Andrew Likely to Leave Royal Lodge If He Feels ‘Pressured’ — but It Won’t Be from Charles or William
For a man who has been engulfed in scandals much of his adult life, it's no surprise that Prince Andrew’s Windsor home has also been a subject of much criticism. Despite immense pressure from King Charles, Andrew has so far been able to stay put at Royal Lodge. Royal insiders now suggest that the Duke may finally give it up, but it will be his daughters who tip the balance, not Prince William or the King.
Andrew has called the grand Georgian estate home since 2004, sharing the home with his now ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson. But his lease, obtained by the BBC on October 21, revealed two notable details. The first is that the Duke hasn’t paid rent in over two decades, and, by the contract, he is entitled to remain there until 2078.
It’s an arrangement that once spoke to permanence, but now, amid growing public scrutiny and whispers of royal unease, permanence is looking increasingly relative. Speaking on HELLO!’s A Right Royal podcast, royal author Andrew Lownie, author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, offered a straightforward assessment of the situation. Andrew, he said, “has this ironclad lease, as long as he maintains the terms of that lease.”
The key phrase here is ‘as long as.’ Maintenance on a property of Royal Lodge’s scale is no small feat. According to property buying agent Robin Edwards of Curetons, such upkeep could cost up to $6 million annually, a staggering sum for a royal whose public funding has long since dried up. That reality looms larger now that Andrew has relinquished the Duke of York title, a move announced on October 17 after discussions with Charles. The step was meant to draw a curtain between the monarchy and Andrew’s enduring cloud of scandal over his past associations with Jeffrey Epstein.
But the Palace’s relief may be short-lived as the announcement has done little to quell the anger of the public. The release of his accuser, Virginia Giuffre’s, posthumous memoir, Nobody's Girl, has reignited calls for Andrew to vacate Royal Lodge. Lownie suggested it won’t be pressure from the King or the Crown Estate that finally drives Andrew out, but a more personal reckoning. “It’s how his daughters are treated,” he told the podcast. “That just might convince him to leave Royal Lodge, if the screws are put on them in terms of their future.”
For Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, who live professional lives outside of the royal fold, serving as patrons for several charities, public optics carry weight — and so does their father’s insistence on staying put. “The only way I think he can go is to voluntarily go,” Lownie mused, adding that “the optics look terrible for a non-working royal in a 30-room mansion.” It’s a sentiment quietly echoed by many within royal circles, where the balance between sentiment and state image remains perennially delicate.
Lownie also pointed to Andrew’s own words when he announced his decision to give up his title, invoking duty and honor. He opined, “He, of course, is an honorable man and he always puts the country and the monarchy first, so I hope he will do the right thing."