Who’s paying for Prince Andrew to live in 30-bedroom Royal Lodge?
Keir Starmer has said he supports the idea of Prince Andrew facing a select committee to answer questions on his finances, having dropped his Royal titles, but remaining a Prince. Are taxpayers still funding his lifestyle?
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In brief…
- Prince Andrew, despite dropping his Royal titles, could be forced to appear in front of Parliament to answer questions about his finances, as his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein and the women he trafficked faces new scrutiny.
- Indirect references to the Prince in the House of Commons during Prime Ministers’ questions was the government's way of telling him to “get out” of the huge property he currently lives in, almost rent-free.
- Difficulty identifying where public money ends and the Royal’s private wealth begins makes it unclear how much money taxpayers are giving to support the lifestyle of the disgraced Royal.
What’s the story?
Prince Andrew probably hoped that by dropping all his Royal titles, he might be in for a quieter life. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
This week the disgraced Royal has faced fresh scrutiny over his involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking, and now faces the prospect of appearing before Parliament to answer questions over his living situation, and how it's funded.
The Prince currently lives in Royal Lodge, a 30-room property close to Windsor Castle. He is known to pay a “peppercorn rent” (likely an amount as low as £1 a year), and it is not known how he funds his lifestyle or supports outgoings such as the upkeep of the enormous property.
Emily Maitlis says there are three possible sources of Andrew’s income – the public purse, a settlement or a personal purse, which would have been money left to him from Queen Elizabeth.
All of these can be traced back to taxpayers money, directly or indirectly.
What happened in the House of Commons?
Prince Andrew was not discussed in Parliament. Instead, MPs danced around the topic and were careful to respect the “great tradition” of not mentioning the Royal family within the chamber.
Politicians such as Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey referred only to “the occupant” of Royal Lodge rather than directly mentioning Prince Andrew.
Keir Starmer says he “supports” the idea of a select committee investigating Prince Andrew’s finances, to make sure taxpayers’ money is “properly protected”.
This was, Jon Sopel says, a way of the government telling Prince Andrew to “get out of Royal Lodge”.
Since the publication of the biography of Virginia Giuffre, the Epstein victim who claimed she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew three times, there has been new focus on his relationship with the sex offender.
MPs have the power to strip him of all titles, including that of ‘Prince’, which could leave him accountable to his actions in the same way as anyone else in the UK.
Why was the mention so important?
The lack of MPs' scrutiny over Royal affairs is, Lewis Goodall says, due to thinking that it is “not something that’s done in this country”, or simply “a bit rude”.
“It is very difficult to delineate between where public money starts and their private wealth ends,” Lewis says.
“These things are basically fused together, not least because the British Royal Family has one of the most opaque sets of financial arrangements of any constitutional monarchy, in Europe.”
“In other countries in Europe, like Scandinavian countries, every penny of royal family finances is accounted for, and scrutinised by their parliaments. That doesn't happen here, and so all of the questions start to rise more and more about where all this money is coming from.”
In the UK, the Royals are exempt from the freedom of information act, do not pay inheritance tax and the King only pays income tax on a voluntary basis.
Does King Charles want him out too?
The story of Jeffrey Epstein, the ‘Epstein Files’ and everyone involved in his illegal activities is going nowhere – no matter how much Prince Andrew might want it to.
The longer it drags on, the more of a problem Andrew, and his ongoing part of the Royals (no matter how small), becomes.
“King Charles doesn't want Prince Andrew in the Royal Lodge anymore. He doesn't want him on the Windsor estate,” says Emily.
“He's not a vindictive man, he just wants the noise to stop.
“So I think as soon as you call Andrew to parliament, you are making things 100 times more complicated for a monarch who we all know has not been well.”
Jon Sopel says the biggest problem in the situation is, of course, Prince Andrew himself.
“The trouble is, you've got the immovable, stupid object of Prince Andrew,” Jon says.
“He thinks everything is fine, that there's nothing to see here, he's getting on with his life and off on a shooting weekend.”