After claims that King Charles is piling on the pressure on his younger brother Prince Andrew to give up the keys to his home Royal Lodge, we look at the fraught relationship between the two brothers over the years
King Charles and Prince Andrew are said to be at loggerheads once again – with the monarch threatening to “cut ties” with his younger brother.
Charles is reportedly urging his disgraced brother once again to leave his 30-room Royal Lodge home in Windsor, after previously asking him to move into Frogmore Cottage. The King is said to have warned him of serious consequences if he continues to stay put. But it seems Andrew, who has a 75-year lease is keen to stay and is digging his heels in.
The row appears to be one of several between the two men over the years – partly driven by Charles’ desire for a slimmed-down monarchy. And it has led to a flood of tension that shows no sign of slowing down…
Different childhoods
Charles is the eldest son of the late Queen and the Prince Philip, having been born in 1948. Andrew was born in 1960 – meaning there is an age gap of 12 years, so the pair didn’t really grow up together.
Despite having the same parents, it seems that Charles and Andrew had very different childhoods. Experts believe the Queen long felt the weight of raising Charles to be the next king – but with Andrew, she is said to have a far more hands-on relationship.
Royal author Katie Nicholl once said: “There is a real tension between Charles and Andrew. Andrew has a very different relationship with his mother and the Queen was much more hands-on.” Princess Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell added: “Andrew has always been the Queen’s favourite son and he has never done anything wrong in her eyes.” While journalist Penny Junor said: “I think the Queen has always had a bit of a blind spot when it comes to Prince Andrew.”
Close wives
In the 1980s, both Princes were granted grand weddings when they wed their respective ex-wives – Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson. Diana and Fergie had a close bond and they were often pictured chatting at events, such as Ascot.
They even took their children on skiing holidays together, with Fergie frequently describing Diana as her best friend. This meant Charles and Andrew also spent a lot of time together, with royal expert Katie Nicholl noting the brothers had “more companionship between them at that stage in their life than perhaps at any other.” However, neither marriage lasted and both were divorced by 1996.
Slimmed-down monarchy
Now Charles is King, his vision of a slimmed-down monarchy is playing out, with no permanent working royal roles for Andrew’s daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
However, this came to a head in 2011, when Beatrice and Eugenie were stripped of their 24-hour taxpayer-funded security. And one royal expert said Charles was forced to intervene after it caused a row behind palace walls.
It is thought the then heir to the throne stepped in after the younger of his nieces racked up huge security costs as she travelled the world on her gap year. A report published at the time suggested Eugenie spent more than £100,000 of taxpayers’ money as she explored India, America, Thailand and South Africa. Charles reportedly stepped in to control the spending, with royal author Angela Levin telling the programme Beatrice and Eugenie: Pampered Princesses? he suggested the sisters didn’t need costly security as it’s unlikely they will ever become working royals.
But Charles’s suggestion didn’t go down well and is said to have left Andrew furious. Meanwhile another incident between the brothers also reportedly left Andrew angry. It came in 2012 when the late Queen was celebrating her Diamond Jubilee and an appearance by the royals on the Buckingham Palace balcony was planned.
It was reported that Charles had a hand in the decision for only senior royals – such as his wife Camilla and Prince William and Kate – to to appear on the balcony – leaving Andrew dismayed. Royal expert Richard Kay wrote in the Daily Mail in 2012: “For Andrew, according to one close figure, being excluded from the balcony scene was a sudden and totally unexpected demotion from front-rank to peripheral royal. It was ‘like a dagger to his heart and he hasn’t got over it’.
“But this was a dramatic statement of intent by Charles, who long ago decided that when he is king the Royal Family would be ‘slimmed down’. But as a friend of the Duke of York says: ‘The speed and suddenness with which Charles has acted has taken Andrew’s breath away. It’s dreadfully high-handed.'”
Royal Lodge row
Now it appears new battle lines have been drawn between the two brothers over Andrew’s crumbling Windsor home of Royal Lodge. The King has reportedly turned up the heat on his younger brother to leave his 30-room Windsor mansion in favour of the smaller Frogmore Cottage, once the UK home of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The disgraced Duke of York was seen looking tense while out on a horse ride near his Windsor home earlier today. It’s the first time he’s broken cover since the King allegedly ramped up the pressure in the estate row.
The Duke of York, 64, is understood to have a long lease on the Royal Lodge. But the King is ultimately responsible for all of the royal household’s finances, and so could choose to restrict funds from him – meaning he could soon struggle to meet the extortionate annual upkeep costs of the Grade II-listed property. King Charles also currently funds Andrew’s security bill, which costs £3million a year.
A royal source told The Times: “The King’s kindness is not without limit and there is a very good option for Andrew to move into Frogmore Cottage, recently vacated by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, which also has the benefit of being within the Windsor Castle security cordon hence reducing the need for alternative round-the-clock security for Royal Lodge.” The source added that Andrew is “taking longer than desirable” to “recognise the reality of the situation”.
But Andrew so far shows no sign of budging. One acquaintance of the Duke of York told the newspaper that he is likely to “dig in” if the stand-off continues and that he had already enjoyed a “stay of execution” in light of Sarah Ferguson and the King’s own recent illnesses.
