Pressure is mounting on Prince Andrew to give up his Royal Lodge home at Windsor after it emerged that he has paid no rent for the sprawling, 30-room mansion for the past two decades.
A copy of the lease – shared with The i Paper – shows Andrew signed a 75-year deal on the property in 2003, letting him stay there until 2078. He has paid only a nominal “one peppercorn” a year in rent.
The lease also reveals that the Crown Estate – which oversees royal properties – would have to pay Andrew £558,000 if he agrees to give up the lease early. He would get £185,000 a year in compensation until 2028.
Crown Estate profits are given to the Treasury, but the rent deal has raised concerns that taxpayers could be deprived of potential funds from Royal Lodge.
Andrew Lownie, author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, said Andrew “will only go if he’s shamed into going” by King Charles.
“There doesn’t seem to be any legal way to get him out. All one can do is shame him into voluntarily leaving.”
The pressure for Andrew to quit Royal Lodge follows the Prince relinquishing his use of the Duke of York title ahead of the publication of Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoirs.
Giuffre, an accuser of Jeffrey Epstein, has written about her three alleged sexual encounters with the Prince. Andrew vehemently denies all the allegations.
“I think the King would like to lance this boil,” said Dr Ed Owens, author of After Elizabeth: Can the Monarchy Save Itself? “If the crescendo continues, it could be that there is a deal done to get him to leave.”
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams added: “Andrew is in total disgrace. The King wants to remove him. Can he be shamed out? He [Andrew] may feel obliged to downsize. There’s a possibility of him moving into exile [overseas].”
The i Paper took a closer look at the options ahead for trying to remove Andrew from Royal Lodge.
Andrew has a 75-year lease for Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle (Photo: Stringer/Reuters)Scenario one: Andrew ‘downsizes’ to Frogmore
The King is believed to have previously offered Andrew the more modest Frogmore Cottage as a home – where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex used to live in the UK – but he reportedly turned it down.
The King could make another attempt to persuade his brother to live there in the wake of the fresh public outrage over Giuffre’s accusations.
The far smaller, four-bedroom cottage at Windsor – also owned by the Crown Estate – might be perceived as more appropriate, experts said.
Frogmore Cottage is another property at Windsor owned by the Crown Estate (Photo: Getty)Andrew might also be persuaded that it would help him keep his own security and staff costs down. “It would be easier to have him there because it’s a much smaller property,” said Fitzwilliams.
But he warned that MPs and the public could still be outraged that Andrew was given another Crown Estate property.
“There could be no end to the pressure, with so much that could still be uncovered [about Andrew],” said Fitzwilliams. “There could be calls to remove him from Frogmore.”
Dr Owens added: “There will be questions whether Frogmore is the right place. Do the royals want him at Windsor at all?”
Scenario two: Andrew has to fend for himself in the UK
Another scenario is that Andrew is pushed to leave Royal Lodge and not provided with any alternative residence by the Royal Family or Crown Estate.
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Senior Tory Robert Jenrick said it was time that Andrew “took himself off to live in private”. Parliamentary committees may start looking into whether the public purse should be used to provide him with a home.
Dame Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the Treasury Committee, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Where money flows, particularly where taxpayers’ money is involved… Parliament has a responsibility to have a light shine upon that, and we need to have answers.”
But Dr Owens thinks it is “still unlikely he will be forced to fend for himself” even if he is persuaded to quit the Royal Lodge soon.
“There are smaller places that belong to the Crown Estate or in the Royal Family’s portfolio,” said the author. “Exile could mean departure out of Windsor – obscurity in the provinces.”
Scenario three: Andrew is pushed into exile overseas
One possibility is that public outrage and royal embarrassment become so intense that Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson – who still lives with him at Royal Lodge – are pushed into leaving the UK.
The BBC’s former royal correspondent Jenny Bond said there was no obvious place to go “except perhaps into some form of exile – possibly in Switzerland”.
Writing in The i Paper, Bond said Switzerland was a place Ferguson “has often called home”. Portugal, where their daughter Princess Eugenie lives much of the time, is another option, she believes.
Lownie added: “I think the likelihood is, if they can persuade him to leave, is that he will go to Switzerland.
“The press and public have the bit between the teeth, so I think he will be forced out [of the UK] eventually.”
Likelihood of Andrew leaving Royal Lodge
Dr Owens said it was “very difficult to see how it will pan out” since Andrew was “extraordinarily stubborn” and the “ultimate hanger-on”.
Buckingham Palace could warn Andrew that MPs and the Government may consider stepping in with legislation to end the lease at the Royal Lodge, said Dr Owens.
But Lownie thinks this is unlikely. “The Government would be reluctant to get involved in the lease and such a specific legal matter.”
The author joked: “They [the Royal Family] could always release some mice in the house.”
When asked if the Crown Estate should evict Andrew for not paying rent, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said the “lease was agreed with the Crown Estate, which is statutorily independent from Government and required to operate commercially”.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment. Andrew’s office was approached for comment.
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