King Charles is preparing for his funeral with the monarch reportedly wanting to evict the Duke of York from Royal Lodge as an ultimate guarantee for Queen Camilla’s uncertain future.
Prince Andrew is insistent on not downsizing as he remains in the Royal Lodge despite King Charles’ attempts to get him to move out, according to SkyNews.com.au Digital Reporter Reilly Sullivan.
“he’s not really being paid by the monarchy anymore because he doesn’t complete any royal duties so his finances are unclear,” he told Sky News Digital Presenter Gabriella Power.
“He lives in Royal Lodge, it’s a huge home on the Windsor estate, it was the Queen mother’s old house and I’m sure, you know, it was fine for him to upkeep this home when he was a working royal but now that he’s very much in the shadows, he doesn’t necessarily have the money.
“But they’ve managed to sort of stave off the eviction for now.”
Andrew, the monarch’s disgraced brother, has lived in the lavish estate since 2004 under a 75-year lease from the Crown Estate and he shares the luxurious property with his ex-wife Fergie, who he divorced in 1996.
The home has recently been beset by growing maintenance problems and the King is reportedly using the urgent repair works to force the Yorks, both 64, out of the home and into the smaller Frogmore Cottage.
King Charles wants Prince Andew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson to vacate Royal Lodge so Queen Camilla can instead occupy the 30-room estate if the cancer-stricken monarch were to pass. Picture: Kirsty Wigglesworth – WPA Pool/Getty Images
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Daily Mail Editor Richard Eden on Thursday revealed friends of the Yorks told him Charles may in fact be ensuring Royal Lodge remains free and worthy for Queen Camilla to reside, in the event the monarch passes.
“More than one friend of the Yorks has suggested the same intriguing answer to me: could it be that the King sees Royal Lodge as a potential future home for Queen Camilla?” he wrote in the publication.
“Like anyone who has been seriously ill, the King is said to have been thinking about every possible contingency. Who wouldn’t?
“He will know that, were his wife to outlive him, she would be left with a somewhat uncertain status.”
If the King were to suddenly pass, Queen Camilla would become stepmother to William, who would ascend the throne.
King William V, his title upon accession, would then inherit all the crown’s assets just as Charles did from his mother the late Queen Elizabeth when she passed in 2022.
Notably, The Prince of Wales’ inheritance would also hold Clarence House, a four-story royal residence in the City of Westminster where Charles and Camilla live when they are in London.
William already became the rightful owner of the King’s beloved Highgrove House in Gloucestershire when his father ascended to the throne.
Mr Eden said Charles “will be determined” to oversee Camilla be kept in “country bolthole” Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park given William’s advantage.
Charles may in fact be ensuring Royal Lodge remains free and worthy for Queen Camilla to reside, in the event the monarch passes. Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
The King is reportedly using urgent repair works to force the Yorks, both 64, out of Royal Lodge and into the smaller Frogmore Cottage. Pictrue: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
The royal commentator backed his assertion by noting Charles went to great lengths to ensure Camilla be given the status “he felt she deserved” when he became King.
He said Charles influenced the late Queen Elizabeth’s announcement for Camilla to be titled Queen Consort when her son became King.
The commentator also squashed speculation Charles was pushing the Yorks out of Royal Lodge to reserve the grand residence for “the royals who really matter – William and Kate.”
He said a source close to the Prince and Princess of Wales told him they were “very happy” living in their home 655-acre estate Adelaide Cottage on the private grounds of Windsor Castle and do not “wish to leave” it.
Shocking new photos of Royal Lodge released by the Daily Mail last month revealed the growing dilapidation of the 19th century, Grade II-listed property following reports the Yorks could no longer afford it since Andrew was stripped of his royal duties.