When King Charles evicted the Sussex family from Frogmore Cottage last year, we were told that Charles thought it was wrong for such prime real estate to be sitting there, unoccupied for months at a time, when it could be rented out for profit. It was prime real estate rather suddenly, because before the Sussexes spent millions rehabbing the property, it had been little more than a dilapidated shack in desperate need of extensive repairs. But of course, that whole explanation was a lie – Frogmore is uniquely positioned in a certain security zone on the Windsor estate, which means that it can’t just be rented out to a peasant. Since the Sussexes’ eviction, Frogmore has just been sitting there empty anyway. Charles’s big scheme is somehow convincing Andrew to vacate Royal Lodge and move into Frogmore. So what will happen if and when Andrew does leave Royal Lodge? Everyone has long suspected that Prince William would move into the much grander property. But now palace sources tell the Sun that Charles actually wants to rent out Royal Lodge.
King Charles wants to rent out disgraced brother Prince Andrew’s Royal Lodge home for £1million a year when he finally leaves, we can reveal. The monarch is keen to generate commercial revenue from the mansion when he ousts the Duke of York who is refusing to budge, it is understood. Andrew has rejected other homes offered and is relying on his “cast-iron lease”, which includes a proviso the dilapidated £30million lodge in Windsor Great Park is kept in good order. But sources believe Charles will get Andy to leave. He could even cut off the £4million a year he pays to keep him afloat.
An insider said: “It makes sense for Royal Lodge to be handed back to Crown Estates, which can pay for the much-needed repairs and renovations. It could then be rented to earn money for them, the King’s coffers and the country rather than being a drain on everyone’s resources.”
A property expert said: “Rental of £1million a year is not far-fetched for a house of that size with incredible royal connections.”
A spokesman for the King declined to comment.
Just so we’re clear, the plan is now: get Andrew out of Royal Lodge by hook or by crook, shove him into Frogmore (where he can live free and clear), then have the Crown Estates extensively renovate Royal Lodge, after which – magically! – Prince William will decide that, actually, he wants to live there. The other theory/conspiracy I have is that William is already sort of living in Windsor Castle and that he feels like it will become his permanent home soon enough.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
-
- 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
-
- King Charles III, Prince Harry, Camilla Queen Consort, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Sophie Countess of Wessex The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen, Gun Carriage Procession, Wellington Roundabout, London, UK – 19 Sep 2022,Image: 724207123, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock / Avalon
-
- Prince Michael of Kent (L) and Prince Andrew departs The Coronation Service of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in London, England, UK on Saturday 6 May, 2023.,Image: 774227888, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
-
- 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 arriving ahead of the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey, central London. Featuring: Prince Andrew, The Duke of York Where: London, United Kingdom When: 06 May 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- 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**
-
- The Royal Family attend the Easter Mattins Service at Windsor Castle Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 31 Mar 2024 Credit: Cover Images
Why anyone would trust a lease with these people is beyond me.. if they will evict the 5th, 6th and 7th in line for the throne no one is safe even if they paid in full.
Don’t forget he also booted Angela Kelly from her grace and favor home. The Queen would not have liked that one bit. Now I’m not sorry for her, plus Charles got her another place, but it still goes to the point of lease breaking and evicting.
Does anyone buy that KC is hurting for money, so he wants to kick out PA in order to make money on that property (and use some of it to pay for repairs)?? I don’t know if KC wants his son in there at all, but that reason that he gave for wanting to remove his brother makes little sense. KC has about a dozen estates, is a known multi millionaire and probably has even more money off-shore.
@ML
I’m beginning to think that the way the duchy and perhaps, QEII, might have structured things that Charles is not as liquid as the public thinks . Charles is greedy but I think the strings attached by inheritance and government are a tight.
Yesterday, William was unhappy that Charles plans to lease Balmoral to tourists. Today, it’s evicting the Pedo Prince from the Royal Lodge so he can remodel and lease. Every day, Charles is the primary focus of royal news. I thought royals were stepping back until after the elections.
Those structures are ancient, most likely unhealthy, full of mice, vermin, whatever, and will cost millions to renovate and replace dry rot rugs and furniture. The renovation costs attached to Buckingham Palace exceed 25 million. I’ve never believed the Windsors are cash-rich; they have real estate, jewels, and art, and cash is hand-delivered in exchange for honors, medals, etc.
The day Charles evicts the Pedo Prince is when he releases his memoir, No One Spared 😎 Therefore, it won’t happen.
The Paradise Papers guesstimated the RF’s private wealth to be around 80 billion — paintings, jewels, properties, offshore holdings, everything that is not Crown Estate.
So I don’t get why the bone-idle, lazy slimmed-down Left-Behinds still need to be taxpayer-funded, much less requiring a raise next year.
Charles is prepping for a monarchy fall. William being as lazy and unliked and living a separate life with his equally lazy and unfortunately ill wife is going to brung everybody down, the commonwealth isnt commoning with them, it’s a question of time. The people is not going to accept that they take all that money, untaxed for long, when they need the funds themselves. I doubt that the people are happily and willingly giving them all that cash to support the mistress queen, lazy willie, paedo andrew and all the real estate and ultra luxe they live in. Make them financially independent like Meg & Harry! Make them sweat for the cash and see if they too will sign deals with netflix and send promote their jam to their homies.
