Prince Andrew’s eviction of Royal Lodge imminent | Royal | News

Prince Andrew is understood to have bowed to mounting pressure from the King and Palace officials to vacate the Royal Lodge. The sprawling 30-room mansion on the Windsor estate has been his home for more than two decades, but sources said it was “a matter of when” he would hand over the keys as the final details of the move were finalised.

Negotiations regarding logistics began with his 19th-century World War II. It gained momentum this week after reports that he was living rent-free in a grade-level property sparked a public outcry. And on Thursday night, media outlets flocked to Windsor to report on a statement from the Palace, but aides quashed the rumors at the eleventh hour.

Due to the watertight lease Andrew signed in 2003, the King cannot legally evict him from the property. He tried to force his hand by cutting off his financing last year, but Andrew continues to fund the costly maintenance costs needed to maintain the lease, which runs until 2078.

But the Palace pressured the prince to voluntarily give up the Royal Lodge after years of unease over the optics of royalty stripped of their titles and patronages and living in such splendor.

Proud Andrew was determined to stay put, repeatedly telling the couriers that he had the right to stay. But with arguments over living arrangements showing no signs of abating, the Palace is keen for the matter to be resolved quickly and completely.

They said everyone wants the problem to be solved. “The longer this goes on, the worse it will be for Your Majesty.”

They hoped last week that Andrew’s announcement that he was relinquishing the dukedom and other honors would be enough to put an end to the trickle of scandal and endless newspaper headlines.

But new details about his connections with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continued to emerge, and the revelation that Andrew was paying “a peppercorn” a year in rent if requested tipped the balance even further against him.

MPs called for an investigation into financial arrangements and the King renewed pressure on his brother to move into a smaller house better suited to a disgraced non-working royal and his ex-wife.

And late this afternoon, sources indicated the wheels were in motion and an official announcement would be imminent.

One source summed it up succinctly: “He’s gone. It’s not a matter of when, but if.”

The remaining sticking point they want to finalize before making a statement to make sure the matter is fully resolved is where Andrew will be moved to.

A source stated that it was imperative that this be accepted by all parties before news of his departure from the Royal Lodge was made public, to avoid awkward questions from the press and the need for a second statement in the coming days.

Desperate to live near his daughters, Andrew has several options on the table. The best option for the king is for his brother to move into one of his privately owned residences such as Sandringham or Balmoral, but Andrew is against such a move as he believes it is akin to exile.

He wants to stay in Windsor so he can continue off-road cycling, but he may struggle to pay rent on even smaller properties like Frogmore Cottage, the former home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

However, since Andrew has pre-paid the rent until 2078, he will be legally entitled to compensation for vacating the property.

Other less pressing issues are whether Sarah Ferguson will move in with him, whether the former couple, who divorced in 1996, will now live separately, or what will happen to the Royal Lodge after the move.

The Prince of Wales is aligned with his father on this move but is not actively involved in the negotiations.

An announcement is expected from Buckingham Palace as soon as it is decided where he will live. That could come as soon as the weekend or early next week, as aides push to have the issue resolved as quickly as possible.

Andrew inherited the Royal Lodge after the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, in 2002.

It paid £1 million for the rent and £7.5 million for the renovation. The terms of the lease stated that he paid only “pepper rent” for the property; A legal term describing rent that technically exists but is nominal, often just £1 a year, or even none at all.

The Royal Family had long been encouraging Andrew, who was forced to resign as a royal staffer in 2019 due to his relationship with Epstein, to give up the property.

But the 65-year-old is desperate to stay in the property seen as the last “status symbol” of his previous life.