<\/p>\n
H<\/span>ow do you solve a problem like Prince Andrew<\/a>? Finally, a royal conundrum that unites left and right: the disgraced ex-duke roundly castigated as \u201cdim\u201d, \u201cpompous\u201d, \u201coversexed\u201d and \u201centitled\u201d, and that\u2019s before conversations turn to what happened with the late Virginia Giuffre<\/a>, a Jeffrey Epstein victim whose $12m receipt of a royal payoff was not enough to save her own life. <\/p>\n Andrew insists he is innocent. Like he insisted he had no more contact with Epstein <\/a>after that fond farewell in December 2010? These days, it is all too easy to trash Andrew. The nation\u2019s communal whipping boy, this pilloried blimp\u2019s public denigration has become so singular that feeling sorry for him has acquired its own subculture in quiet conservative corners of England. <\/p>\n Yet one of the biggest questions in the week when Ms Giuffre\u2019s memoir was published had nothing to do with the prince\u2019s relationship with her, but of worrying about whether Andrew <\/a>has paid a peppercorn rent for the Royal Lodge<\/a>. The direction of travel will be of deep concern beyond palace walls. After all, what is one dodgy lease in an institution so rich, secretive and well-protected that none of us (historians, journalists, civil servants and politicians alike) have a clue exactly how Andrew finances the upkeep and security on that 30-room behemoth in Windsor Great Park?<\/p>\n