Prince Andrew has reportedly been forced to take on the financial burden for security at his Windsor home after King Charles allegedly refused to fork out the £3million-a-year costs. A recent tell-all book claimed King Charles cut off his support, including for the security at Andrew’s 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor.
Despite the controversies swirling around him, the 64-year-old Duke of York has apparently hired a less expensive security service for the property he’s determined to keep. Without a job but with links to wealthy figures, it is suggested that Andrew is covering the new security expenses using funds from the Middle East.
His daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, have notably engaged in speaking events in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. A source disclosed to The Sun: “He has his security but at a cheaper rate and he is managing to finance it himself. He has dug his heels in and is refusing to move so found a way to finance his security. How sustainable in the long term, then who knows how long he can do it for.”
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“Prince Andrew is likely to have many forms of income,” author Andrew Lownie, who is working on a biography about the prince, told the Mirror. The Duke notoriously sold his Sunninghill Park property in Berkshire for an eyebrow-raising £15million in 2007, fetching £3 million more than the listed price.
It’s also known that he built a network of business contacts in Asia and the Middle East during his ten-year stint as UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, which ended in 2011. During this period, he was provided with a £1 million home in Abu Dhabi by the Royal Family.
In December 2017, Bloomberg News reported that Andrew had secured a £1.5 million personal loan from Luxembourg-based private bank Bank Havilland, which was repaid just 11 days later. Buckingham Palace was contacted for a comment but chose not to respond.