least among the people, Andrew is less popular than Harry or Meghan. Funnily enough Harry is the most popular royal among black people.
It’s funny that they can id H&M’s private security firm in the US and even name some of their guards and who they have previously guarded, but they can’t name the security firm that employs Andrew’s guards. I’m sure that KC is privately paying for police guards. The deal that PH has been told can’t be done.
This.
💯
But then, Cluck has always been a hypocrite, hasn’t he. It’s a cornerstone to his abysmal character, along with avarice, mendacity, and selfishness.
I have no doubt that is exactly what happened.
Ohhh. Dang. Harry really does have a case. I know there’s the appeal but I don’t have high hopes. This family seems to get covered by the govt every dang time. But here’s hoping Harry proves me wrong and wins that case.
Yeah I believe Charles was always jealous of Andrew because of his relationship with their mother.
The heirs’ jealousy of the more charismatic spares has been a bred-in feature of the BRF for at *least* four generations.
My first thought as well – Charles was always jealous of andrew because Andrew was his mother’s favorite.
The “write his memoirs” line is a veiled threat though, right? Maybe not so veiled….
Not veiled at all😂. Shots have been fired so they better not make Andrew live in a yoga studio of all places🙄
Charles said in the 80s that Andrew was “the one born with the Robert Redford looks”. It’s hard to imagine now, but in his 20s, Andrew was THE royal heartthrob. He was handsome, slim and a war hero. He also had a stunning American girlfriend who was deemed “unsuitable”. 😉 Charles was seen as stuffy and old-fashioned in comparison.
But “childish” is just Paedrew’s type, no?
Not childish, but child…
Stomach twisting sentence. One day the masses will figure out what kind of garbage their royals are.
Charles is clearly not a man of his word and the Queen must have known this, so why did she not arrange some iron clad arrangements for her beloved Andrew,Harry and Angela Kelly? Charles really isnt scared of going back on his word to a dead Queen.
She may have but the will isn’t public…
It may not be public but surely available for those involved to have access to it, like the Sussex lawyers? If Andrew has a lease and H and M were gifted Frogmore by the Queen and everything was air tight then Charles would not be bullying them,especially when there are many locations sitting empty.
The Queen was being manipulated in her last years. I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought she had iron clad arrangements in place but didn’t.
The Queen could not bequeath Crown property. The Crown Estates manage the leases. This is why Charles is trying a different angle.
Let the people in the family that want to fight with each other through the media and briefings do so, if they will stop writing about the two who ignore them. Although I laughed at “he has a house for everyday of the week”, because I just heard it in such a whiny voice. That’s what always sticks out to me in these media briefings against each other. In most estimates (health issues aside) these people; Andrew, Charles, Sophie, Camilla, Kate, and William are doing better than 99% of the planet yet they always manage to sound so put upon like life is just an unending slog up the hill for them.
So much to unpack here…
“…entitled not to be murdered in his bed”… and raping young girls in others.
“…has done everything asked of him…” except talking to investigators.
“… doesn’t have anything in his life…” aside from his horses, his food, cars, clothing, trust fund, rich friends, servants, teddy bears* …
But the best: “What would he do all day? Write his MEMOIRS”?!?! HAHAHAHAHA. Gotcha!!
Game on!
* Charles, that’s IT! It’s the Lodge or the BEARS, Andy!
So now Andrew’s the one who inherited from the QM?
@Equality. The was my thought also. The trust fund was to Andrew but they ran a story that Harry inherited a trust fund. Where would the queen mother who had to be financially bailed out by QEII get so much money to leave a trust fund for all members of her family. And how much more financial savy she was then the Queen to know to established funds for her grandchildren and great grandchildren while the Queen failed to do the same for her children and grandchildren.
She probably put money into trust funds when she had money and couldn’t touch it when she had spent what was left.
I’m skeptical that she was any good with money or left anything.