Good luck getting the pedo to leave willingly when he knows all the secrets. You will have to pry that place out of his cold dead hands.
Let’s see, had back to the crown estates, which will pay for repairs, and then magically William will want it.
Yeah thats what I was thinking – the place is in disrepair and Andrew hasn’t been keeping his end of the bargain for its upkeep. Chuck will use the Crown Estate money to refurb it and then ‘gift’ it to the Keen Peggers.
Or this could be a message to Peggy – if you want Royal Lodge get off your ass and work for it.
I’m on board with this scenario being the most likely: if the property is returned to the Crown Estates, then taxpayers pay for the extensive renos and magically the Wales will suddenly want to move in – therefore avoiding any negative press coverage about taxpayers paying specifically for the Waleses when they already have so many homes….
B*llocks! KCIII could have rented out Frogmore Cottage on a short-term lease if he had “concerns” about leaving properties empty. Royal Lodge is ear-marked for the heir and his family or his wife and her family if KCIII goes before her. However, given that we’ve been reading about Andrew’s imminent eviction for nearly two years I doubt he’s going anywhere any time soon. QEII made sure that lease was watertight otherwise KCIII (and his heir) would have evicted Andrew as soon as Frogmore Cottage was empty.
If Chucky wanted Andy gone so badly,…..all he has to do is STOP paying for his security..
He doesn’t pay for Harry’s. He can use his time-worn excuse: “not working royals”.
Funny, Chuck doesn’t use that excuse with him.
I still wonder if the crown estates is losing money every month the Sussexes haven’t been there. The Sussexes were paying market rent. No sweetheart deals for them. As if Andrew is going to be forced to pay market rent if he moved into FC. Or has Charles been paying the difference? These people aren’t business people. Only an entitled and spiteful king whose entire life has been paid for by the public purse(and yes the duchy money) could evict his son just to lose money.
How can they lose money? Don’t they have a bunch of places on rent? Also, they are billionaires, they wouldn’t miss the money. I think, this is all about Will wanting that estate. He has been crying for that place as his family home for some time now. They can hide their separate lives there much better. Even some articles made references to Andrew & Fergie living there easily as exes since it is a big estate.
All of it is confusing to me. But my understanding has always been that Harry and Meghan were paying the monthly or yearly rate to the crown estate, which is it’s own entity. Maybe Charles is making up the loss of money to the crown estates somewhere else in his portfolio. But if Harry and Meghan had been allowed to stay, they would have continued paying market rate monthly or yearly. That is a loss of income somewhere whether it’s being made up for by Charles somewhere else. Again, it’s confusing to me so anyone with a better understanding can feel free to correct this. At the end of the day whether Andrew moves into FC or someone else does, no one is paying rent to a house sitting empty. Maybe it’s a drop in the bucket but it’s still lost money.
Wonder if Andrew can sublet if it’s worth 1 mil a year. And FC wasn’t empty for that long a stretch at a time between PH using it and Eugenie and Jack staying there.
I still feel like this is Kate’s divorce settlement house. It has a lifetime lease and renovations covered by the crown. That’s why we were told of the rental price. It is worth at least $50M for Kate over her lifetime.
Once they became PandP of Wales, they should have just moved into Windsor. No one would have batted an eye.
Also, why not do a house swap with Andrew? Adelaide Cottage is a better fit for Andrew than Frogmore—less of a step-down.
I remember reading that Charles doesn’t want them to have Windsor Castle. They were eyeing that place before moving to the Cottage.
Yeah I believe William is living in Windsor Castle too.
Could he want Royal Lodge for Camilla? I keep reading articles that feel like Charles won’t be around too much longer. I know she has her own place or two but these people are shameless. Another idea is RL for Kate and himself at WC. They can keep pretending they live together!
“the Sussexes spent millions rehabbing the property…”
QE-II gifted Frogmore Cottage to H&M in late 2018 or early 2019 after other options were seen to not be feasible (including KP’s Apt 1, vacated by the Gloucesters, which needed extensive repairs and updates that would be expensive and time-consuming). In any case, H&M were not keen on living full-time in London.
When Frogmore Cottage in Great Windsor Park was gifted to H&M, it had already been undergoing much needed rehab and reconstruction footed by the Crown Estates. The rehab work, including roof replacement, was nearly completed by early 2019, which is a key reason why the property was gifted to the Sussexes. They needed to move into a larger home fairly quickly to be settled in before Meghan’s pregnancy due date of late April 2019.
The £3 million spent by H&M on Frogmore Cottage was for interior finishes, preferred specifications and amenity updates, plus furnishings and interior design throughout their new home. H&M explained much of this online when they first launched Sussex.com.
If you read contemporaneous reports they paid for interior fixtures and finishes during the initial renovation period. The 3 million paid after they left was the initial budgeted repairs of ceilings, floor joists, hvac, electrical that was the crown responsibility for upkeep of property.
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a28169197/frogmore-cottage-renovation-cost-royal-family-sovereign-grant/