Prince Andrew’s mansion is in disrepair, with cracks and mold appearing on the exterior walls.
Crumbling paint, cracks and black mold can be seen on the outside walls where inside his beloved mother once wandered with her sister Margaret when she was a young Princess Elizabeth.
The shocking state of the Duke of York’s 30-bedroom Windsor Royal Lodge comes just days after it emerged that King Charles had cut his beleaguered younger brother’s annual personal allowance, believed to be worth £1 million.
Andrew, 64, who now lives in the £30million property with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, signed a 75-year lease with the Crown Estate when he moved in, making an initial payment of £1million.
The deal included a nominal rent of £260,000 a year.
Prince Andrew’s mansion is in disrepair, with cracks and mold appearing on the exterior walls.
Crumbling paint, cracks and black mold can be seen on the outside walls where inside his beloved mother once wandered with her sister Margaret when she was a young Princess Elizabeth.
Prince Andrew and Charles attend a Thanksgiving service to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in June 2012.
Andrew, who remains a pariah from public life amid the fallout from his relationship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, has spent almost £7million on extensive renovations and repairs to the property.
He has refused all of his brother’s requests to move into tiny Frogmore Cottage.
An updated biography of acclaimed royal writer Robert Hardman, serialized in the Mail, revealed this week that despite the Duke of York’s attempts to call the monarch’s bluff, 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, who has also long made clear his desire for Andrew to move out of his huge 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.
He Express reported last month that repair costs for the Royal Lodge have exceeded £2 million.
A source told the newspaper that the duke had been given until the end of the year to prove he had the funds needed to carry out the work.
“It’s the closest Andrew has come to being evicted since he was asked to step down as a royal two years ago,” the source said.
The lease he signed in 2003 states that he has the responsibility to “repair, renovate, maintain, clean and maintain in repair and, where necessary, rebuild” the house.
This includes repainting its exterior walls every five years with “two coats of paint” starting in 2008 and redecorating the interior every seven years starting in 2010.
Prince Andrew heads for a morning walk through Windsor Castle on October 30. He has reportedly been given a deadline to prove he has the necessary funds to pay for the upkeep of the Royal Lodge.
The shocking state of the Duke of York’s 30-bedroom Windsor Royal Lodge comes just days after it emerged that King Charles had cut his younger brother’s annual personal allowance, believed to be worth £1 million.
Andrew, 64, who now lives in the £30million property with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, signed a 75-year lease with the Crown Estate when he moved in, making an initial payment of £1million.
The lease Andrew signed in 2003 states that he has the responsibility to “repair, renovate, maintain, clean and keep in repair and, where necessary, rebuild” the house.
This includes repainting its exterior walls every five years with “two coats of paint” starting in 2008 and redecorating the interior every seven years starting in 2010.
The document, which was seen by The Times, dictated that he must “paint with at least two coats of paint and properly wallpaper, polish, decorate and treat” the interior walls of the building.
Andrew pictured with Charles on the first day of Royal Ascot in 2006. Andrew refused all his brother’s requests to move into tiny Frogmore Cottage.
This means that the exterior decoration was to have been completed last year, while the interior work will be done this year.
The document, which was seen by The Times, dictated that he must “paint with at least two coats of paint and properly wallpaper, polish, decorate and treat” the interior walls of the building.
Andrew signed the lease, paying £250 a week and agreeing to maintain the huge property.
Claims emerged last year that Andrew was unable to cover the £400,000 annual upkeep of the Royal Lodge.
Situated on 98 acres in Windsor Great Park, the property was once known as King’s Lodge, but the Duke of Cumberland changed its name when he became King George IV in 1820.
In 1931, King George V gave his son, Prince Albert, Duke of York, and his wife permission to take over the property and they moved in the following year.
They used the 30-room Royal Lodge as a private country house, even after becoming Duke and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1936.
After the death of George VI in 1952, the Queen Mother continued to live at Royal Lodge on weekends until her death in 2002.
His grandson, Prince Andrew, current Duke of York, has lived there since 2004.
