By royal biographer Emily Andrews
PRINCE ANDREW AND KING CHARLES’ BITTER STAND-OFF
S ince Prince Andrew was stripped of his role as a working royal, where he lives has become a particularly contentious issue.
There is an ‘increasingly bitter stand-off’ between King Charles and his younger brother over Royal Lodge, which has been Andrew’s family home since he paid £1million for a 75-year lease in 2003.
The King is said to have made it clear that he wants Andrew to leave the sprawling Grade II-listed mansion in Windsor Great Park, which he shares with his ex-wife, Sarah. He even evicted Harry and Meghan from Frogmore Cottage last year in order to enable Andrew and Sarah to move into the much smaller property.
Yet the grand old Duke of York refuses to budge, with courtiers dubbing it the ‘siege of Royal Lodge’.
Andrew regards it as his and Sarah’s home – yet under the conditions of his lease there are a number of continuing repairs that need to be paid for and Andrew has never been known to have any money.
Why, though, is Charles so keen to evict his brother?
One reason is thought to be related to security. At present the King pays out of his own income for Andrew’s private security, after his Metropolitan police bodyguards were removed. Should he move to Frogmore Cottage, the Yorks would be within the security curtilage of Windsor Castle – which Charles does not have to fund.
There have also been some suggestions that the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children could move into the 30-room Royal Lodge. However, William and Catherine are very happy in their four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage nearby and have no wish to move, given the cottage’s position offers greater privacy than the rather more overlooked Royal Lodge.
However, more than one friend of the Yorks has suggested another motive: could it be that the King sees Royal Lodge as a potential future home for Queen Camilla?
Like anyone who has been seriously ill, the King is said to have been thinking about every possible contingency. Were his wife to outlive him, she would be the Dowager Queen, while as heir, Prince William inherits everything – as Charles did from his mother. So, Charles will be determin
