RICHARD EDEN: Why King Charles should leave Prince Andrew alone and take action now against ‘difficult’ Harry and Meghan
After she and Prince Albert purchased Balmoral for £32,000 (equivalent to £5 million today) in 1852, Queen Victoria described the Aberdeenshire estate as her “dear paradise in the Highlands.” The Scottish retreat was so dear to the late Queen Elizabeth that she chose to spend her final days there.
Now King Charles and Queen Camilla are at Balmoral for their summer holiday, with Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, among their first guests. But there is, I hear, trouble in ‘paradise’.
While the royals enjoy grouse hunting, salmon fishing and picnics in what Princess Eugenie called “the most beautiful place on earth,” her parents likely know there is one subject they must discuss with the king, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
According to a Palace insider, this is his apparent campaign to force them out of Royal Lodge, Andrew and Fergie’s Windsor Great Park home since they paid £1million for a 75-year lease in 2003.
Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson currently live in the 31-bedroom Royal Lodge, in the grounds of Windsor Great Park
The mansion is not owned by the King, but by the independent Crown Estate, and it cannot be rented to a private tenant rather than to the Yorks.
The monarch’s latest move, reported by a newspaper last week, is the sacking of the Royal Lodge’s 10-strong security team, with King Charles reportedly telling the details that they will no longer be needed from the autumn.
The king pays for private guards at the 31-room mansion, which was home to the Queen Mother until her death. Since Andrew’s £3 million-a-year armed guards were sacked in 2022, he has paid for them.
That was after Andrew stepped back from his royal duties following his disastrous interview with the BBC’s Newsnight programme about his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A palace insider reportedly told The Sun on Sunday of the King’s plan to remove Andrew’s guards: ‘Everyone is speculating that this means the Duke will have to leave Royal Lodge, because what else would be a reason to remove his security? They are all working the last few weeks of their contracts until the end of October. It is not thought that anyone is lining up to replace them. It is no secret that the King wants him gone.’
This week, friends of the Duke and Duchess of York refused to discuss the feud, undoubtedly fearing increasing tensions as they spend time with the King and Queen.
However, I understand that they are dismayed by attempts to evict them from what they had always believed to be their ‘forever home’ – a home they could pass on to their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, if they so wished.
They don’t believe the King can be motivated by saving money. After all, not only did he receive £86.3 million in the Sovereign Grant to fund the working royals last year, but he also received more than £27 million from the Monarch’s estate, the Duchy of Lancaster, to spend as he pleases. And that’s before he even digs into his personal fortune.
Royal Lodge is not owned by the King, but by the independent Crown Estate and, despite claims to the contrary, could not be let to a private tenant in place of the Yorks.
A 2005 National Audit Office report found that this was due to ‘the sensitive location of the property in the centre of Windsor Great Park and the resulting management considerations, and to security concerns surrounding the Royal Family’s access to the Royal Chapel’.
The King is reportedly sacking the private security guards he has employed for Prince Andrew since 2022, when his £3million-a-year armed security guards were laid off
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been on what appears to be a royal tour of Colombia this week
The Royal Chapel of All Saints, where Andrew’s daughter Princess Beatrice married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in 2020, is located in the grounds of Royal Lodge.
Meanwhile, the Crown Estate has taken the position that it would be appropriate for the property to remain in the Royal Family’s occupation. As I reported in June, that position has not changed.
Interestingly, more than one friend of the Yorks has suggested the same theory to me as to why this eviction campaign has begun: could it be that the King sees the Royal Lodge as a possible future home for Queen Camilla, should she outlive him?
Whatever the motivation, I find it bizarre that the King is piling pressure on his brother when he should be focusing his attention on another former royal: his youngest son, Prince Harry.
Despite all his faults, Andrew can never be accused of disloyalty. Despite the countless humiliations he has suffered, neither the Duke nor the Duchess of York has ever whispered a word of criticism to the Royal Family.
This is in stark contrast to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have made a career out of infidelity.
Surely the King does not want to run the risk that his brother and Fergie will follow Harry and Meghan’s example and make a fortune by criticising the monarchy?
Andrews’ worst sin is undoubtedly his poor judgment when it comes to friends and acquaintances, such as Epstein. He denies being an accomplice to Epstein and denies allegations by his accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre that he sexually abused her when she was 17 – although he did reach a settlement with her reportedly worth £12 million.
My advice to His Majesty is: pay the security bill for Royal Lodge without complaint and let Andrew stay. Instead of getting bogged down in this particular dispute, the King should turn his attention to Harry and Meghan before they go on yet another problematic, fake royal tour.
That doesn’t mean Andrew should go unpunished. Along with Harry, he should lose his role as Counsellor of State. He and Harry should both be removed from the line of succession.
The prospect of one of them coming even close to the throne is enough for this ardent monarchist to become a republican.
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