A Note to Royals Extra Subscribers

My husband and I won’t be with our family on Thanksgiving so we’re taking time with some of our grandchildren this weekend.  I’ll be back on Royals Extra in a week. In the meantime, I’ve noted the recent news about King Charles III cutting off Prince Andrew’s £1 million yearly allowance and no longer covering the estimated £3 million annual cost of his private security. For several years, Charles has been trying to persuade his younger brother to leave Royal Lodge, the 30-room mansion in Windsor Great Park where their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, lived until her death in 2002. The King offered alternate accommodations at the smaller but fully renovated Frogmore Cottage, the former home of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which is within the security cordon of the Windsor Home Park surrounding the castle.

Royal Lodge today

In 2003 Prince Andrew signed a 75-year lease for Royal Lodge and spent £7 million on renovations. But the King’s withdrawal of financial support has cast doubt on Andrew’s ability to keep paying the considerable costs to live there and to fund the “planned maintenance” required by the lease with the Crown Estate. In recent days, Andrew has informed the King’s advisers that he has private funds to cover his expenses and that they are from “legitimate sources.”  It remains unclear, however, whether those sources will hold up to scrutiny and Andrew can continue to have his way.

For some context and exclusive background about how this historic house became a royal residence for Andrew’s grandparents, the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, I’m reposting what I wrote on May 21, 2023, The Colorful History of Royal Lodge. I had 1,200 subscribers at the time, and I’m now approaching 12,000, so many of you will have missed it.