The situation around Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s security moving forward is ‘unprecedented’ according to expert Richard Aitch, as the disgraced royal has his remaining titles stripped
An expert in security and close protection has warned that the situation with Andrew is “unprecedented” as King Charles starts the process to remove the last of the disgraced duke’s royal titles.
Amid an ongoing storm of allegations, which Andrew strongly denies, and fears over potential further fallout from his friendship with the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, Buckingham Palace revealed last night that the scandal-laden royal would now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and will be moving out of his 30-room Royal Lodge mansion on the grounds of Windsor.
It comes just weeks after Andrew gave up the use of his other titles, including Duke of York, over mounting pressure about his relationship with the convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. In an announcement, Buckingham Palace said: “His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew.
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“Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence. Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation.
“These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him. Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.”
But for one security expert, there are very real concerns over what this could mean for Andrew’s safety as the future of his personal protection remains unclear. When Andrew’s taxpayer funded security ended, he received private security, with a reported cost of £3 million-a-year, funded by King Charles. However, the King has since cut off his financial aid to his brother, leaving Andrew, who’s only declared source of income is his naval pension, with an uncertain future.
For Richard Aitch, author and security expert with decades of experience in close protection, the situation Andrew, the Royal Family and security agencies now find themselves in is “unprecedented”. Speaking to The Mirror, he explained: “Through my experience in everything with the goings on with Prince Harry, it’s RAVEC doesn’t appear to have a policy for any event in time that is not actually in history.
“There’s no policy they can turn to, because this is unprecedented. They can’t turn to chapter one, subchapter five, and ‘oh this is what we do’, it’s a determination they need to make now, and to all intents and purposes, yes I’d be very surprised if Andrew receives any police protection. But at the minimum there will be, I imagine, some sort of police assessment and oversight as to the situation.
“Because the world media is going to know where Andrew is going to move to, they’re going to know about his goings, his travel, and yes his circle or network. His friends and associates will offer residences and palaces for him to stay in and so on, but Andrew will still need his palce where he could call home, his base, and of course, private security actually costs quite a bit.”
Andrew’s removal from Royal Lodge comes after outrage over his “peppercorn” rent, which saw him barely pay anything in rent for the £30 million property over the last 20 years. The only current source of income Andrew declares is the pension from his time in the navy from 1979 to 2001, said to amount to £20,000 a year. He got his hands on the lease to the Windsor lodge in 2003, after a one-off payment of £1 million following the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who lived there until the year before she died.
As part of his agreement, he was required to spend £7.5m on refurbishing the property, which records suggest he completed the bulk of by 2005. But he pays no rent. Conditions require him to keep the mansion in good condition, with it being revealed last year that the property was in need of repairs totalling £2 million.
After his disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019, it is believed the late Queen and King Charles continued to give Andrew an annual allowance from the Windsors’ private wealth, thought to amount to £1 million a year. But the King is believed to have stopped paying this year amid what became known as the ‘siege of Royal Lodge’, as Charles wanted his brother to move out of the 30-room home he shared with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, and into more modest acommodation.
For Richard, covering the cost is one of the key remaining questions when it comes to Andrew’s security. “The question is arising where Andrew is going to receive money? What job, what job for payment, is he currently receiving and how is he going to pay for this security?
“Security can easily get into the millions year on year, and that’s just for a small team round the clock. And of course, it’s going to be a very tricky situation both for Andrew and also the police making determination on what happens, because they’ve got to tread very carefully, bearing in mind what their response was to Harry.”
He continued: “When you think about it, wone guard at a house 24/7, you’re talking one person during the day, one person at night, and that’s not an ideal world that’s a 12-hour shift. So in an ideal world if you were to have eight hour shifts, that’s a minimum of three people – earlies, mids, lates, in effect.
“When you actually then dial in the fact of week on week off sort of rota, you can see the costs just spiralling, and that doesn’t even include proper personal protection – that’s just man guarding estate. It’s very costly, but he’s going to need it. I wouldn’t really want to be in his position because it’s an enforced one, and of course there is a real risk to him everywhere he goes, it’s going to be difficult for him for a number of reasons.”
