After she and Prince Albert purchased Balmoral for £32,000 (the equivalent of £5 million today) in 1852, Queen Victoria described the Aberdeenshire estate as her “dear Highland paradise.” The Scottish retreat was so close to the late Queen Elizabeth’s heart that she decided to spend her final days there.
Now King Charles and Queen Camilla are at Balmoral for their summer holidays, with Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, among their first guests. But, as I understand it, there is trouble in “paradise.”
As the royal family enjoys grouse shooting, salmon fishing and picnicking in what Princess Eugenie has called “the most beautiful place on Earth”, her parents are likely to know there is one subject they need to broach with the King, however awkward it may be.
According to a Palace source, that is apparently their campaign to force them out of Royal Lodge, which has been Andrew and Fergie’s family home in Windsor Great Park since they paid £1m for a 75-year lease in 2003.
Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson currently live in the 31-bedroom Royal Lodge, in the grounds of Windsor Great Park.
The manor is not owned by the King, but is an independent estate of the Crown, and could not be let to a private tenant in place of the Yorks.
The monarch’s latest move, which was revealed by a newspaper last weekend, is to dismiss the Royal Lodge’s ten-strong security team. King Charles is said to have told officials that they will no longer be needed from the autumn.
The King has been paying for private guards at the 31-room mansion, which was home to the Queen Mother until her death, since Andrew’s £3m-a-year armed protection officers were withdrawn in 2022.
This came after Andrew “stepped back” from royal duties following his disastrous interview with BBC’s Newsnight about his friendship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
On Sunday, The Sun reported to the paper that a palace insider had told the paper about the king’s plan to remove Andrew’s guards: “Everyone is speculating that this means the duke will have to leave the Royal Lodge because what other reason could there be for removing his security? They are all working out the final weeks of their contracts until the end of October. It is not thought that a replacement is being sought. It is no secret that the king wants him gone.”
This week, friends of the Duke and Duchess of York refused to discuss the row, no doubt fearing it would escalate tensions while they are spending time with the King and Queen.
I understand, however, that they have been taken aback by attempts to evict them from what they always assumed would be their “forever home,” one they could pass on to their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, if they so wished.
They don’t think the King can be motivated by saving money. After all, not only did he receive £86.3m through the Sovereign Grant to fund working royals last year, he also received more than £27m from the Monarch’s Duchy of Lancaster estate, to spend as he sees fit. And that’s before dipping into his private fortune.
Royal Lodge is not owned by the King, but is an independent Crown estate and, despite claims to the contrary, could not be let to a private tenant other than the Yorks.
A 2005 National Audit Office report made clear that this was “due to the sensitive location of the property at the centre of Windsor Great Park, with consequent management considerations, and security concerns surrounding the Royal Family’s access to the Chapel Royal”.
The King is reportedly sacking the private guards he has employed for Prince Andrew since 2022, when his armed protection officers, who earned £3m a year, were axed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been on a pseudo-royal tour of Colombia this week.
The Royal Chapel of All Saints, where Andrew’s daughter Princess Beatrice married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in 2020, is located in the grounds of Royal Lodge.
In the meantime, the Crown has considered that it would be appropriate for the property to remain under the occupation of the Royal Family. As I reported in June, that position has not changed.
Interestingly, more than one friend of the Yorks has suggested to me the same theory as to why this eviction “campaign” has begun: could it be that the King sees Royal Lodge as a possible future home for Queen Camilla, should she outlive him?
Whatever the motivation, I find it odd that the King is ramping up the pressure on his brother when he should be focusing his attention on another former working royal: his youngest son, Prince Harry.
For all his faults, Andrew can never be accused of disloyalty. Despite the countless humiliations he has suffered, neither the Duke nor the Duchess of York have ever whispered a single word of criticism against the royal family.
This is in stark contrast to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have made disloyalty a career.
The King probably doesn’t want to risk his brother and Fergie following Harry and Meghan’s lead and seeking to make a fortune by criticising the monarchy.
Andrew’s worst sin has undoubtedly been his poor judgement when it comes to friends and associates, such as Epstein. He has denied being an accomplice to Epstein and has denied claims by his accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, that he sexually abused her when she was 17, although he did reach a settlement with her worth an estimated £12m.
My advice to His Majesty is to foot the security bill for Royal Lodge without complaint and let Andrew stay. Rather than getting bogged down in this particular dispute, the King should set his sights on Harry and Meghan before they embark on another faux-royal tour that causes trouble.
That doesn’t mean Andrew should get away with it. Along with Harry, he should be stripped of his role as state counsellor. He and Harry should also be removed from the line of succession.
The prospect of any of them coming close to the throne is enough to turn this ardent monarchist into a republican.
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