Over the weekend, the Mail had a story about Prince Andrew and the neverending psychodrama over Royal Lodge. Andrew has a “valid” lease on Royal Lodge and a sweetheart deal on rent, but now that his brother is king, Andrew doesn’t have the “income” to maintain the property properly. King Charles made a BFD about “evicting” the Sussexes from Frogmore Cottage and evicting Andrew from Royal Lodge at the same time – and offering Frogmore to Andrew – but at the end of the day, that was solely about evicting the Sussexes and nothing more. Andrew is still in Royal Lodge and unwilling to leave, not even as some big repairs are scheduled for this summer. Andrew is reportedly terrified that if he temporarily relocates during the repairs, Charles will change the locks on him. Sources close to Chuck say that’s not his style, per the Royalist:

Charles won’t change the locks: A friend of the king said: “The idea that Charles is going to use building works as some underhand pretext to get Andrew out and then lock the doors is about as ill-informed as earlier speculation he was going to cut off the electricity. That’s simply not how he operates.”

The Sussexes’ eviction was straight-forward: The friend pointed out that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were asked “in a straightforward” fashion to give up the lease to their home, Frogmore Cottage. It is understood Harry and Meghan were financially compensated for money they spent on the property.

Would Andrew then be reimbursed? Asked if this meant Andrew was going to be asked to leave Royal Lodge in a similar way and given a similar deal, the friend dodged the question, saying: “It’s a very expensive place to live and Andrew doesn’t have a significant source of income, so ultimately he will probably have to move out.” The friend said they did not know if reports that the king had cut Andrew’s allowance, rumored to have been as much as £250,000 ($311,000) per annum under the queen, as has been previously reported, were accurate, but said, that in any case, “250 grand wouldn’t go far on Royal Lodge. It’s enormous. It needs staff and constant, major repairs. It’s impossible for him to live there long term without the king’s support.”

Prince William isn’t agitating to take on Royal Lodge: It has been rumored that Andrew is to be persuaded to relocate to Harry and Meghan’s former home, Frogmore Cottage, so that William and Kate could move into Royal Lodge, which has ten bedrooms, and in which Andrew and his ex-wife, Sara Ferguson, live in separate wings. However a source previously told The Daily Beast the couple were “very happy” at four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage, also in Windsor Great Park, to which they moved in August last year, and they are understood to not be agitating to take on Royal Lodge. A friend of William’s told The Daily Beast: “They have literally only just moved to Adelaide, so I doubt they are keen to do it all again.”

Charles hates that Andrew is living in such a palatial estate: However it is no secret in royal circles that Charles thinks it is damaging for the monarchy that Andrew is still living in a luxurious royal palace after he was kicked out of the ranks of the working royals after he was accused of sexual assault by Virginia Giuffre, a Jeffrey Epstein trafficking victim. The question is whether Andrew is now bluffing in the hope of getting a bigger financial settlement for surrendering his lease, or if he really intends to defy his brother by staying put in Royal Lodge. If that really is the case, and he and his family cannot afford to repair and maintain it, Charles will have to choose between allowing a historic home to crumble around his nightmare sitting tenant—or pay for the upkeep himself after all.

[From The Daily Beast]

“It is understood Harry and Meghan were financially compensated for money they spent on the property.” The silver lining of all of this horsesh-t is that Harry and Meghan only agreed to the eviction if the Royal Estates had to cut them a seven-figure check for all of the money they spent renovating that dilapidated shack and turning the cottage into one of the most-sought-after properties in Windsor. As soon as they renovated it, everyone in the family seethed with jealousy over what they did with the place.

As for Andrew… yeah, as I’ve been saying, the whole point of this eviction drama was to get the Sussexes out. Now that’s done, Charles isn’t going to push to evict Andrew. Charles will just cut Andrew’s allowance and let it play out that way. Meanwhile, the more we hear William’s denials about wanting Royal Lodge, the more convinced I am that William is completely behind all of the efforts to evict Andrew. It kills me too, because there are SO MANY other great properties just on the Royal Windsor estate.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.