King Charles has fired Prince Andrew’s ten-man private security team in his newest bid to force the disgraced Duke out of Royal Lodge, an insider has claimed.
Charles has long been trying to get his brother out of the 30-room, £30milliion property in Windsor, which Andrew lives in with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.
The monarch has been funding private guards at the mansion since Andrew’s armed cops – costing £3million a year – were removed in 2022 amid the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
But now Charles has reportedly told the Duke’s private security team they are no longer needed from Autumn onwards.
A Palace insider told The Sun on Sunday: ‘Everyone is speculating this means the Duke will have to leave the Royal Lodge.
Because what other reason could there be to take his security away?’
They added: ‘It isn’t a secret that the King wants him out.’
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Andrew had rejected the opportunity to move to Frogmore Cottage, which is nearby and used to be the UK home of Harry and Meghan.
Andrew signed a 75-year lease with the Crown Estate when he moved to Royal Lodge in 2003, making a £1million initial payment.
But the King is reportedly eager to generate commercial revenue from the mansion as soon as he can boot out the Duke.
It was previously reported that the property was earmarked for heir to the throne Prince William and his wife Princess Catherine, but the couple said they are very happy at Adelaide Cottage.
Andrew – who remains an outcast from public life amid the fallout from his relationship with peadophile Epstein – has reportedly already spent nearly £7million carrying out extensive renovations and repairs to the property.
He has refused all requests by his brother to move into the smaller Frogmore Cottage.
In June, it was revealed in a document that Prince Andrew has to repaint his Windsor Royal Lodge with two coats of paint every five years.
The lease he signed in 2003 states he has a responsibility to ‘repair, renew, uphold, clean and keep in repair and where necessary rebuild’ the home.
This includes repainting its external walls every five years with ‘two coats of paint’ from 2008 and redecorating inside every seven years from 2010.
This means that the exterior decorating was due to have been completed last year, while the interior work is set to 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 to paper, polish, decorate and otherwise appropriately treat’ the building’s interior walls.
Andrew signed the lease, paying £250 a week and agreeing to maintain the vast property.
But claims emerged last year that Andrew could not meet the £400,000-a-year upkeep of Royal Lodge and it was reported that the duke was told he would have to leave the property.
Situated in 98 acres in Windsor Great Park, the property was once known as King’s Lodge but its name was changed by the Duke of Cumberland when he became King George IV in 1820.
William IV demolished part of Royal Lodge and, for sixty years, senior members of the Royal Household used it mainly as a ‘grace-and-favour’ home.
In 1931, King George V gave permission for his son, Prince Albert, the Duke of York, and his wife 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 they became Duke and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1936.
Princess Elizabeth and her sister Margaret spent many happy days playing in the grounds and making use of Y Bwthyn Bach – the miniature thatched cottage that was given to the future Queen by the people of Wales to mark her sixth birthday in 1932.
The grounds of Royal Lodge include a gardener’s cottage and the Royal Chapel of All Saints, where Princess Beatrice and Edo Mapelli Mozzi married in 2020 in a ceremony attended by the late Queen and Prince Philip.
There is also a swimming pool and tennis court.
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Source: New York Post
