Prince Andrew is in negotiations with the King to leave his Royal Lodge home, it was claimed today after days of public outcry over his rent-free lease agreement.
The monarch’s brother is facing increasing calls to vacate the 30-room mansion amid the continuing furore over his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and the publication of the posthumous memoirs by his sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre.
Yesterday, the palace seemed to be on the verge of an announcement and summoned broadcast media to Royal Lodge – before pulling back from the brink late in the evening.
But now, the Daily Telegraph has reported claims that talks for him to leave are in advanced stage.
Buckingham Palace is said to be piling pressure on the former Duke of York as the controversy surrounding him and his property in Windsor shows no sign of abating.
Key issues relating to Andrew leaving are said to be where he will live instead and the level of compensation he will receive for the millions he has spent on the home.
Royal sources claimed that the palace is strongly pushing to force Andrew out and reassure his daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie that their own homes in St James’s Palace and Kensington Palace respectively will be unaffected.
Andrew could potentially live in a property on one of the King’s privately-owned residences such as Sandringham or Balmoral in Aberdeenshire.
But the prince is said to be keen to stay in London or Windsor near his daughters – and does not want to be sent to Norfolk or Scotland.
Andrew and Sarah at Westminster Cathedral last month after the Duchess of Kent’s funeral
Prince Andrew has lived at the lavish 30-bedroom property Royal Lodge in Windsor since 2003
King Charles III, pictured with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at Windsor Castle today
The entrance gate to Royal Lodge and the property itself can be seen in Windsor’s Great Park
Broadcast crews and photographers meanwhile gathered outside the gates of Royal Lodge yesterday evening amid speculation there could be further developments in the controversy
Claims emerged this week that the prince’s ‘peppercorn’ rent on the Crown Estate property in Windsor Great Park was concealed in a redacted version of his lease submitted to the Land Registry more than 20 years ago.
The Times reported the 2003 redacted version, compared with the full lease released this week, read ”Rent’ means’ rather than ”Rent’ means one peppercorn (if demanded)’, and also ‘To pay the Rent’ rather than ‘To pay the Rent if demanded’.
The newspaper said the decision not to reveal such details was legal.
But the move raises questions as to why how much Andrew was paying was seemingly hidden from the public.
The Public Accounts Committee has already confirmed it is writing to the Crown Estate and the Treasury asking for further information about the prince’s lease.
Broadcast crews and photographers meanwhile gathered outside the gates of Royal Lodge yesterday evening amid speculation there could be further developments in the long-running controversy surrounding the late Queen’s second son.
Friends of the prince reportedly told the Telegraph that Andrew believes the King is trying to force him out of the mansion because he wants it as a base for the Queen in Windsor should she outlive him. Buckingham Palace strongly denied this was the King’s plan.
Andrew relinquished use of his Duke of York title and remaining honours last Friday in a bid to prevent distracting from the work of the monarch and the royal family, but he remains a prince, living in the grand Royal Lodge, and the scandal continues to dominate the headlines.
The former Duke of York goes for a horse ride on the Windsor estate in December last year
Cracks and mould are visible on the outside walls of Royal Lodge in Windsor on Wednesday
Crumbling paintwork, cracks and mould on the Royal Lodge exterior, pictured on Wednesday
Crumbling paintwork is also seen on the exterior walls of the gatehouse at Royal Lodge
The Royal Lodge gatehouse is pictured on Tuesday in what appears to be a state of disrepair
The King carried out a historic visit to the Vatican yesterday where he became the first monarch since the Reformation to pray alongside the Pope in a public service.
Royal aides will have been hoping the focus would remain on the monarch’s symbolic moment of religious unity instead of Andrew.
Today, Charles gave Volodymyr Zelensky a ceremonial welcome at Windsor Castle as the Ukrainian president visited the UK.
The King has long been said to have tried to encourage his younger brother, who lives in the home with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, to move out, but Andrew signed a watertight 75-year lease on the property in 2003.
His leasehold agreement revealed he paid £1million for the lease and that since then he paid ‘one peppercorn’ of rent ‘if demanded’ per year.
He was also required to pay a further £7.5million for refurbishments completed in 2005, according to a report by the National Audit Office.
The agreement also contains a clause that states the Crown Estate would have to pay Andrew around £558,000 if he gave up the lease.
A photograph from 1981 of the Queen Mother’s drawing room at Royal Lodge in Windsor
The first and last pages of Andrew’s lease for Royal Lodge, released by the Crown Estate
A document shows the compensation payable to Prince Andrew on surrender of the lease
Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, alleged she was forced to have sex three times with Andrew, which he vehemently denies, including when she was 17 and also during an orgy, after she was trafficked by Epstein.
Andrew paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with her in 2022, despite insisting he had never met her.
Andrew’s announcement last week came after he consulted with the King and the Prince of Wales when it emerged he had emailed Epstein in 2011 saying ‘we’re in this together’, three months after he claimed he had broken all contact with the convicted sex offender.
Downing Street said MPs will not be given time in the House of Commons to discuss Andrew’s conduct because the royal family wants Parliament to focus on ‘important issues’.
The Commons could only discuss the prince’s friendship with Epstein and his rent-free mansion if there was a formal motion, but the Government controls the bulk of parliamentary time.
Downing Street said it would not allocate time for a debate in the chamber although MPs could still scrutinise the situation in committees.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.celebrity.land.co.uk ’
