Andrew Mountbatten Windsor is being sent by King Charles to live on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, but not all locals are particularly thrilled to be gaining a disgraced new neighbour
Andrew’s move from Royal Lodge to Sandringham is swiftly approaching, but the locals don’t feel particularly welcoming towards the new resident. In a bombshell statement last week, King Charles threw his support behind the survivors of “any and all forms of abuse” and announced that he had begun the process of formally stripping his disgraced younger brother Andrew of all his royal titles.
Struck from the official roll of the peerage, King Charles’s younger brother will now only be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, and will be moving out of his lavish long-term home, Royal Lodge. The 30-room property near Windsor Castle had become a massive point of contention amid the ongoing controversy surrounding Andrew. When it was revealed that Andrew had barely paid any rent since moving into the Grade II listed property in 2003, public outcry reached a particularly high fever pitch, with 80 percent of Brits saying they thought he should be evicted.
It was not, however, within King Charles’s ability to boot his brother and former sister-in-law, Sarah Ferguson, out of Royal Lodge. Holding an “iron-clad” lease for 75 years with the Crown Estate, there was no legal recourse to force out the disgraced former duke – instead, he had to be persuaded to go of his own accord. Andrew finally agreed, after being offered a new home of the monarch’s privately-owned Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
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The vast 20,000-acre estate includes around 150 properties, and the palace has not announced which one Andrew will be calling home when he shortly moves out of Royal Lodge. However, it is understood that Sarah Ferguson will not be joining Andrew in his new home, instead forging her own path and finding somewhere else to live by herself. The former couple, who divorced in the mid-1990s, had long shared a home, remaining close after their split.
Royal expert Andrew Lownie – who has penned an explosive biography of Andrew and Sarah called, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York – exclusively told the Mirror that Sandringham was a “neat solution” to the controversy surrounding Andrew’s housing.
“I understand that actually Andrew will have to be paid quite a lot of money to basically get out of the lease,” the author said, adding that Andrew “had a very strong lease,” at Royal Lodge. “One has to be practical,” Lownie explained, “This was the only way to get him out, and it’s not taxpayer’s money that’s being spent, that’s up to Charles. I think it has lanced the boil and averted what was turning out to be a major crisis, so I can understand why he has done it.”
It might be a “neat solution” for the House of Windsor, but some locals are less than thrilled that Andrew will be moving to their area. Jacqueline Hargreaves, 73, has been a resident near Sandringham for three decades, and told the Telegraph she regularly bumps into members of the Royal Family whilst walking her dog. If she crossed paths with Andrew, however, “I’d just keep walking,” she said.
“We don’t want him here. What would we want him here for?” Hargreaves continued. “[And] why would he want Sandringham? I mean he must be having a house on [the estate]. So as long as he keeps himself to himself that’s okay, and doesn’t bring any trouble here. Norfolk doesn’t need it. I don’t know why he doesn’t go to America, he quite likes it out there. Go and sit with Trump.”
Pub worker Kate Cook told the publication, “I think if he had any real sense of propriety, he would maybe just keep himself to himself. If he had any level of respect for the public. But then, I don’t think he has any humility.” Once local said that they “wouldn’t speak to him” if they saw Andrew, but another admitted they “might not be able to stop [themselves] from challenging him” if they saw him in the area.
“Life isn’t always fair,” said Andrew Lownie, “But we have to remember that Andrew put ÂŁ8.5 million into this house (Royal Lodge), which he expected to have for his children until 2078. So you know, just to be fair to him, this is what happens when you take out long-repair leases, you know, you get some benefits from it, so I don’t think we can quibble about that.”
