“The Siege of Royal Lodge” is over for now as Prince Andrew strikes back at his older brother, King Charles, with a new resolution — he’s got enough funds to pay for his own life. For years, the King has urged and pushed for his stubborn and disgraced brother to move out of the Royal Lodge and into Frogmore Cottage. Charles’s initial move was banishing his rogue son and daughter-in-law, the ex-royal Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, out of Frogmore forever.
Nevertheless, the Prince of York refused to budge. Eventually, King Charles threatened to take away Prince Andrew’s personal security and remove the funds needed to remain at the Lodge. Cutting off Andrew financially would force the royal to move to more modest accommodations. Ever since he had stepped down from his royal duties five years ago, Charles has been funding his brother’s personal livelihood, spending millions of pounds a year.
However, Prince Andrew has now unexpectedly struck back at his brother, claiming he doesn’t even need the King’s assistance anymore to live at the Royal Lodge and possesses more than enough wealth to take care of himself. One might think that now Charles doesn’t need to pay for his brother’s livelihood, “the siege of Royal Lodge” is no longer an issue. Yet, according to a source speaking to The Times, things are a bit more shady than they appear.
Andrew Lownie, a biographer of the Duke and Duchess of York, said the “source of Andrew’s wealth” should be taken into questionable consideration:
“As the duke himself admitted in his Newsnight interview, Jeffrey Epstein introduced him to useful business contacts. He also developed lucrative connections in Central Asia and the Middle East during his ten years as special representative for trade and investment. There have long been concerns about how he has since used those contacts. Now he is no longer a working royal, there is far less scrutiny of his business activities — but it is an area that needs to be looked at.”
In other words, Prince Andrew might be into some shady business regarding where he’s getting this money, so he no longer needs King Charles to fund his life and security. Naturally, all politicians or royals, regardless of country, are doubtless guilty of questionable endeavors to gain funds for whatever it is they use them for. Still, it’s a little different and a bad look when the King’s own brother might be doing something he shouldn’t as a workaround to moving out of the Royal Lodge.
“If Andrew can pay for his own upkeep with legitimate means, then it is not an issue. But the King’s patience has run out when it comes to funding his brother’s lifestyle in a way that does not fit his status,” a source tells The Times.
On a more comical note, a user on r/RoyalGossip made the comment, “The Duke of Pork strikes again for no apparent reason,” making a play on words of Prince Andrew’s royal title. Whatever the case, King Charles or someone else in the Palace might need to do a bit of digging to find out where Prince Andrew is getting his money. Otherwise, we might have ourselves another Duke-of-York controversy on our hands.
