Prince Andrew is coming under pressure to give up his Royal Lodge home because of two key issues he now faces, a royal expert has explained. The Duke of York – who is no longer a working member of the Royal Family – is understood to be “resisting” wishes from his brother King Charles III to vacate the huge 30-room mansion and move to smaller Frogmore Cottage instead. The property in Berkshire also reportedly requires expansive renovation works that could be extremely expensive and take several months to complete.
READ MORE: Lucrative new deal for Lilibet’s godfather after welcoming Sussexes into home
But Daily Express royal correspondent Richard Palmer has explained two reasons why Andrew is coming under pressure to leave Royal Lodge.
He told the Daily Express Royal Round Up: “There is pressure on Andrew to give up the Royal Lodge and that comes from a couple of points.
“Firstly, members of the Royal Family are looking at him and Fergie, looking at this 30-room house, with seven bedrooms, and saying it’s ridiculous there are just two people living there. Andrew at one end of the house and his ex-wife at the other.
“More importantly, it’s an expensive place to run and is looking a bit neglected, from what I understand.
Get the latest royal news straight to your phone by joining our Whatsapp community!
“The Queen Mother lived there before her death and I think it got a little bit run down while she was living there.
“Andrew did give it a fresh lick of paint when he moved in and spent £7million upgrading it. I’m told the whole facades need doing again and that alone could cost £1million. There is talk the roof needs doing.”
He added: “Reading between the lines, what is going on is the King is saying ‘I can’t support you in the way I used to support you like your mother used to be able to support you, and I’m worried are you going to be able to stay there and do the maintenance work that is needed on the property’.
“I think Andrew is saying ‘I’m not moving and I will find a way’ but nobody is quite clear how exactly he’s going to do that.”
But King Charles faces a major problem when trying to convince Andrew to move out of Royal Lodge and into something small that is “more financially manageable”.
Mr Palmer explained the property in Berkshire doesn’t fall into what is known as the ‘Occupied Royal Palaces Estate’, which includes the likes of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
All the major royal residences and palaces, as well as some 200 other properties, are taxpayer-supported, but Royal Lodge isn’t part of that and is one that has been handed to Andrew on a 75-year lease by the Crown Estate.
The Government defines the Crown Estate as “an independent commercial business, created by an Act of Parliament, with a diverse portfolio of UK buildings, shoreline, seabed, forestry, agriculture and common land”.
The royal expert explained: “In summary on Royal Lodge, I think the King is putting pressure on his brother to move to something smaller and something that is more financially manageable.
“But apart from the financial support he gives him, he doesn’t have a lot of leverage over that.
“He can’t evict his brother from Royal Lodge because as I have said, that is a Crown Estate property.
“The monarchy is technically the owner of the crown estate, but in name only and it is basically an independent property company that makes money from the Government.”
