Unexplained wealth: where did Andrew’s millions come from?

The finances of the former Prince Andrew are the source of increasing consternation as the outcast royal transitions to civilian life.

While Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s life as the Duke of York was marked by luxurious residences, personal staffers and other extravagances without having to work, his personal wealth and assets have long been a mystery.

UK laws limit public transparency on how taxpayers fund the monarchy.Credit: AP

Here’s what we know about Andrew’s finances:

Did Andrew earn a salary?

Laws in the United Kingdom have meant there is little public transparency surrounding how taxpayers fund the monarchy, but Andrew does not appear to have ever worked in a job. In terms of salaries, the only source of income reported in the public domain is a pension that he draws due to his involvement with the navy until 2001. This is said to be £20,000 ($40,000) a year.

It has also been reported that Andrew earned a salary of £249,000 ($499,380) for royal engagements between 1978 and 2010. He ceased being a working royal in 2019.

An investigation by British newspaper The Guardian found he received nearly £13 million ($26 million) for his royal work in the four prior decades.

There are reports that Queen Elizabeth and Charles gave Andrew an annual allowance of about £1 million a year from 2019, but this stopped last year.

These payments have allowed Andrew to maintain an expensive lifestyle. Various accounts suggest he owns several high-end cars, as well as luxury watches, including one worth almost £150,000.

Does he own property?

Andrew has lived at the Royal Lodge, a 30-room property near Windsor Castle, for more than 20 years. In 2003, he signed a 75-year lease with the Crown Estate, a portfolio of properties that is nominally owned, but not controlled, by the monarch.

He invested a required £7.5 million pounds to refurbish the home and has resided there for the annual sum of a peppercorn, a symbolic figure often used to satisfy the legal requirement of real estate transactions.

However, Andrew has now been given notice that his time at Royal Lodge is coming to an end. King Charles has arranged for his brother to move into one of the houses on his Sandringham Estate.

Charles privately owns the 8000 hectare estate – held by the royal family since 1862 – roughly a two-and-a-half hour drive north of London, meaning Andrew won’t be living in a Crown Estate property. It’s not yet clear which house he will live in.

Andrew has previously owned a chalet in an exclusive Swiss ski town of Verbier, buying the home for £18 million in 2014 before selling it for £22 million in 2022.

The sale occurred in the same year Andrew was reported to have paid Virginia Giuffre – the woman who accused Jeffrey Epstein of forcing her to sleep with the royal as a 17-year-old in 2001 – a settlement of about £12 million.

His mother, Queen Elizabeth, also gifted him a mansion called Sunninghill Park as a wedding present. In 2007, Andrew controversially sold it to the son-in-law of the president of Kazakhstan for £15 million, £3 million above the asking price.

Who will fund Andrew as a citizen?

Despite a history of owning properties and various other payments, it is unclear how much wealth Andrew has in his name, especially after various legal settlements.

In recent days, British media have reported that Andrew is set to receive a large one-off six-figure payment to cover his relocation to Sandringham, as well as an annual stipend designed to prevent him from overspending in his new life.

Relocating could take some time. There remains the task of divvying up possessions with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who has lived with Andrew at Royal Lodge since 2008, but who will not be moving on to Sandringham at Charles’ expense.

With AP

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