PRINCE Andrew is said to be spending his summer holidays “trapped” at the “dilapidated” Royal Lodge – but will find “refuge” at Balmoral, an expert claims.
The disgraced Duke of York, 64, is said to have spent days without leaving Royal Lodge, his 30-bedroom mansion in Windsor, where he has lived since 2004.
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Majesty Magazine editor-in-chief Ingrid Seward told Fabulous that Prince Andrew’s world is “very narrow.”
She said: “The Duke of York is quite limited in where he can go because he obviously doesn’t want to be photographed and subsequently criticised.
“So his world is very narrow.”
When he’s not at Royal Lodge – which he shares with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson – Andrew spends a lot of time horse riding in a remote part of Windsor Great Park where he can relax without bumping into members of the public.
The Duke of York, who stepped down from royal duties in 2019 amid a violent public backlash over a television interview about a car crash in which he tried to rebut allegations that he slept with a 17-year-old sex trafficking victim, also likes to play golf.
Ingrid added: “He has things to do, but they are minimal.
“He has some friends, although much fewer than before. I think what he really lacks is purpose.”
BALMORAL BREAK
It was reported by The Sunday Mailthat the royal family, including William, Kate, King Charles and Queen Camilla, will be making their annual trip to Balmoral this summer.
Ingrid claims Prince Andrew will “obviously go” too and added: “He loves Balmoral.
“He’s there every other year, and I think he can find a bit of refuge there, away from cameras and prying eyes.
“It also gives you the opportunity to see members of the rest of your family.”
‘HOLDING ON TO THE TITLE’
The royal expert even claims that there is a possibility that Andrew will have to move to Scotland at some point.
She explained: “We know there is no going back for him, so he has to rebuild a different kind of life.
“It’s been said: why doesn’t he go live in the north of Scotland, somewhere remote? “Well, maybe that’s what he’ll have to do.
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“But Andrew clings to the fact that he is the Duke of York, the queenHe’s the second son, and he’s very conscious of his royalty and who he is, which, of course, was partly his undoing.”
TIME WITH GRANDCHILDREN
Prince Andrew is said to have a close bond with daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and their children and they are a “close-knit family,” according to Ingrid.
She shared: “He has a really, really good relationship with his daughters’ children and I think that’s one of the main things that sustains him.
“Everyone gets along very well.
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“He gets along extremely well with Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, he always has, although they have had their consequences.
“He sees a lot of grandchildren and enjoys spending time with them.
“I think because they know he’s stuck at Royal Lodge, they’ll do their best to go see him rather than him coming to see them.”
Inside Prince Andrew’s ‘ruined’ Royal Lodge
The disgraced Duke of York resides at the £30million Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, Berkshire – at least for now.
King Charles redoubled his efforts to expel the duke – with insiders calling the impasse a “siege of the Royal Lodge”.
Despite his divorce from Sarah Ferguson in 1996, Prince Andrew lives with his ex-wife on a country estate.
Prince Andrew’s royal residence, with its eye-catching white exterior, has 30 bedrooms with plenty of space for entertaining, plus seven bedrooms spread across the top two floors.
The Duke of York is said to spend all day “watching TV in a dark room”, like a prisoner in his “ruined” house.
The Royal Lodge is said to be “in need of extensive repairs”, estimated to cost around £400,000 a year.
The monarch is said to be increasingly frustrated by André’s refusal to look after the colossal mansion.
Andrew is said to have promised King Charles he would take care of her expensive repairs – despite having no apparent source of income.
QUEEN’S ‘ANDREW FUND’
It has been reported that Prince Andrew, who resides in the £30 million Royal Lodge, is struggling to pay the £400,000 a year needed for “extensive repairs”.
Recent photos showed the stucco outside the mansion falling apart and mold growing on it.
The embarrassed Duke has reportedly already invested £7.5m in repairs, but sources say he cannot continue to deliver the account.
The monarch is said to be increasingly frustrated by Andrew’s refusal to look after the Royal Lodge.
King Charles, 75, has redoubled his efforts to oust the duke – with insiders calling the standoff a “siege of the Royal Lodge”.
He has things to do, but they are minimal. I think what’s really missing is a purpose
Ingrid Seward
The unfortunate duke police the protection was removed when he resigned from public office amid the Epstein scandal.
Charles is said to have stepped in to pay his multimillion-dollar private security bill, but is unwilling to continue paying out of his own pocket to fund Andy’s lavish lifestyle.
However, Ingrid claims that Andrew is not completely helpless.
She claimed: “Well, I don’t think Andrew is as financially insecure as we think, because the late Queen knew at the time she died that her favorite son was in serious trouble, and I’m absolutely convinced that she would. I have made provisions for him.”
‘There is no way back for Prince Andrew,’ says PR guru
PRINCE Andrew’s reputation is irreparably damaged and he will never be able to engineer a return to public life, according to one of Britain’s leading PR gurus.
Brand and culture expert Nick Ede, who runs PR agency East of Eden, called the embarrassed royal “deluded” for thinking he could ever return to royal duties and encouraged him to give it up and ‘enjoy his life’ in exile.
It follows the release of Scoop – a Netflix film based on the 2019 interview he gave to Newsnight.
Nick said: “There is no way back for him.
“I think you know this perpetual idea that he might still be back. Nobody cares. He has no fans.
“There is no one out there who says ‘We want to see Prince Andrew’, not a single person. I think he has to realize that. But I think it’s going to take a long, long time for him to really understand. He is very deluded.
“In my opinion, the best thing he could do is enjoy life. He has beautiful daughters. He has a great relationship with Fergie, he has a beautiful house.
“Just live a peaceful life.”
Reflecting on the interview from five years ago – the fallout of which led to Andrew stepping back from royal duties “for the foreseeable future” – Nick compared the fallout to Frost vs Nixon and said he would have encouraged him not to do it.
He said: “If I was advising him, I would say, stay still, stay still, just get on the ground. You know you’re a prince. Enjoy the life you lead, but don’t open that can of worms, because that’s what it is.
“There was no admission that a relationship with someone like Epstein was terribly toxic. There was no idea that there were many trafficking victims whose lives were completely ruined by Epstein. He didn’t seem to think that the association he had with that man was anything other than positive.
“I think his worst faux pas was obviously being in that interview and agreeing to it in the first place, not realizing that he was actually going to be interviewed by a very, very good journalist who was going to ask him questions that he might not have liked. .
“But I think what this did really showed how archaic Prince Andrew is in his views and thoughts.
“Read the room. He never read a room.”
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