King Charles cuts off Prince Andrew and axes his $2 million-a-year allowance after Jeffrey Epstein scandal

King Charles has made a major strike against his brother after months of the pair being embroiled in a standoff.

King Charles III has financially cut off his brother Prince Andrew, it’s been revealed.

Five years after the Duke of York, 64, stepped down from royal duties following his trainwreck BBC Newsnight interview in 2019, prominent author Robert Hardman has claimed the King informed his Keeper of the Privy Purse to officially “sever” his brother’s living allowance, predicted to be roughly $2 million annually.

According to new chapters of Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, as serialised by Daily Mail, a palace insider stated “the Duke is no longer a financial burden on the King.”

While Andrew hasn’t received an official income as a working member of the royal family since he was embroiled in sexual abuse allegations over his former friendship with late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Charles has been funding his seven-figure security detail since 2022, as well as his lucrative living allowance.

Andrew avoided a court battle after privately settling a lawsuit brought on by Virginia Giuffre in February 2022.

He has repeatedly denied all allegations levelled against him.

Andrew has been financially cut off. Picture: Justin Tallis/AFP

While he’s lived his life predominantly out of the spotlight since stepping down in 2019, with the exception of attending mother Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022 and the King’s coronation in May 2023, pressures on Charles to cut him off financially have been mounting, including controversy over Andrew’s palatial living arrangements.

Andrew, the father of Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, has been living in the sprawling 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson for more than 20 years.

Reports emerged in September Charles was “losing patience” over Andrew staying put at his residence, which requires costly upkeep, and was urging him to find a smaller alternative.

Frogmore Cottage, the former marital home of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, was suggested as a more suitable option, though Andrew reportedly denied this offer.

The Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, where Andrew is living.

Charles reportedly wanted Andrew to downsize to Frogmore Cottage, where Prince Harry lived with wife Meghan Markle. Picture: Toby Melville/Pool/AFP

In his new chapters, Hardman writes, “In the late summer of this year, [Charles’] patience ran out. The Duke informed the monarch that, regardless of any ultimatum, he was going to stay put at Royal Lodge.

“At which point, the Keeper of the Privy Purse (the monarchy’s finance director) was instructed to sever his living allowance.”

It is unknown how Andrew will finance his life given he’s unable to work. Further, it’s yet to be disclosed whether Andrew received an inheritance from the late Queen following her death.

Multiple reports at the time of her passing suggested the Queen’s estimated $1.3 billion fortune was entirely left to Charles for tax efficiency reasons.

The King has acted decisively after months of rumoured tension. Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Under a 1993 agreement, agreed by the then prime minister John Major, no inheritance tax is required to be paid on assets moving from one sovereign to another, though Charles volunteered to continue his late mother’s decision to pay income tax.

A source quoted in Hardman’s book, however, said Andrew claims to have “other sources of income related to his contacts in international trade.”

Per the source, Andrew’s unknown income is “sufficient to cover all his costs”, including his security as well as the upkeep of Royal Lodge, which has stringent and costly lease requirements to maintain its prestige.

Andrew has a 75-year lease agreement with the Crown Estate for the Royal Lodge, which was signed in 2003.

Buckingham Palace is yet to comment.

Originally published as King Charles cuts off Prince Andrew and axes his $2 million-a-year allowance after Jeffrey Epstein scandal