Prince Andrew's £3million Royal Lodge 'killer blow' but big catch remains in row with King Charles

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Prince Andrew was initially offered the 5,089 sq ft Frogmore Cottage in March 2023, as a swap for his lease on the grand thirty-room Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park. However, the Duke of York has consistently declined to move, despite his brother, King Charles, discontinuing his million-pound-a-year living allowance and ceasing payment for his private security team.

Now, it seems Andrew's issue may be resolved, with reports that an anonymous benefactor has offered to provide him with £3m a year. Yet, even though this appears to be a significant victory in the ongoing dispute, one problem remains for the prince, according to News.com.au's Royal reporter Bronte Coy, who described it as a "killer blow".

"They've said that the source is legitimate," she told Virgin Radio. "But I don't know what that means. I don't know who this person is and also why and also for how long they make payments. That's the big question."

Bronte suspects Andrew's triumph could be fleeting: "I'd say he's won the battle... but has he won the war long term? Well, depends on who this person is that's paying."

The royals' finances are "not very transparent," Bronte notes, and Prince Andrew's income sources are particularly difficult to trace, reports the Express.

While he would have inherited a substantial amount from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, and his grandmother, Elizabeth the Queen Mother, his expenses are significant.

Among his significant outgoings, Prince Andrew settled a civil sexual assault case in the US brought by Virginia Giuffre for an undisclosed sum, speculated to be between £7.5m and £12m. The Prince used to receive an estimated £250,000 annually, including office running costs, when he was a "working Royal."

However, this income vanished following his disastrous Newsnight interview where he tried to explain his relationship with billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew remains close to his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, who confessed to making a "gigantic error of judgement" by accepting £15,000 from Epstein to settle a debt. In 2017, a company linked to a wealthy Conservative party donor reportedly paid off Andrew's £1.5m personal loan, although this has never been confirmed.

Andrew and his wife were gifted Sunninghill Park as a wedding present from the Queen in 1986. He sold the 12-bedroom house to Timor Kulibayev, the son-in-law of the then-president of Kazakhstan via an offshore trust in the British Virgin Islands, for £15m - £3m more than the asking price.

Prince Andrew's only other known income is an armed forces pension, believed to be around £20,000 a year.

Bronte has expressed reservations about the longevity of the recent financial aid, noting: "Are they going to pay for two years and then we're going to still have this conversation two years from now? " even though the latest benefactor appears to have temporarily averted Andrews's immediate financial woes.

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