The king has officially cut off Prince Andrew’s finances, marking a new low in relations between the brothers.
An updated biography of acclaimed royal writer Robert Hardman, serialized in the Mail, reveals that despite the Duke of York’s attempts to expose the monarch, Charles has acted decisively.
In recent weeks he has instructed his keeper of the private purse, the monarchy’s chief financial officer, to cut his beleaguered younger brother’s annual personal allowance – believed to be around £1m a year – and now It doesn’t pay for your seven figures. private security detail.
“The duke is no longer a financial burden on the king,” confirms a source.
The king has officially cut off Prince Andrew’s finances, marking a new low in relations between the royal brothers.
An updated biography of acclaimed royal writer Robert Hardman, serialized in the Mail, reveals Charles has acted decisively
The King, who has also long made clear his desire for Andrew to move out of his sprawling 30-bedroom Windsor mansion, Royal Lodge, has now placed the ball firmly back in his brother’s court.
In doing so, Hardman also reveals for the first time that he has fulfilled his late mother’s determination to solve the ‘Andrew problem’ once and for all.
In fact, impeccably placed sources reveal that had he lived another year, Queen Elizabeth, long accused of being reluctant to take action against her supposed favorite son, would have forced him to leave the family home and move to Frogmore Cottage, the former home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
An updated edition of Hardman’s best-selling biography, Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, which was published earlier this year, is now published in hardcover with additional material and three new chapters packed with fascinating details.
Among the new revelations is how Prince Harry’s determination to doggedly pursue legal action against the Home Office over its decision to withdraw his 24-hour security when he stepped down from royal duties has driven a wedge between father and son.
The King fears that if he repairs his relationship with Harry he could be dragged into the case, placing him in “legal jeopardy.”
Royal insiders have also responded to suggestions that they did not help Meghan when she joined the Royal Family, saying she returned the offer in their faces.
They insist that, far from throwing the duchess to the wolves, as she has suggested, they did everything in their power to help her… and it was she who said no.
Sources say the King is not against some kind of rapprochement with the Sussexes despite the barrage of criticism he has received. But it has not been an easy process.
Impeccably placed sources reveal that if he had lived another year, Queen Elizabeth would have forced Andrew to leave his family home, Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park.
She would have forced him to move to Frogmore Cottage, the former home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Among the new revelations is how Prince Harry’s determination to doggedly pursue legal action against the Home Office over its decision to withdraw his 24-hour security when he stepped down from royal duties has driven a wedge between father and son.
When Harry returned to the UK in May, the two did not meet. The prince was offered a room at Buckingham Palace, but preferred to stay in a hotel.
“They told us it was for security reasons,” says a member of the King’s staff. “I’m not sure you can get anywhere safer than the Palace.”
As for Andrew, it can now be revealed that his attempts to play a dangerous high-stakes poker game at Royal Lodge against his brother have failed.
Sources close to the Duke of York have long argued that he has a long-term lease on the late Queen Mother’s former home in Windsor Great Park.
Although he no longer assumes royal duties, has been stripped of his military patronages and associations and is effectively banned from using his HRH title in public for his association with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the duke has been determined to hold on to vestiges of his former life, especially your home.
Andrew has been stripped of his military sponsorships and associations and effectively banned from using his HRH title in public for his association with Jeffrey Epstein.
He has made it clear to the King’s advisers that they have no right to force him to downsize and has firmly rejected suggestions that he move to nearby Frogmore Cottage, which although smaller with five bedrooms, appears adequate for his needs and has the Added benefit of being within the ‘ring of steel’ of security at Windsor Castle.
Now that the King has effectively discovered his brother’s deception, Andrew will have to find the money for the upkeep of his vast estate, as well as his security detail, without any visible sign of independent income.
According to Hardman, this apparently includes the cost of protecting several valuable and historic works of art and furniture borrowed from the Royal Collection, the treasury of antiquities held in trust by the monarch on behalf of the nation.
Andrew has repeatedly stated that he can continue to pay for his own upkeep, claiming to have found “other sources of income” related to his contacts in international trade, sufficient to cover all his costs. But His Majesty will be watching with interest.
“If he can find the money, then it’s up to him, but if not, he will find that the king does not have unlimited patience,” adds a source.
Family friends say that although the matter was temporarily resolved, Andrew’s “stubbornness” has “soured” family relationships.
- Adapted from Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story by Robert Hardman, to be published by Macmillan on November 7.