Where will Andrew live in Sandringham? Estate has its own troubled past
King Charles will privately fund Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s move, but it is not clear in which property on the 8000ha estate he will live.
There is something oddly fitting about Andrew Mountbatten Windsor ending up in a home on the Sandringham estate.
The estate was purchased for the future Edward VII when he was Albert, Prince of Wales. Albert was a frequenter of brothels who ended up giving evidence in court in the baccarat scandal concerning cheating at cards.
In short, the first royal resident of the estate was a model of impropriety, and the latest tenant arrives similarly drenched in scandal.
On Thursday night, Buckingham Palace announced that Andrew would leave his long-time home, Royal Lodge, and move to a property on the King’s £60 million ($120m) Sandringham estate in Norfolk, as part of measures to remove his remaining royal privileges.
The Palace statement said that the King had “initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew”, adding that he would now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
The move to Sandringham will be funded privately by the King.
Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, have lived at the Royal Lodge since the early 2000s, and lease the property from the Crown Estate. They are expected to vacate it as soon as possible and Ferguson will move into her own accommodation which has yet to be confirmed.
Since it was purchased as a country home for the Prince of Wales in 1862, Sandringham has remained a private royal estate. None of the royal family permanently live at the estate, which covers 20,000 acres of land, but the property has historically been their preferred residence for Christmas and new year.
According to the estate’s website, more than 200 people make their living from the estate, including game- keepers, gardeners, farmers, as well as workers for Sandringham’s sawmill and apple juice pressing plant.
The Palace has declined to rule out the possibility that York Cottage could be a potential new home for Andrew. The cottage has previously been used as holiday accommodation, as the estate office for Sandringham and as accommodation for estate employees.
Previously known as Bachelor’s Cottage, it was gifted by Edward VII to his son and daughter-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of York, later George V and Queen Mary, as a wedding present in 1893. Before that, Prince Albert Victor, Edward VII’s eldest son, lived there until his death in 1892.
The property was earmarked for Meghan and Harry before their departure from royal life.
Another option could be to rent Gardens House to the former prince. The building, which once housed the estate’s head gardener, was put on the market as a holiday let in July. It has six bedrooms and already has one review which declares it to be “very well presented”.
Another possibility is Park House, which was the home of the Spencer family and was where Princess Diana was born.
The Spencers moved to Althorp in 1975 and in 1987 Elizabeth II gifted it to the care charity Leonard Cheshire Disability. They ran it as a hotel catering for disabled people, but it closed during the pandemic and has been empty ever since.
It is understood that Andrew is unlikely to move into his late father’s former home of Wood Farm.
Prince Philip used Wood Farm as a personal retreat from when he retired from public life in 2017 until his death in 2021. Elizabeth II also stayed there regularly instead of opening up the mansion house.
The cottage has been described as small and intimate by Teresa Thompson, its former housekeeper.
While it may perhaps be apposite, Andrew is unlikely to end up in a smaller, three-bedroom property which was once where the ladies retired for tea but is now used as a holiday let, available for a week next month at pounds 2,449.
It is called The Folly.
The Times
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