Jul 24, 2023 at 1:01 PMUpdate: an hour ago
Britain’s Prince Andrew will probably have to trade in his lavish villa for Harry and Meghan’s ‘little house’, much to his own dissatisfaction. King Charles is also not happy: he has lost his free holiday accommodation. What is going on?
The British royals own quite a few houses. Close to London so they can commute quickly to and from working Buckingham Palace. But they also have homes outside England that they can move into at any time.
You would think that Charles as king owns all these properties. In a way, that’s right: many of the houses are owned by the crown and therefore by the British royal family as a whole. This makes the royal family one of the largest landowners in the world. All palaces, castles, houses and estates together are estimated to be worth more than 15 billion euros.
But Charles does not own everything. For example, Queen Elizabeth left the ‘Duchy of Cornwall’ to her grandson, Prince William. That is a huge piece of land (more than 52,000 hectares), on which there are not only houses, but also farms and businesses.
Before Elizabeth’s death, Charles was still the owner of all these buildings. So it was a bit of a swallow when it turned out that he had to say goodbye. The king liked to go to Llwynywermod in the summer, a Welsh estate that also belongs to the Duchy of Cornwall.
Charles and Camilla pose at their Llwynywermod home in 2009. Photo: Getty Images
Private address becomes Airbnb
Suddenly that estate is in the hands of William, who can do what he wants with it. He reportedly does not let his father sleep for free at his beloved holiday address: the heir to the throne would like to see money for this.
In addition, the king must remove all his personal belongings from the house so that William can also rent the house to others. Charles would not be happy with this, reports The Independent. He just wants to be able to visit the holiday home for free.
Prince Andrew is also not happy. According to palace sources, he was presented with the keys to Frogmore Cottage, the house where Prince Harry and Meghan lived until their departure. Their last items in the house shipped out at the end of June, and it now stands completely empty.
The house is ready for a new resident and that should be Andrew. King Charles’ embattled brother now lives in the 30-bedroom Royal Lodge, a size larger than Frogmore Cottage (which still has 10 bedrooms).
De Royal Lodge. Photo: ANP
‘Andrew is adamant’
But the aging Royal Lodge needs to be renovated at a cost of millions and the nearby Frogmore Cottage therefore seems an ideal temporary home. But the prince wouldn’t like that. “Andrew is adamant. With so many years left on his lease and he’s spent millions of his own fortune fixing things up, he doesn’t want to leave his house,” a palace source said.
It seems unlikely that Andrew will return to the Royal Lodge after that. There are rumors that Charles wants to cut royal allowances, including Andrew’s. The Royal Lodge, which is worth more than 30 million pounds (34 million euros), becomes unaffordable for the king’s younger brother.
The question is whether Sarah Ferguson, Andrew’s ex-wife, will move to Frogmore when the time comes. The former couple still lives in the same house 26 years after their divorce. That was also easy: the Royal Lodge is so large that they do not have to get in each other’s way. They probably do in smaller Frogmore.
2023-07-24 11:01:36
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