It turns out that Prince Harry and Prince William aren’t the only Windsor brothers in the midst of a royal feud. For nearly two years, King Charles III has been trying to get his younger brother Prince Andrew to downsize his Crown Estate home and move to the now vacated Frogmore Cottage. So far, the Duke of York has been able to outmaneuver his older brother, and the king has reportedly cut him off completely. According to The Times, the pair are not on speaking terms, and it is unclear whether Andrew will make an appearance at this year’s family Christmas celebrations at Sandringham.
“Charles realized that Andrew’s association with [Jeffrey] Epstein made him a loose cannon,” former royal correspondent Stephen Bates told the newspaper. “The allegations about his behavior were never successfully quelled and made him damaged goods.”
According to royal writer Robert Hardman’s updated edition of his biography of King Charles, the new low in the feud comes after King Charles contacted the keeper of the privy purse, the palace treasurer, and asked to suspend Andrew’s annual allowance and funding for his security detail. These costs are believed to amount to several million pounds per year. Earlier this month, a source reportedly confirmed the move to the Daily Mail. “The duke is no longer a financial burden on the King,” the source said.
Andrew has lived in Royal Lodge, a 30-room mansion that once belonged to the Queen Mother, since he signed a 75-year lease in 2003. He is responsible for the costs of upkeep and claims to have found “other sources of income” to afford to stay in the home, Hardman writes, but his “obstinacy” has “soured” family relations.
“If he can find the money, then that is up to him,” an insider told the Daily Mail. “But if not, he will find that the King does not have unlimited patience.”
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