Could Andrew 'do a Harry and Meghan' and sell royal secrets for cash if King Charles continues to pressure him out of Royal Lodge? Rumours swirl that the fallen prince might write a book in desperate bid for money to stay at his 30-room mansion

When Prince Harry decided to abandon the Royal Family with his wife Meghan Markle at the beginning of 2020, royalists felt as though things could not get worse.

But they did, as the disillusioned prince then decided to fire a series of broadsides at his own family in the form of a bombshell interview with Oprah in 2021, a Netflix docuseries in 2022 and most importantly, his tell-all memoir Spare in 2023.

His family were left stunned, and due to their ‘never complain, never explain’ mantra, they were not able to respond to the extremely damaging accusations – although the Queen did issue the memorably pithy response ‘recollections may vary’.

However things could soon be getting even worse for The Firm as rumours are swirling that Prince Andrew, the late Queen’s reportedly favourite son, is considering publishing his own book for cash.

The beleaguered prince has been locked in a tussle with his eldest brother the King over his continued stay at the 30-room mansion Royal Lodge.

Charles reportedly wants Andrew to downsize and move to the nearby Frogmore Cottage, recently extravagantly renovated (and then quickly vacated) by Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex. 

Andrew, 64, has refused to move, and the standoff is generating terrible headlines for the Royal Family – getting dubbed ‘The Battle for the Royal Lodge’ – as the public is continually reminded about the disgraced Prince.

He lives in the £30 million property with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson after signing a 75-year lease with the Crown Estate when he moved there in 2003.

The beleaguered Prince Andrew has been locked in a tussle with his eldest brother King Charles over his continued stay at Royal Lodge 

The King urged his brother to move to more modest accommodation after he stopped paying his disgraced brother’s security bill at the 30-room mansion (pictured)

Rumours are swirling that Prince Andrew could ‘do a Harry and Meghan’ (pictured during their 2021 Oprah interview) and sell royal secrets for cash if King Charles continues to pressure him out of Royal Lodge 

He reportedly pays £260,000 in rent a year after making a £1million initial payment, but must also ‘repair, renew, uphold, clean and keep in repair and where necessary rebuild’ the sprawling property.

But as he stepped down as a working royal following his disastrous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis in 2019, Andrew has been tight on funds to pay for the upkeep.

There are rumours Andrew, like Harry, is considering publishing his own book for cash

There have been concerns that Andrew could be eventually pushed to ‘do a Harry and Meghan’ and sell stories about the Royal Family in return for big media pay-outs to cover the costs.

In April, bestselling author Richard Osman claimed Harry made around $27million for the hardback of his memoir Spare, but that number is expected to grow due to royalties and the paperback.

He added Spare had become the ‘biggest hit of the last ten, 20 years’ and had ‘made everybody an enormous amount of money’.

Due to the fact Andrew has been an adult in the family far longer than Prince Harry, his stories could be far worse for the institution than those of his nephew. 

He was known as the Queen’s favourite son and the two were close for decades.

Despite the financial pressures, a friend of the Prince told the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden in November: ‘Whatever you think of Andrew or his former wife, they have always been loyal to the Crown. 

‘It’s quite remarkable how Sarah has managed to pursue a successful career in public life, and has given countless interviews, yet has never said anything damaging about the Royal Family.’

The under-siege Prince Andrew heads for a morning ride at Windsor Castle on October 30

The King has been trying to persuade Andrew to move into Frogmore Cottage (pictured)

The Duke signed a 75-year lease agreement with the Crown Estate for Royal Lodge in 2003

Prince Andrew horse riding in the grounds of Windsor Castle on October 21

But royal expert Andrew Lownie, who is presently writing a biography of Prince Andrew to be published next year, has claimed the chance of him betraying his family for cash is slim. 

He exclusively told MailOnline: ‘There have long been rumours that Andrew might write a book, and various collaborators have been suggested, but I think it is very unlikely. 

‘Andrew is loyal to the institution and knows it would impact his daughters and their position within the Royal Family. 

Andrew Lownie has claimed the chance of the Prince betraying his family for cash is slim

‘He also has no wish to be in the limelight. That is not to say that a broader book on the Royal Family “supportive” of Andrew might not appear in the next few months.

‘Yes he knows a lot but I doubt he would ever talk. He’s told them all to Fergie and she’s the real threat which is why the family are keen to keep her on side.’

It wouldn’t be the first time the Royal Family has reportedly given a person with a lot of knowledge about the family a house to remain loyal.