In one of those increasingly under the radar non-Sussex Royal stories the Mail recently admitted that, far from having been brought low by unprecedented venality among the younger members, the apple did not fall very far from the tree and in their profiligacy Andrew and Sarah do not appear all that different from the previous Duke and Duchess of York, Queen Elizabeth II’s parents, comprehensively sanitised in the The King’s Speech and The Crown.
“Within weeks of their marriage in April 1923 the newly created Duke and Duchess of York were £100,000 in debt (more than £10 million in today’s money)” there follows a tale of falling in with the “one of the most notorious figures in Britain, Maundy Gregory… within a short time [he] would be tried and jailed for selling honours…”
Apparently a deal was struck to let him flit to France on the basis that he might expose politicians… and the Royals.
How lucky that they ended up becoming King and Queen, eh? Must have been a great help covering their liabilities and brushing stuff under the carpet.
And that’s just the stuff they don’t *mind* us knowing.
As a commenter remarked in relation to the Duke of Windsor today you can only laugh when you think about the endless faux outrage about Harry and Meghan merely existing.
I tend to believe the story that the Queen Mother left nothing and that Andrew’s real grievance is about not getting a quarter share of his mother’s loot nor continued maintenance.
I don’t know what the position is in the US but in the UK you can sue for a share if you are left out of a will if the testator supported you financially in life and you had a legitimate expectation that this would continue. It’s possible that such a claim is now time barred in Andrew’s case but it would be interesting if it were not and he then chose the violence of the civil courts…
The reason is that monarchs are exempt from inheritance tax if assets are bequeathed to the heir.
Yoga studio? Meghan created a beautiful 4 or 5 bedroom home out of old servants quarters. It’s completely refurbished and turn key , as previously noted by the DM .
FC is described as “palatial” when relating to H&M, like it was too big/good for them. When described in relation to another royal living in it, it decreases in size.
Of course, the media at work,
Honestly, that dig at Harry and Meghan’s yoga studio ticked me off. It’s a lovely home. And despite tabloid lies, there was never a special yoga flooring put in. So way to show how religiously you read the trashy tabs. Andrew and his friends are the last ones who should be throwing out little snotty jabs. He really thinks he’s better than everyone. Calling FC a yoga studio. Gtfoh
Is the friend his ex ferg ie
Yes, I wondered. It’s hard for me to believe, but Andrew may very well have a core of old friends who will stick up for him. And who are these all these rich friends and benefactors and Middle East contacts? What favors is he calling in? If the BM are looking for something to investigate and scrutinize, Andrew might be choice.
It very well could be Fergie! She has a vested interest in him keeping it. And her daughters are supposed to inherit the lease. To me, that’s part of it. Andrew and Fergie want his daughters to have the house. That and Andrew will not lower himself to live in a yoga studio.
RL isn’t just a house though. It has extensive grounds and quite a few outbuildings.
Fergie is living in a separate wing of the house.
” because Andrew has a lease with the Crown Estate”
Didn’t Harry&Meghan have one of those too?
I think their lease was up and it wasn’t renewed?
No, their lease was cancelled by Charles and the outstanding portion of the pre-paid lease was not returned to them.
Additionally, those refurbishments to Frogmore were already due to come out of the Crown Estates’ budget, because it is a Crown Property; but the Queen’s courtiers/Charles through his Shadow Regency insisted that the Sussexes pay for those out of their own pocket. (It was mostly Meghan’s money at that point). It was a huge scam that no reporter touched.
ALL of that refurbishment money should have been reimbursed to the Sussexes out of the Crown Estates’ funds, as refurbishing it was no different than when WanK had their KP apt refurbished. It still astounds me that Harry didn’t sue for that back. It was millions of dollars, purportedly. Proof that Harry isn’t as petty as his father, however we might wish that Harry was just a *little* bit petty in this particular circumstance, and get that money back.
