Prince Andrew ‘fears he won’t be able to afford Royal Lodge but is resisting Frogmore Cottage

Prince Andrew is said to be resisting a ‘downgrade’ of his state-subsidized 30-bedroom Royal Lodge in Windsor despite telling friends he fears he won’t be able to pay its upkeep if the King cuts the wallet strings .

The Duke of York will lose £250,000 a year in funds from the King as part of a reorganization of private royal finances with the monarch offering him the keys. to Frogmore Cottage after evicting Harry and Meghan.

Andrew currently pays £250 a week for a state-subsidized 30-bedroom mansion complete with 98 acres of land and a swimming pool, and he’s not about to leave it when his £250,000 a year grant may be removed. since April.

As friends of the Sussexes called the decision to force them out of Frogmore Cottage “cruel”, the latest salvo in the royal drama raised tensions within the family ahead of Charles’ coronation in May.

The telegraph informs that by evicting Harry and his wife, the King’s son may no longer be eligible to serve as a Councilor of State, requiring Harry to be ‘domiciled’ in the UK. But without a British address of the summer, and without offering an alternative to Frogmore, Harry may now be completely sidelined.

The King moved to evict Harry and Meghan from their Windsor home just 24 hours after the release of the prince’s memoir, Spare.

Prince Andrew is understood to have been offered the keys to his five-bedroom home, a stone’s throw from Windsor Castle.

But he is said to be resisting the ‘downgrade’ of the 30-bedroom, seven-bedroom Royal Lodge.

The Sussexes are not believed to have been offered alternative ownership on any royal estate. A US spokesperson for the couple confirmed last night that they had been asked to move.

They said in a statement: “We can confirm that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been asked to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage.”

The sources claimed that they had no idea that Frogmore was offered to Andrew until it appeared in the newspapers.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment last night. One source said any discussion would be a “private family matter”, and one source said the move was about “money, not malice”.

But sources close to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were quick to respond. One told US gossip website Page Six that Charles began eviction proceedings on January 11, a day after Harry’s book Spare, which contained a series of highly revealing claims about the family. real, hit the shelves. Omid Scobie, Harry and Meghan’s biographer, described it as a “crushing blow” for the couple, who have been told few details other than the fact that the property is needed by “someone else”.

He quoted a ‘friend’ as saying: ‘It all feels very final and like cruel punishment. It is like [the family] I want to remove them from the image forever.

Scobie described the Sussexes as “stunned” by the King’s decision and said two other members of the Royal Family are “appalled”.

Harry is known to be particularly close with his cousins ​​Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who of course have their own views on whether their father should be forced to leave Royal Lodge.

Scobie, who had previously been described as the Sussexes’ unofficial spokesman, said the couple were initially given just a few weeks to leave but now have until “early summer” to vacate.

“Now they have at least until after the coronation,” a source told him.

The Sun newspaper also quoted an insider as saying: “This surely spells the end of Harry and Meghan’s time in the UK.”

The late Queen gave the Sussexes use of Frogmore Cottage in 2018 after complaining that their existing home, Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace, was too small and not private enough.

Frogmore Cottage was originally five dilapidated staff residences, but was converted into a large residence with a private garden using £2.4 million in taxpayers’ money. The couple themselves paid for anything beyond the basic fixtures and fittings.

But they spent just six months in the house before moving to North America, first to Canada and then to California, where they bought an £11 million mansion in Montecito.

Despite several public statements by Harry that he now sees his future in the US, he and Meghan decided to reimburse the Crown Estate for the cost of the renovations in a deal that included renting Frogmore Cottage for several years. The couple said it would mean “their family would always have a place to call home in the UK” as they pursue lucrative business deals abroad.

But his decision to launch a series of bitter and highly damaging tirades against the Royal Family, first in a series of interviews and then in his Netflix series and Harry’s book, has left his relationship with his relatives in the background.

His father and brother have not spoken to him for months, while many of Harry’s friends have also disowned him. As a result, the couple have only used Frogmore a handful of times, including for a few days during the Queen’s last Platinum Jubilee and when she died in September.

There was also an intermittent visit last spring, while Harry stayed there when he returned for Prince Philip’s funeral and the unveiling of a memorial statue of his mother in 2021. It was briefly lent to Princess Eugenie and her family, but then moved away. moved to Portugal with his family. For the rest, he has remained empty.

The couple, only three years into their current lease, are said to be drawing up plans to ship the rest of their belongings to California and have requested items including an ornate ottoman bench and chaise longue, according to The Sun.

In an interview last year, Meghan told US website The Cut that when she returned to the UK last year, she rediscovered a diary she had written during her time as a working royal, raising fears that she too. she might be planning to bring a memoir as her husband as part of a multi-book publishing deal.

Harry is currently taking legal action against the Home Office over its decision to detain his Scotland Yard security team now that he is no longer an active member of the Royal Family. He claims that it is not safe for him to bring his family to the UK without him.

The fact that he no longer has a permanent home in this country is likely to further muddy the waters.

Sources have said the King does not want to turn his youngest son into an outcast, but is “concerned” about the royal family’s finances and wants to cut costs where he can.

The Frogmore plan is part of a general internal review to better balance the books.

Charles is also well aware of how bad it looks for the Royal Family to have his disgraced brother, Andrew, hanging around the Royal Lodge with his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, despite being forced to give up his royal duties by Epstein. scandal.

The King also knows that Frogmore needs a new tenant now that Harry and Meghan’s initial promises to return regularly to the UK have dried up amid ongoing friction with the family.

Royal Lodge could become a long-term home for the Prince and Princess of Wales, who recently moved to Windsor and live in the four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage with their three children George, Charlotte and Louis.

Despite the news, Harry and Meghan were spotted together for the first time in months when they visited the Hollywood hotspot San Vicente Bungalows, an upscale private club and restaurant in Los Angeles for actors, music stars and executives from top notch studios on Tuesday night.