Following Queen Elizabeth II’s death, it was claimed her ‘best friend’ Angela Kelly was handed a new home away from the royal household by King Charles in return for her silence. 

Ms Kelly, the late Queen’s confidante and stylist for more than 20 years, left her grace-and-favour cottage in the grounds of Windsor Castle in May 2023 and moved into a modest semi-detached house in the Peak District.

She has written two books and is understood to have had the Queen’s blessing to write a third about Her Majesty’s love of dogs, as a gesture of thanks for Ms Kelly’s years of service but also to provide some financial assurance for her future.

Royal dressmaker Angela Kelly, pictured right with her ‘best friend’ the Queen and Anna Wintour in 2018, was allegedly given a home in return for her silence after the Queen died

Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah, seen here at Ascot, still both live at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park

King Charles reportedly promised his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, that he would look after brother Andrew

But according to a source who told the Mail’s Richard Kay, the King’s provision of a house for the duration of Ms Kelly’s life is almost certain to have come with strings attached. 

This usually means a non-disclosure agreement, preventing interviews or memoirs about royal service. One friend said: ‘Could she make a lot of money from all she knows? You bet she could.’

But it seems Charles remains undeterred at the moment, in November it was reported that he has tightened the screws on Andrew once more by severing his beleaguered younger brother’s annual personal allowance, believed to be £1 million.

In response the disgraced Prince has had to find alternative sources of income, with him securing sufficient funding to stay in Royal Lodge thanks to a mystery benefactor related to his contacts in international trade, according to Robert Hardman.

However, although the money has been approved as coming from legitimate sources by the Keeper of the Privy Purse, some commentators, including AN Wilson in the Daily Mail have claimed the Duke must reveal where the money is coming from. 

Mr Wilson wrote in November: ‘The public must be assured that the money allowing him to maintain his unpopular and extravagant lifestyle in Royal Lodge is not coming from a source that, when revealed, will cover the monarchy with yet more shame and embarrassment.

‘That means the duke must come clean about where the money is coming from.’

But Andrew has remained tight-lipped about the source of the funding, despite the calls for him to reveal it from a number of Labour politicians. 

Charles has now withdrawn financial support from his younger brother Andrew

He remains determined to stay put at Royal Lodge, which has been his family home since 2003. 

His friends point out that he has a ‘cast iron’ 75-year lease on the property he inherited on the death of his grandmother, the Queen Mother. 

It’s where his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie enjoyed their teenage years and where his ex-wife Fergie still lives with him in an amicable post-divorce arrangement.

For most of the 21 years of his occupancy there was no threat to his tenure but the death of Queen Elizabeth changed all that. 

Even after his disgrace, his mother had no wish to force him out. But his brother, who now controls the royal purse strings, takes the view that a house with such a historic pedigree should be the residence of working royals.

And having lost his military titles and patronages, Andrew is no longer one.

To the King, who hates idleness, the optics of a man such as Andrew – who spends his days riding, practising his golf swing and, extraordinarily, immersed in an airline flight app – residing in such a grand manner are not good either.

Despite the King removing the seven-figure funding for the ten-man privately funded guards who patrol the grounds of the house and its 98-acre estate, he remains determined to stay put. 

The reason for his predicament can be traced back to his disastrous 2019 Newsnight interview surrounding his friendship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The home has played an important part in Andrew’s family life over the years. Pictured: The Royal Chapel of All Saints on the estate during Princess Beatrice’s wedding in 2020

The real Andrew walks with Emily Maitlis after the interview where he spoke about his links to Jeffrey Epstein

In November 2019 the Queen ‘sacked’ Prince Andrew from royal duties to contain the fall-out from the duke’s disastrous Newsnight interview (pictured with Emily Maitlis) about his years of friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein 

The duke denies meeting Virginia (left, together in 2001) and suggested this photo could be fake in his extraordinary BBC interview in 2019 (pictured, right, Andrew and Epstein in New York after Epstein had finished his prison sentence for sex offences)

And then in 2022, he paid a reported £9.4million to sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre to settle a US civil trial after she said the prince had sexually assaulted her three times when she was 17, a claim which he vehemently denies. 

The Daily Mail’s Richard Kay wrote in August that Andrew views any attempt to force him to move as being an acceptance of his guilt, a sign that he has done something wrong.

And he has never ceased insisting that the claims against him are untrue. 

‘It is fundamental to Andrew,’ a friend told Mr Kay. ‘He sees the idea of him being forced to leave his home as a punishment. And it would be a punishment for something he hasn’t done.’ 