It wasn’t the courtiers who insisted the Sussexes pay for the renovations, at least not initially. It was the media who created an outrage over the Sussexes renovations’ costs and then the Sussexes repaid the crown estate (maybe they were told to do so by the courtiers, we don’t know that) as a way to end the public criticism (which was stupid criticism anyway but it was media created.) but it obviously didn’t work.
So the reporters “touched” the issue, but in a way to whip up the anti-Sussex frenzy, not to investigate the royal finances.
@Where’sMyTiara – as I recall from the news articles, H&M stopped paying rent on Frogmore and that was one way to recoup some of what they had paid for the renovations. And everything I can find says that the lease was up – that either Charles or H&M (unlikely) chose not to renew it. The lease was a “gift” from the Queen, so I guess that’s why it wasn’t a Crown Property issue and Charles could control it, unlike what’s happening with Royal Lodge.
The way it works with senior royals is that taxpayers fund the structural refurbishments (as any landlord does) and the royals pay for their own interiors.
No. FC was more a grace-and-favor type house.
Andrew has a 99-year lease for Royal Lodge, for which he pays a pittance.
Harry, after renovating the servants’ quarters, called Frogmore Cottage, only received one-or two-year leases and paid market rate.
Different arrangements.
As I recall, they were given a year to year lease…
Ha, this is about as blazen a ransom note as I’ve ever seen – Andrew is reminding his brother that without royal funds, he’ll have to rely on his unsavoury business contacts and owing favours to pay his way, and that won’t look great. Sure, he could “write his memoirs” (which could very well end up backfiring and incriminating himself, more scandal!, but that’s by the by). I feel like just like we hear about the Wales being keen to hit the ground running every September, we also hear from Charles about how he’s going to tighten the reins and cut off Andrew, for real this time. And Andrew does exactly this, and then nothing happens all around.
Yikes, talk about generational trauma. Still, I’m all for this geriatric cage fight – more, please!
“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.”
So Harry can expect to be murdered in his bed, or elsewhere, because his jealous father won’t let H rely on police protection *that he wants to pay for*, unlike other citizens in the UK. Good to know.
As to Andrew puttering around Royal Lodge? The same guy who was not able to close the curtains of a window he was sitting next to, and needed a housekeeper to climb several stairs to do it for him? Yeah, right.
I could more picture Fergie doing repairs around the house than Andrew.
Andrew stands on the ground and screams at the poor workers hired to maintain the house, just like he would ring a bell to summon staff in BP to close the curtains in arms reach. 🙄
Everything about this is hilarious. What a trashy family!
Can we talk about this part?
“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.”
What ‘very good business’ is he doing with the Middle East? What favors is he calling in if he’s no longer a good point of access for the BRF?
Yes, exactly. I brought up this point further up. Who are these rich friends and benefactors – what do they expect from him? And what were the favors that were so valuable that he can call them in for cash now? If anything should set off alarm bells…but the DB is all “oooh, brothers are fighting…”
The indignity of having to live in Harry and Meghan’s “old yoga studio” is the bigger issue I suppose.
Arms deals by phone on behalf of Charles? Maybe Cluck is having Andy arrange to continue to smuggle the famed Suitcases of Cash via various intermediaries in exchange for paying for the security costs. We know Randy Andy can’t leave the country without being picked up by the int’l po-po, so they must be using lower profile peeps to bring that cash to the UK.
Cluck is never giving anything to anyone in his family without expecting more from them in return.
This is what I want to know!!
I thought Andrew was fired from overseas business ventures he had conducted.
And if he has plenty of money, why did Mummy have to pay Virginia Guiffre the $12 million settlement?
They could add locks to all windows and doors. Add electronic security inside and outside the home and hire two guards. What is the threat level against Andrew? I doubt it’s anywhere as high as the threats against Harry and Meghan.
In a fight between Charles and Andrew my money is on Andrew. If he were to write a memoir I would definitely borrow it from my local library
Derangers defend Andrew and trash virginia g.
