RICHARD EDEN: What friends of Prince Andrew tell me could be the REAL reason Charles is trying to evict him from Royal Lodge (and it’s nothing to do with the Epstein scandal)

King Charles hates confrontation, so there was some surprise when he – or perhaps those close to him – declared war on younger brother Prince Andrew in the usually sedate pages of The Times.

According to the newspaper, there is an “increasingly bitter standoff” between the Monarch and the Duke of York over the fate of Royal Lodge, which has been Andrew’s family home since he paid £1 million for a 75-year lease in 2003. .

Andrew, who shares it with his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, has spent more than £7.5 million on extensive renovation work on the sprawling Grade II listed mansion in Windsor Great Park.

Prince Andrew drove onto the Windsor grounds last week

Andrew has spent more than £7.5 million on extensive renovation work on the sprawling Grade II listed mansion in Windsor Great Park

However, the king is said to have made it clear that he wants Andrew to move and live somewhere else.

Under the heading ‘Location! Place! Deportation?’, The Times reported that Andrew ‘refuses to give in, much to his brother’s frustration’.

In describing the ‘battle of wills’, a source was quoted as saying, somewhat menacingly: ‘If he does not agree to move to a property better suited to his needs, then perhaps the king will he’ll have to reconsider. willing to offer.’

What was missing from the report, however, was any idea why the king is apparently so eager to drive his brother out of his home of twenty years.

Money can hardly be a motivation, given His Majesty’s great wealth.

The article suggested that Royal Lodge, owned by the independent Crown Estate, could instead be rented to a private tenant.

Yet a 2005 National Audit Office report made it clear that this could not happen, ‘due to the sensitive location of the property in the center of Windsor Great Park with consequent management considerations, and due to security concerns surrounding the Royal Family’s access to the Royal Chapel’.

The Royal Chapel of All Saints – where Andrew’s daughter Princess Beatrice married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in 2020 – is located within the grounds of Royal Lodge.

The Crown Estate, meanwhile, felt that it would be appropriate for the property to remain under the rule of the Royal Family. According to my sources, that position has not changed.

It is true that there has been some suggestion that the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children could move into the 30-room Royal Lodge.

The Waleses currently live in the four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage in Windsor.

However, a source close to William and Catherine tells me they are very happy there and don’t want to leave. In due time they will occupy Windsor Castle.

“The last thing William and Catherine would want is a lot of controversy over them getting another big house,” says a friend.

‘They already have their grand home at Kensington Palace and their Norfolk estate, Anmer Hall, next door to Adelaide Cottage. There was quite a bit of criticism about the cost of renovating their home at Kensington Palace and they didn’t want to go through that again.’

More than one friend of the Yorks has suggested: could it be that the King sees Royal Lodge as a potential future home for Queen Camilla?

Then what is the Real reason behind the king’s determination to deport Andrew and Fergie, who – like Charles and the Princess of Wales – have experienced a recent battle with cancer?

More than one friend of the Yorks has given me the same intriguing answer: 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 would have thought of all possible contingencies. Who wouldn’t do that?

He will know that if his wife were to survive him, she would be left with a somewhat uncertain status.

As Queen Dowager, Camilla would be the stepmother – not mother – of King William. And William will inherit everything, as Charles did from his mother, including Clarence House, where Charles and Camilla live when they are in London. As Prince of Wales, William already owns the King’s beloved Gloucestershire home, Highgrove.

Andrew and Charles attend a Thanksgiving service to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012

So Charles will be determined to ensure that Camilla is held in the way she has become accustomed to. Could that also mean guaranteeing her a ‘rural’ retreat in Windsor Great Park?

Even before he came to the throne, Charles made great efforts to give her the status he believed she deserved.

Seven months before Queen Elizabeth’s death, the late queen announced that she wanted Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, to be known as queen consort when Prince Charles became king. Few can have doubted Charles’ influence in that decision, which contradicted a statement from Clarence House when Camilla married Charles in 2005 that she would be known as Princess Consort in the future. Such was the sensitivity surrounding this touchy subject.

Although Queen Camilla owns her own country home, Ray Mill House in Wiltshire, it is difficult to imagine her ever completely retiring from royal life.

What better place to live like a queen than at the Royal Lodge, the Queen Mother’s beloved home until her death in 2002?

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