Inside the siege of Royal Lodge: how Andrew was finally defeated
After Andrew surrendered his dukedom, the Palace hoped he would see the need to move out. When he did not budge, Charles had to take his ‘prince’ title too.
After two weeks of legal wrangling, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s fate was decided in a phone call from the King, a royal source said.
“In the past three years of the King’s reign we have seen his humanity, warmth and compassion,” the source said. “Now, we’ve seen his steel.”
That steel will be seen again when Charles signs the royal warrant stripping his brother, 11 years his junior, of the birthright bestowed by their great-grandfather, George V, to be known as “prince”.
For Charles, it was time for the trebuchet to end what a source had called “the siege of Royal Lodge”. For 18 months, the King has been determined to get Andrew out of the Crown Estate property as public anger grew over the former duke’s friendship with the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew had refused to budge. Even having been pushed two weeks ago into relinquishing his dukedom after the revelation that he had lied about his contact with Epstein, he was not prepared to move out.
Now he will lose not only the keys to Royal Lodge but his “prince” title, the last weapon that had been withheld by Buckingham Palace to try to persuade Andrew to do the right thing.
So, what has changed in the past two weeks to lead not only to Andrew’s exile from Royal Lodge to the Sandringham estate but to the loss of his title as “prince"?
“Patience has well and truly worn thin,” one source said. “Everyone is mindful of his wellbeing, and has his best interests at heart, but there are limits even to the King’s patience.”
Eighteen months ago, a friend of the King’s said that Andrew would have to leave Royal Lodge one way or another, telling The Times: “It can be done tidily or untidily. It can be done with grace and dignity or it can be thrust upon him.”
It had been hoped that Andrew’s decision to voluntarily give up his titles would be followed by a quiet departure from Royal Lodge. In the days afterwards this was demanded and expected by the Palace, but it was not forthcoming.
A source said that Andrew had taken “longer than was desirable to recognise the reality of the situation”.
As he dug in, the lawyers were drafted in to advise the King, who asked whether there was a way to legally and constitutionally remove Andrew as a prince.
Given that Andrew’s dukedom had been voluntarily relinquished, the King also wanted to push for something more formal, an approach supported by the public reaction. He wanted to avoid being forced into such a decision in future by the risk that Andrew might continue to use his royal titles.
Royal sources believe the King’s decision to oust Andrew so completely was “as innovative as it is historic”.
Lawyers were called and loopholes of sorts were found. The dukedom would not be extinguished by an act of parliament but could, Charles was told, be formally withheld by removing the duke from the peerage roll. The prince title could be withdrawn by a royal warrant editing Andrew out of the George V 1917 letters patent that give the children of a monarch the automatic right to the title.
Behind the scenes, courtiers were moving at pace, liaising with constitutional experts and the wider family to ensure that the procedures were sound. It is understood that news of the decision was given in a private telephone call between the King and Andrew.
Suggestions that the King had been strongarmed into action by his son and heir, the Prince of Wales, were disputed by two separate royal sources.
William, though supportive of his father’s leadership, has been more than happy for Charles to take the lead on the “Andrew problem”. A Kensington Palace source confirmed that the decisions had been those of the King, with the support of the wider family.
Interestingly, there had been one sign above all others that probably should have shown Andrew that he was about to lose the battle of Royal Lodge; the deflection of his staunchest ally and former wife, Sarah Ferguson.
Although they separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996, Andrew and Sarah had continued to live together. However, she is not expected to join him at Sandringham.
With everything in place and no surrender from Andrew, the King moved. Courtiers announced the news at 7pm on Thursday. The Palace continues to be mindful of its duty of care towards Andrew and the family, and sources reiterated that the status of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie was not affected.
The Times
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