King Tampon never learns does he? Pulling security to bend family members to his will didn’t work with H&M and won’t work with Andrew. Is this really the hill this fool wants to die on?
So I guess I’m confused. Is Andrew saying he will just pay for his own security or that he will go without security.or either one? So is he basically saying, even without security, he will stay at RL no matter what and this will not push him out as Charles hopes? I mean at this point andrew has a lease. And while I think Andrew should be in jail, Charles’ efforts to push him out are kind of childish.
That quote about Andrew’s memoirs was a shot across the bow. Lol
100%! And it begs the question: is this new push by Cluck to eliminate Randy Andy’s security a bid to leave him defenseless on purpose, just like it was when Cluck did it to Diana, and later to Harry, Meghan, and Archie?
Because let’s be frank, Cluck’s got form for this, going after people who could talk and reveal his secrets and make him generally look bad publicly.
Once Charles is no longer here, PA might very well write well all.
Royal Lodge is extremely expensive to maintain. Will his daughters and their husbands be able to afford RL? Inheritance or not, unless the Lodge comes with a large financial amount they may not be able to pay the bills. And this is assuming that they will actually both want to live there. They have their own separate lives.
But he clears drains and gutters! (suuuuurrrreeee) so that’s a cost saving measure that should more than pay for RL right?
I wonder if his lease allows for subletting or using the estate for a venue or leasing out part like Edward did on his estate with his production company.
I’m not sure how it would be inheritance. Are the girls going to live there together with their families? They likely cant sublease or sell the lease. So how would it go to them, or how would they benefit financially from it?
Didn’t they both marry rich men. Mind you, it doesn’t sound very homely.
Funny seeing history repeat itself with the brotherly rivalry. For all his later faults (pedo conman), Andrew was the easy going, better looking one while gawky, Charlie awkwardly waited for his mum to die. I can imagine there was jealousy. The Princes’ Trust was the making of Charles – giving him an actual purpose. Shame Will has never wanted to work.
He should have taken over the Prince’s trust when he became POW. Instead he left it to his elderly father to carry on, isn’t he aware that the King has to spend time every day reading his boxes, wonder who will read them when William becomes King, I bet it won’t be William.
What kind of trashy person would be Pedrew’s friend?
And the one person who said this should have ended with the word “entitled”: “He is entitled to expect not to be murdered in his bed.”
They’re all so disgustingly entitled.
They’re both gross and entitled. I’m not on the side of either, but I will say Charles is petty AF and it’s a terrible look on a monarch. Of course Andrew is being whiny about “only” having Royal Lodge while Charles has a dozen giant houses. That said, it is a messed up family arrangement. One son gets the crown AND the real estate and most of the money because he happened to be born earlier. It’s a recipe for disaster.
Abolish this institution, tax these people, take back most of their loot, and let them work out their family squabbles without bothering the rest of us. It’s all so trashy and wrong.
I bet all this push to get Andrew out of Royal Lodge is because William wants it so badly. But why does he want it? Doesn’t Chuck have another palatial home that will do? One he only uses a couple of nights a year?
He’s working up to getting Windsor Castle, one mansion at a time …
“Charles has always been jealous of Andrew..”
I distinctly remember rumors that Andrew was indeed the Queen’s favorite because she had difficulties conceiving him and had, much like the Queen Mother, fertility issues. Perhaps Charlie boy sensed this parental favoritism and resented it?
Apparently, in recent years both Diana and Kate had to get a “fertility test” before marriage, because.. ahem.. you know… they have to breed an heir and a spare. Sheesh!
https://www.ndtv.com/feature/kate-middleton-made-to-take-fertility-test-before-marriage-to-prince-william-report-3863032
I have a brother 6 years younger and a sister 12 years younger. We lived COMFORTABLY, in a 3 bedroom house, which was a luxury in 1980’s Poland. How many rooms does ONE man need???? How spoiled and entitled are you???