‘Prince’ no longer: What next for Andrew Mountbatten Windsor?
By Christian Edwards, Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN
London (CNN) — A fortnight ago, he was Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
Now, he is simply Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
On Thursday night, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles III had started a process to strip his brother of his titles and honors and evict him from the royal estate at Windsor, capping Andrew’s fall from grace over his ties to the convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. By the next morning, Andrew’s name had already been removed from the official role of the peerage – a crucial step in the formal scrapping of his titles.
While the royal family hopes this move can draw a line under this years-long scandal, questions are swirling about where Andrew, 65, will live, whether he could yet face more legal troubles and whether his banishment will appease the British public. Here, we answer some of those.
Where will Andrew sleep tonight?
Most likely in Royal Lodge, the grand 30-room mansion in Windsor Great Park, west of London, which has been Andrew’s home since 2003. The late Queen Elizabeth II granted Andrew, the third of her four children, the right to live in the lodge, and his 75-year lease was due to expire in 2078.
But in its Thursday night statement, Buckingham Palace said Andrew had been served formal notice to surrender his lease and that he would “move to alternative private accommodation.” It is understood that he will move as soon as is practicable.
Where will he live in the future?
Royal sources have told CNN that Andrew will be given a house on the King’s private estate in Sandringham, Norfolk. That vast estate on England’s eastern coast is home to some 150 properties.
It is also where the royal family spends Christmas. Before the Thursday night announcement, Andrew had already been told he would not be welcome at the country retreat over the holidays, a royal source had said.
Andrew might not move to Sandringham until after the Christmas holidays, another source said, because giving notice, surrendering the lease and orchestrating the move is expected to take some time.
Will he receive an income?
Yes, but we don’t know how much. After he stepped back from public duties following his disastrous 2019 interview with BBC Newsnight, Andrew was thought to receive an annual allowance of about £1 million ($1.3 million) from the late Queen, according to British media reports.
Those payments initially continued under Charles, the reports said, but it is understood that the King had stopped providing the allowance.
Despite now being stripped of his prince title, CNN understands that Andrew will still receive an income from Charles.
Andrew’s finances have always been something of a mystery. His only source of income that has been declared is the pension he receives from his time in the navy between 1979 and 2001, said to amount to £20,000 ($26,000) a year.
Is he still in the line of succession?
Andrew may have lost his titles, status and honors but he is still eighth in line to the British throne.
There is a process to formally remove him from the line of succession by legislation, but it would take time as it requires the consent of Commonwealth nations around the world.
The last time this protocol was invoked was in 1936 with the abdication of Edward VIII.
What will happen to his family?
Andrew and Sarah Ferguson divorced in 1996 but have lived together at Royal Lodge in Windsor since 2008. His ex-wife reverted to her maiden name earlier this month when Andrew relinquished the use of his royal titles, including Duke of York. She is also moving out of Royal Lodge and make her own living arrangements. It is understood that she will not be joining Andrew when he moves to Sandringham.
Their daughters, Princess Beatrice, 37, and Princess Eugenie, 35, are non-working royals and will retain their titles as daughters of the son of a sovereign, in line with a directive issued by King George V in 1917.
Beatrice lives with her husband in the Cotswolds, about 100 miles from London, but has an apartment at St. James’s Palace in the capital. Eugenie and her husband have a cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace but spend a lot of time abroad. Their living situations will not be affected by their father’s exile.
Could he be hauled in front of parliament?
The Liberal Democrats, an opposition party, have lately called for Andrew to give evidence to a parliamentary committee about his finances and potential rent paid to live in Royal Lodge.
So far, the government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer has refused to give members of parliament time to debate Andrew’s finances, despite public outcry for proper scrutiny.
This week, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a Conservative lawmaker and chair of the Public Accounts Committee, wrote to the Crown Estate Commissioners seeking more information on Andrew’s lease arrangements for Royal Lodge.
That committee is responsible for “upholding best value for taxpayers’ money,” Clifton-Brown wrote, and as such “we feel it is reasonable to seek further information on the status of, and rationale for, the lease of Royal Lodge.”
Might he face further legal challenges?
Potentially. Republic, an activist group seeking to abolish the monarchy, says it is pursuing a private prosecution of Andrew “because if the government and police won’t hold him to account, we will.”
The group says it has instructed lawyers to investigate and, if appropriate, begin a private prosecution over allegations of sexual offenses and misconduct in public office.
Virginia Giuffre, a prominent accuser of Epstein and his circle, alleged that Andrew had sex with her three times when she was a teenager. In her recent memoir, published posthumously, Giuffre wrote that Andrew “believed that having sex with me was his birthright.”
Despite claiming never to have met her, Andrew reportedly paid millions of dollars to Giuffre in 2022 to settle a civil case she brought against him. He has repeatedly denied all allegations against him.
Giuffre died by suicide in April. On Thursday, Sky and Amanda Roberts, Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law, told CNN that Giuffre would have been “joyous” to know that Andrew had been stripped of the title that helped shield him from accountability.
“I think she would be proud, and I think she would turn to her children and say, ‘I did it. I got the bad guy,’” said Amanda Roberts.
Will this be enough for the British public?
It’s hard to say. Andrew is deeply unpopular with the British public. In a poll published Thursday by YouGov, 91% of Britons had a negative opinion of Andrew. Just 4% had a positive one. By contrast, Britons generally like Prince William (76%) and Charles (62%), and overall have a positive view of the monarchy as an institution (56%).
If Andrew’s fall from grace began in earnest after his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, the royal family have repeatedly tried to draw a line under the scandal – first by Andrew’s withdrawing from public life, then by removing his military titles and patronages, later cutting him off financially, then by his relinquishing some of his titles – and now by the King casting him out of the palace for good as a pariah.
None of the measures have quelled the public outcry. It remains to be seen whether this time will be different.
Perhaps the Andrew scandal has roiled on for so long because, for the public, his “punishments” do not seem proportionate to the allegations that he faces. While the loss of his titles and favored residence may be a personal tragedy for Andrew, it elicits little sympathy from a public demanding proper accountability.
“It doesn’t matter if he’s Prince Andrew or Andrew Mountbatten Windsor – we’re still pursuing a private prosecution of him,” said Republic, the activist group.
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CNN’s Max Foster and Lauren Kent contributed to this report.
