King severs Prince Andrew’s ‘£1m-a-year’ allowance
The King has severed the Duke of York’s “£1 million-a-year” allowance in recent weeks, it has emerged.
In an updated biography about the monarch, author Robert Hardman revealed that King Charles has instructed his Keeper of the Privy Purse to “sever” his brother’s living allowance.
The new chapters of Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, serialised by the Daily Mail, includes a palace insider confirming that “the Duke is no longer a financial burden on the King”.
The news comes amid ongoing wrangling between the monarch and his disgraced younger brother about his living situation in the 30-bedroom Royal Lodge home in Windsor Great Park.
The King, who was said to be losing patience with Prince Andrew in the early summer, was previously understood to have threatened to withdraw the funding that allows Andrew to keep living in the house, which has extensive upkeep requirements.
The Duke’s annual allowance – believed to be upwards of £1 million – has reportedly now been cut by the monarch, as have all payments towards his seven-figure private security detail.
Hardman wrote that the King fears that if his relationship with Prince Harry is repaired, he could potentially be dragged into the Home Office case – placing him in “legal jeopardy”.
Hardman writes: “In the late summer of this year, that patience ran out. The Duke informed the monarch that, regardless of any ultimatum, he was going to stay put at Royal Lodge.
“At which point, the Keeper of the Privy Purse (the monarchy’s finance director) was instructed to sever his living allowance.”
A source quoted as familiar with the recent financial wrangling between the brothers said that Prince Andrew claims to have found “other sources of income related to his contacts in international trade”.
This income is reportedly “sufficient to cover all his costs”, including the small fortune needed to maintain security as well as the stringent and expensive upkeep of the home as per Andrew’s lease requirements.
One of the terms of the Duke’s 75-year lease agreement with the Crown Estate, which was signed in 2003 and runs out in 2079, could see him forced to repaint his Windsor home “with two coats of paint” every five years, for example.
According to Hardman, costs also include protecting several valuable and historical works of art and furniture in the home that are borrowed from the Royal Collection.
An insider said: “If he can find the money, then that is up to him, but if not, he will find that the King does not have unlimited patience.”
Family friends of the monarch, 75, have also been reported as saying the Duke’s “obstinacy” about this issue has “soured” family relations.
Hardman also revealed that the late Queen even wanted to find her beloved son Andrew another home.
A former adviser to Elizabeth II is quoted in the new chapters saying: “Had she lived another year, he would have been out.
“It was her plan to move him out, to end the lease for the Sussexes at Frogmore Cottage and to move Andrew in there. It was mainly a money thing, as she could see it was becoming unsustainable.”
The King also reportedly told his brother, who was forced to step down as a working royal over his association with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, to vacate the property and downsize to nearby Frogmore, which was the home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex until 2023.
The Telegraph previously reported that the Duke of York intended to honour the terms of the Royal Lodge lease, which has 55 more years to run.
Buckingham Palace has declined to comment.
Hardman has also written in the updated chapters of the biography that Prince Harry’s legal action against the Home Office about the withdrawal of his right to automatic police protection had driven a further wedge between father and son.
The Duke of Sussex turned down an invitation from his father to stay at Buckingham Palace during his visit in May because of security concerns.
Harry declined because the offer did not come with any security provision, meaning he would have been staying in a visible location with public entrance and exit points and no police protection.
Instead, he chose to stay at a hotel, as he has done on all recent visits, meaning he could come and go unseen.
Speaking about these security concerns, a member of the King’s staff told Hardman: “I’m not sure you could get anywhere more secure than the Palace.”
Royal residences are among the best-protected properties in the country, with armed officers stationed at the gates.
Prince Harry’s Home Office legal action has become one of the biggest barriers to reconciliation with his father, which one senior constitutional expert and adviser to the royal family noted to Hardman was “pulling the King in three directions”.
“Here you have the infelicitous situation where the King’s son is suing the King’s ministers in the King’s courts,” they said. “You also have the situation where the King’s son publishes accounts of private conversations, some of which have been, shall we say, wrong.”
Prince Harry’s critical prose on some of his father’s staff in his memoir, Spare, also came under scrutiny.
One former staff member from when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were working members of the royal family claimed that the couple were “offered considerable resources” to help them.
They said: “It was Clive [now Sir Clive Alderton, private secretary to the King] who said that if we could get this right for Harry, we’d be creating a blueprint for future younger sons for generations. And Clive said, ‘These two need more staff.’
“And we seconded people from Clarence House, very expert people, to help them, but the Duchess wouldn’t trust them. Those two were offered considerable resources, and then later said that they had been offered no help. And that was completely wrong.”
