For almost two years now, King Charles has been trying to get Prince Andrew to move out of Royal Lodge, the enormous mansion on the Windsor Castle estate. Charles wants Andrew to give up his valid lease on Royal Lodge and move into Frogmore Cottage, the former home of the Sussexes, which they paid to fully renovate. Article after article has been written about this Royal Lodge situation and Andrew still refuses to budge. Charles is now threatening to cut Andrew’s security, but Andrew is still staying put. Nothing Charles has done has worked, and it’s actually been obvious this whole time that Andrew would probably give up the lease if Charles bought him out (but that’s the one thing Charles refuses to do). The Mail’s Angela Mollard actually discovered a new line of attack to get Andrew out of Royal Lodge – make it about Andrew’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Eugenie. As in, Andrew is ruining his daughters’ shot at being semi-working royals. Interesting.
Anyone watching Prince Andrew’s interview with Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis five years ago will understand exactly why the Duke won’t move out of Royal Lodge. Not only is he pompous, self-regarding and woefully deficient in empathy, he clearly finds it challenging to see another’s point of view. Fair enough that he doesn’t want to capitulate to his older brother’s wishes to evict him. ‘Spares’ are notoriously petulant when reminded where they sit in the hierarchy. But there is a key reason why Andrew needs to move out of the Lodge – not in the future but right now: to protect his daughters.
The 65-year-old Duke will never restore his reputation – he’s old, soiled, damaged goods and no amount of charitable work or outings at church with more upright members of the family are going to change that. But Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are young women with royal-adjacent lives ahead of them. For their sake, and in honour of their hard work and discretion, their father needs to do the right thing and hightail it to Frogmore Cottage pronto.
For all their flaws and failings, one thing the Duke and Duchess of York have done commendably is raise strong, loyal and respectful children. Beatrice, 36, and Eugenie, 34, are exemplary daughters and cousins….they’ve had to navigate the rift between their cousins William and Harry. Eugenie, particularly, was close to Harry and Meghan and will have been dismayed at what has unfolded. Who knows to what extent she is still in touch with the couple? What is clear is that she has not taken sides, evidenced by Prince William asking both her and Beatrice to join him at this year’s Royal Ascot.
The longer Andrew clings to the 30-room Royal Lodge instead of moving to the more modest five-bed Frogmore Cottage, the more likely it is that his daughters will be to some extent dragged down with him. Beatrice and Eugenie’s chances of having more significant roles in the Royal Family might be under threat. It was understandable that the King didn’t put pressure on his brother while Sarah Ferguson battled cancer but now it’s time.
Next month the monarch will stop funding his brother’s security detail. If Andrew has any shred of sense, not to mention compassion, his legacy should be gifting his daughters a future free from the scandal and indulgent behaviour that has characterised his later years.
As he manages his sibling’s eviction, this is not a battle the King can lose. Cancer will have concentrated his mind and should his health decline he will not wish to leave William with the ‘Andrew problem’. Likewise, cancer – his wife’s and his father’s – has equally concentrated William’s mind. His father might’ve advocated a slimmed-down monarchy, but the Prince of Wales has seen how deficient the Royal Family becomes when key principals are out of action. Should the current King pass away before the Wales children reach adulthood, Beatrice and Eugenie, along with Mike and Zara Tindall, will be vital players in the new monarchy.
“Beatrice and Eugenie’s chances of having more significant roles in the Royal Family might be under threat.” Here’s the thing: this is an excellent rationale for why Andrew should give up his lease, but it still won’t work. If Andrew thought he could make a deal in which his daughters were brought in as working royals, he would likely go through with it. But the catch here isn’t Andrew, it’s Charles and William. They are the ones who don’t want Eugenie and Beatrice to become “working royals” of any variety. In addition to that, Charles and William can’t dangle the carrot of “we’ll let Eugenie and Beatrice be working royals” in front of Andrew because it would never even occur to them to use that as a negotiation tool. Charles and William are so stupid, all of their negotiation skills are wrapped up in punitive measures, all stick and no carrot.
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