That appears to be the reason the Prince has been trying so hard to remain at the grand pile in Windsor Great Park.

The property was once known as King’s Lodge but its name was changed by the Duke of Cumberland when he became King George IV in 1820. 

In 1931, King George V gave permission for his son, Prince Albert, the Duke of York, and his wife to take over the property and they moved in the following year.

After George VI’s death in 1952, the Queen Mother continued to live at Royal Lodge at weekends until her death in 2002.

The obvious tenants to replace Andrew would be the Prince and Princess of Wales, who live with their children, George, Charlotte and Louis, in Adelaide Cottage, a much more modest establishment on another part of the Windsor estate. 

 Andrew with his brother Prince Charles and Prince William in morning suits during the ceremonial funeral procession of Prince Philip

But William is not interested in the property, at least not at the moment when all his focus is on Kate’s health as she battles her cancer diagnosis. 

William has also ruefully conceded that occupying yet another royal mansion – he already has a substantial Kensington Palace apartment and Anmer Hall near Sandringham in Norfolk – is not a good look for a prince who campaigns against homelessness. 

There have been suggestions that Royal Lodge could be let to a private tenant instead. 

However, a National Audit Office report in 2005 made clear that this could not happen ‘because of the sensitive location of the property in the centre of the Windsor Great Park with its consequential management considerations, and because of security concerns surrounding the Royal Family’s access to the Royal Chapel’.

The Crown Estate’s view at the time was that it remained appropriate that the property should remain in Royal Family occupancy. According to Mr Eden’s sources, that position hasn’t changed.

One other possibility is that the King sees Royal Lodge as a potential future home for Queen Camilla.

Like anyone who has been seriously ill, the King is said to have been thinking about every possible contingency and he will know that, were his wife to outlive him, she would be left with a somewhat uncertain status.

As dowager Queen, Camilla would be stepmother – not mother – to King William. And William will inherit everything, just as Charles did from his mother, including Clarence House, where Charles and Camilla live when they are in London. 

It has been suggested Charles could be determined to make sure that Camilla is kept in the manner to which she has become accustomed by giving her Royal Lodge 

Frogmore Cottage (pictured) has been raised as a possible downsize location for Prince Andrew. It was previously occupied by Prince Harry and Meghan, but the Duke does not want to move

Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, Princess Elizabeth and King George VI with the family dogs Ching, Carol and Crackers at the Royal Lodge in Windsor in April 1940

Princess Elizabeth in the grounds of the Royal Lodge with the Welsh House, Y Bwthyn Bach, presented to her by the people of Wales in the background in June 1936

As Prince of Wales, William already owns the King’s beloved Gloucestershire home, Highgrove.

Charles could be determined to make sure that Camilla is kept in the manner to which she has become accustomed by giving her Royal Lodge.

In the meantime, the family are expected to come together as usual for Christmas at Sandringham. 

According to the Daily Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle column, Andrew’s name has been included on the invite list – but that doesn’t mean tension over the Royal Lodge situation will disappear.

Hardcastle’s mole claims it’s merely a demonstration of the King’s commitment to keeping his brother in the family fold. 

The brothers have been together under one roof at Balmoral Castle as recently as this summer, where the Royal Family gathered for their traditional holiday.

But it would be wrong to assume that the housing issue was a topic of conversation between the King and his brother. 

Indeed, it may not even have been raised. ‘Charles does not like confrontation at the best of times and especially when he is on holiday,’ a friend told Mr Kay.   

The brothers are understood not to be in each other’s pockets and probably only regularly see one another at dinner.

Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones in the grounds of Royal Lodge after they announced their engagement in 1960

It is also likely that Camilla will be protecting her husband to ensure he doesn’t get upset or exhausted. Last Christmas, Andrew did try to get a meeting with the King and she kept him at arm’s length, a friend told Mr Kay.

Nevertheless he seems doggedly determined to remain put. In June, it was reported that he had plans to bequeath the lease on the house to his daughters after his death. It runs until 2078 when it is due to return to the Crown Estate. 

Among senior courtiers, though, his continued presence at Royal Lodge is not just an embarrassment but a persistent source of public criticism for the monarchy.

For more than a year, there has been a steady drip, drip, drip of briefings to the effect that the prince must leave Royal Lodge and, until very recently, Andrew has always been on the retreat.

Could he eventually push back and turn the tables by selling his story? Such a prospect would give Palace aides palpitations.

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